What happened to all the Cena hate?

[italyanstallyan]

Everyone here used to hate Cena and said that he had five moves and he was shitty but now it seems like everyone is saying he's a great wrestler. What happened? I don't really hate or dislike Cena, I'm just wondering why your attitudes changed. Did he give you guys the Attitude Adjustment?

 

[Pimpin]

I still don't like Cena as I think his character just bores the shit outta me & I ain't one of those type of Cena haters that hates on him cause of him only doing 5 moves but I think that people have grown some respect for him cause he is willing to make people look like gold(Jack Swagger) unlike some people(Triple H).

 

[Uncle Sam]

I dunno about the rest of the internet, but Slyfox just soaked it up round these parts.

Like some sort of gigantic hate sponge. Personally, I'm still pretty indifferent to him. I try to like him, but I just can't.

 

[Coco]

There are many factors that contributed to the Cena hate.

First of all, some people felt his WM21 title win was far too early.

Additionally, talking points such as "he only has five moves" and "he always does that Superman comeback" gained popularity in spite of the fictitious nature of both claims.

Cena doesn't ALWAYS use the Superman comeback. But even when he does, there is nothing wrong with that. Wrestlers have been using the "get beatdown and mount a comeback" rountine long before Cena. It's a time-tested ploy to evoke a large crowd response for a big finish. Cena deserves special recognition for his use of this forumla as his connection with the crowd and selling ability are both in a league of their own and make that formula come off very well.

Oh, and he has more than five moves. I've counted.

As his title reigns went on, some people probably grew tired of him because they felt he was overused (Remember the "Same Old Shit" complaints and the chant at One Night Stand?) and they weren't accustomed to accepting a champion reign at the length he had in this day and age. I find it unfortunate that people might feel this way about long reigns, as Cena's third title reign may easily be the best of his era.

I feel the fans have finally come around to him because since his return from injury at the 2008 Royal Rumble to the point when he was re-injured in the summer, he did not regain a world championship. Despite Cena still being the top face in the company, he is exposed far less than he was at the peak of the Cena-hate.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Bobby Lashley, maybe. Hate until that match then it's slowly been going down since.

He's still shit though. Diva's throw better punches, a HBK applied Crossface looks harder to get out of than an STFU and Santino is cooler.

 

[Swolfsta22]

Honestly i think thier still is Cena hate, he hasnt done anything different to change my mind so

His move set is limited ashell and its never anything different, i mean i try to like the guy...but the he talks and im like ugh nevermind i just cant do it, he puts way to much intensity into words that dont have to be intense at all, he bores me all around, but he draws big for WWE so i respect him i dont hate Cena, i just wish cena could do more moves that i know hes capable of, remember wen he was on smackdown nd was a heel, he was good he had a variety of moves now its like wastching a modern day hogan dressed like a thug so real wrestling fans that arent 9 years old actually see how bad he is...sigh

 

[Killer Tofu]

I don't like Cena, and I doubt I ever will. His gimmick is just lame. I don't find anything about him to be exciting or appealing. I've never hated Cena. I just think they could do more with other people.

 

[healyz84]

I still hate Cena, because of the wwe's direction with him. When he was a heel on smackdown, and a little of the time of a face, he was rated r. Or at the very least AA-17. Then he came to raw, dropped his cool rapper gimmick pretty much, became the lame soldier guy, and he became the face of the pg wwe family. Now, he drops the only thing cool about himself, the FU and the STFU, and renames it with the Attitude Adjustment? What the hell is that? At that point Cena went from being rated pg, to being rated F, for family. If I was a 6 year old kid, Cena would be the biggest thing for me, besides watching my saturday morning cartoons. But im not 6 years old, so I hate Cena.

 

[WunNightStan619]

My thing with John Cena is that i cannot stand his wrestling persona. He's like a modern day Hulk Hogan (which is what vince wanted him to be). His promos make me wanna throw up and watching him wrestle sometimes makes me contemplate why i even bother to watch wrestling anymore. HOWEVER, i do respect the hell outta him and my respect has grown 4 him consideribly in recent months. I still dont like him as a wrestler, but he is one of the few guys that arent in WWE for the pay check. Him and HHH are the two most dedicated and passionate guys in that business. Cena loves what he does and he does it for the fans and thats something that u dont get too often anymore. Another thing is that its not Cena's fault that creative decided to make him "unbeatable". But at the same time he has no problem making other guys look good. He's not selfish and is willing to share the lime light. So if anything, my problem with Cena would be his wrestling persona, abut again thats not his fault. Hell i'd love him if he was still the hop-hop wangster, but regardless, i still respect the hell outta him. period

and i would like to throw in that i am a Rock fan, and condone Cena for calling him out..seriously. I respect the Rock for goin into movies n shit and i dont dislike him or anything, but i do agree with Cena cuz the least The Rock can do is at least acknowledge the people that made him famous to start with. Its almost like he straight abondoned his fans. The least he couls do is make sporadic appereances like he used to. I condone Cena for call him out on this...just wanted to add that

 

[Loveless]

Cena the guy, I like and respect. He's a hard worker and doesn't seem to have an ego problem in putting people over.

Cena the wrestler, and in particular the champion, bores the hell out of me and as a face I think he fails outside of the kids. I think the guy has gotten stale and needs a heel turn, even though I understand the economics meaning it's not going to happen.

 

[rowdy ruben]

i think fans are just ecepting the fact that he is the biggest star nd we just have to get use to him. imo he is the worst wrestler in wwe nd is not that entertaining but wwe is gonna push him nd make him the champ

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

I think the Internet has woken up to how hard the guy works and have come around to respect his work ethic.

I have been one that defended Cena since the beginning and found the hate to be rather unfounded. The guy is everything Vince could want out of a champion. He is a good worker. He treats fans with respect. He has no demons that causes his problems in public ... such as alcohol, drugs, etc. , he doesn't play backstage politics, does what he's told, etc.

I just strongly feel that he would be a Hell of a lot more over today doing his rapper gimmick if the programming content rating allowed for it, but since it doesn't ... we are stuck with what WWE wants its fans to view as a modern day Hulk Hogan, who fans reject. That is why he is popular and draws to a degree ... but is simply not on the level of a Hulk Hogan or a Steve Austin because of his bland, goody two-shoes persona and trying to get it over in these times.

I stand by the fact that Rapper John Cena, given the same monster push he receives today, would actually be a Pop Culture icon in this day and age. He would unquestionably draw a Hell of a lot more, with an edgy character, than he does in his "goody two shoes" one.

 

[NbR1Ch]

The hate hasn't gone away.....look no further than my name.....#1 Cena Hater.......I respect John Cena the person but cannot STAND John Cena the "wrestler". I counted how many moves he hit on Chris Jericho on Raw during their "epic" match......6.......6 moves......need I say more? BTW......I think the word epic us HIGHLY overused on this forum

 

[Chris in SC]

That's another myth about Cena that has taken a life of it's own. He lost at 3 PPV in a row last year:

Night of Champions - Loss to Triple H.
Great American Bash - Lost parking lot brawl with JBL.
Summerslam - Clean loss to Batista.

Plus WM and Backlash not winning the triple threat / 4 way matches.

Didn't Big Show knock him out cold on Raw a few weeks ago and beat him?

Yes, Cena is being booked as too much of Hulkamania 2.0, but he does lose more often that is often portrayed.

I find his calling out of the Rock to be a bit bush league. Like the sign said at WM XXV, Rock > Cena. Cena needs to 'know his role'.

I find Cena's promos entertaining. Yeah they're over the top, but that's Sports Entertainment. He's an average ring worker. If he's against someone I enjoy watching, he's OK. If he's against someone I either don't like or dont care about (see:Big Show), he's meh.

One thing I do respect is that he's more likely to put someone over than say...Triple H.

 

[lenguy]

i think people have to stop blaming his moveset.there a a few guys on the roster who has limited movesets, hhh, batista, kane, big show jbl even ortons moveset isent that diverse. hhh knee to the face,jumping knee spinebuster pedigree.batista spinbuster spear and powerbomb i find kane and bigshow to be more brawlers than actual wrestlers.thats what i find cena to be.a brawler with some moves just to say he can actually pull something off.

as far as the guy goes himself i find him trying to hard to connect with the fans.he usually fails.but i like him as an in ring competitor hes charismatic,he knoes how to get the fans riled up and he knows how to tell a story in the ring.i could do without his promos though.id rather watch cena work in the ring than somebody like hhh anyday.im tired of hhh.i have mass respect for the cena and what hes doing for the company right now.something like his character would of worked 15 18 years ago.but not in this day.

 

[sevastra82]

The thing with Cena that I dont understand (gimmick wise) is that he seems to have a split personality. One minute, he's coming in the ring, cracking some sort of joke/wisecrack, laughing etc...but then he'll go cut a promo and look all pissed off, screaming at the camera, acting all badass and tough....it really gets confusing onto what exactly his gimmick is. The back-and-forth flip flop of these two contrasting styles irritates me somewhat. (He's similar to HHH...in DX HHH is one way, and outside of DX he's the opposite. But at least he sticks with one or the other depending on what angle he's currently in. Cena seems to change every single episode of RAW, sometimes even during the same episode).

Personally, I think the pissed off, tough Cena works A LOT better for him. I used to hate Cena, but I find it hard to hate a guy that I have a lot of respect for (out of the ring). He's definately a good company man and he does A LOT for the industry.

 

[CKO]

what people fail to understand is that Cena isnt the one who decided to water down his character. it's the writers and vince. cena does what is asked of him period. they want him to be more kid friendly, so he does it. They're the ones that changed the names of his moves, not him. if anyone should be hated for john cena's character, it should be vince.

he's not into politics and that can be clearly seen. he goes out there and does what is expected of him. because of that, he's being constantly torn down by "fans" who think they know everything.

so he uses "five" moves all the time. big deal. he's not a high flyer and he's not a technical master. he brawls and that's it. he's a clean cut role model for kids now. if peopel started understanding that instead of looking to the past, the whole show overall would be more entertaining.

john cena is what others should strive to become. he's a very humble individual that doesnt go around thinking the world owes him something. if people hate him for that, then i dont know what's wrong with the world.

 

[Smart Mark]

I always liked Cena but even I was one to hate him for a wile. It simply was that he was champion for an entire fucking year. Every paper view was the same, "Watch the powers that be throw some ridiculous odds at Cena, and watch Cena over come those odds, once again!" It was boring, and his gimmick is boring. He is a great worker and is the best the company has and deserves to be as big as he is, but his bland goody too shoes character really doesn't leave much room for depth and gets really boring over time. When he was in the main event scene for 2 years it just became how boring he was, his injury took the heat off him because people were ready to have him back. I think if he went heel and went back to having the "Ruck Fules" character he did way back when on smackdown he'd be much more interesting.

 

[Coco]

Bobby Lashley, maybe. Hate until that match then it's slowly been going down since.

No way. The hate was as bad as ever going into his title defense against Randy Orton. I think the haters didn't really dramatically change until he came back at Survivor Series, at which point he was a white-hot face in most towns.

I stand by the fact that Rapper John Cena, given the same monster push he receives today, would actually be a Pop Culture icon in this day and age. He would unquestionably draw a Hell of a lot more, with an edgy character, than he does in his "goody two shoes" one.

How so? I really think the appeal of hip-hop and the culture connected to it is overrated. It's a niche that has reared it's ugly head into the main stream, but it's not something I define as THE main stream or as icon-making. I think with the rapper gimmick, Cena would be exactly where he is now because there would probably be that rap-hating segment of the audience also booing him and wishing he'd go away.

 

[thelcon21]

The John Cena hate usually goes away when he is wrestling Edge. Edge is so good at getting people to hate him that people seem to forget how bad John Cena really is. Also I think a lot of hate has transfered on these boards to Triple H for not putting Randy Orton over at Wrestlemania. Don't worry once Cena's angle is over with Edge at Backlash and the WWE decides to shove him in our faces a little more the hate will come back.

 

[CKO]

oh please, tell me how is john cena so bad? i dont understand it. explain to me please.

as far as making people look good, cena did that with swagger. he made him look like gold.

as far as shoving him down our faces, what about rey mysterio? he's being crammed down our throats all the time being the "underdog". that gets old real fast.

 

[Coco]

First of all, Mysterio is one of a small group of people to near-perfect that role. He should get no shit over his use of it. It's not like he really needs a big change or anything as some of remember when WCW tried turning him heel...

Second, the comparison of Rey being crammed down our throats. Even I, Cena fan that I am, will admit that Rey is nowhere near as exposed as Cena. People have a much better chance of getting burned out on Cena in that contrast.

 

[Black Snow]

To answer the original question, I think the IWC is cyclical. They find someone to hate and then hate on him hard. After a while though when it becomes clear that the person they're hating isn't moving out of the main event they get tired. They move on and start to begrudgedly respect the guy in question. Then they decide to make fun of the people who truly hated the guy in the first place with legit reasons. The bandwagon jumpers turn on the people with legit beef. It's all very disgusting and I'm sure the Cena fans will tell me that I couldn't be more off base.

As far Cena the wrestler goes I just don't like him. Jericho's promos actually explain my feelings very well. Cena is like Hogan in the fact that he comes out week after week, panders to the fans and wrestles pretty boring matches. Mind you, Cena isn't nearly as bad as Hogan. Cena has some talent but he just chooses not to use it which might even be worse about him now that I think about it.

To me, the Cena character has no substance. The rapper gimmick made sense. It was new and it was solid. Now he's some sort of amalgamation of all the gimmick tweaks he's tried in the past. It doesn't feel like an evolution of the character. It feels like they're throwing crap at the wall and seeing what sticks. He has a rap theme. He salutes. He randomly changed his hand gesture to 3D. Instead of cutting a promo he just screams buzzwords like "Hustle, Loyalty, Respect." The man is like a Speak-N-Say.

As far as long title reigns go I don't have a problem with them. But look at what Cena did. He had a nice 10 month reign. But it was only interrupted for three weeks because Edge had to use MitB eventually. Cena added another 5 months to his reign. The crowd was hot for both RVD and Edge but that stopped because Cena apparently needed another 13 months as champ! That only ended because of an injury. He returns and wins the Rumble. Sure, he jobbed on a few PPVs in row. That was good. But he destroys that good will when he returns from another injury to win the title AGAIN from arguably the hottest guy in the company, Jericho. That reign is only stopped so he can say he won the title at 'Mania yet again.

Long reigns are good but Cena simply doesn't stop. Give someone else a chance. Besides, if he's supposedly so damned over with the fans then he shouldn't even need the belt. Here's an interesting statistic to look at. Look at all the PPVs that Cena has been on since he won his first title at Wrestlemania 21. How many of those PPV matches have NOT been for the WWE or World title? Batista/Cena, Cena/JBL a couple of times, Cena/Sabu, the Rumble he won... you can basically count those matches on one hand give or take and that's covering four years. Cena is always champ. The rare times he isn't champ he's challenging the current champ (and usually beating them.)

Cena may be a nice person but the Cena character is going to burn out. I've used this reference in the past. People were so hot for Hogan in the 80s, weren't they? But in the early 90s the flat out turned on him. Beating Yokozuna for the WWE title at 'Mania was the straw that broke the camel's back. If Cena continues on this trail where he can't possibly stay out of the title picture for more than a couple months baring an injury the fans will turn on him. I'm not talking about the IWC. I'm talking about the little kids too. Those kids will soon become teenagers and they will rebel. It always happens. The other shoe will drop.

Cena can be a valuable asset to the company but the absolute best thing for his career at this point would be to get away from the title and turn heel. With 14 PPVs a year a guy playing the same bland, vanilla face for over four years isn't going to end well. He's still getting cheers now but I don't expect it to last.

i think people have to stop blaming his moveset.there a a few guys on the roster who has limited movesets, hhh, batista, kane, big show jbl even ortons moveset isent that diverse.

I'm sorry but who is walking around proclaiming Batista, JBL, Kane and Show as great wrestlers? I'm pretty sure they get dogged on as well. It's not the extent of Cena but no one is calling them a technical wizard either.

as far as shoving him down our faces, what about rey mysterio? he's being crammed down our throats all the time being the "underdog". that gets old real fast.

This is always the worst argument in the world. When someone can't deny a claim they instead focus on something else. Even if it was true that Rey was being shoved down our throats... so what? Does that suddenly make Cena okay? Just because something stupid is happening with a second person it doesn't make the stupid thing okay with the first person.

Oh, and I'm sorry but you can't compare Rey to Cena. Get back to me when Rey holds the World title for 28 out of 32 months like Cena did.

 

[RatedRSE]

Let me first start off this post by admitting that I am a Cena fan, and always have been. I respect the hell out of the guy for his work ethic and what he does for the wrestling business. I also think he gets alot of crap that he doesn't deserve most of the time.

In all honesty I've always felt that the Cena hate was somewhat magnified by the fact that booing Cena was the "cool thing to do" at shows. Take the The guy who is at alot of shows near the front row with his two buddies wearing the "We Hate Cena" Home made Shirts. This is the guy that was heckling Cena and practically jumping over the barrier at WM25 after Cena won the belt. I mean....REALLY??

I don't blame the Cena hate 100% on the "it's cool" factor because I know even from reading this forum that a good bit of it is legitimate. But I do thinK that was a big contributing factor to the major hate he would get in some places. Proof of that I think is evident now, where the hate in the IWC has died down somewhat for Cena since his return, and he has been cheered more than booed in most cities. You hadn't heard any hardcore Cena hate on a major scale really until last Monday in the UK. Even at Wrestlemania 25 this year I can attest to the fact that the Cena hate was extremely minimal compared to what it was in Chicago for Wrestlemania 22 when I was there and 80% of the crowd was booing Cena.

As for Cena's so called lack of wrestling ability - the man is a brawler plain and simple. If he was coming out every Monday and claiming he was the "Greatest Technical Wrestler in the history of professional wrestling" like Chris Benoit used to do when he was feuding with Kurt Angle, I could really understand the outcry about his inability to pull off some moves. But Cena has NEVER done that. He's never pretended to be anything by a tough as nails guy who wont back down from a challenge.

I also get really tired of people complaining that he ends every match the same way (which he does) and then going on to sing the praise of someone like HBK who you does the same thing. I admit Cena's matches usually end in a similar fashion, but then I can telegraph how Shawn Michaels will end a match every time as well. Inverted Atomic Drop...Climb to the top rope...elbw drop....Sweet Chin Music...Pin. I have no problem with that though...my problem is why does Cena get ragged on for doing the same thing?

As far as Cena's character goes, I really don't see a problem with what his Gimmick is (if you can call it a Gimmick). He's not a rapper anymore, he's not a solider either. He certainly isnt Superman as he's lost more in the last 24 months than he's won. He's just Cena, a driven competitor with a passion for the business who will never back down from a fight. I love guys like Edge and Randy Orton just as much...but really, where would those guys be as heels if they didn't have someone like Cena to be their foil as a polar opposit?

I think people need to get past the fact that they hated Cena because he was a champ for a full year back in 2007 and look to what Cena is now. A guy who has improved a lot in the ring, has unparalleled passion for the business, and who is not afraid to put other people over as evident in both of the matches the last two weeks with Swagger and Jericho.

After watching those two matches anyone who says Cena still completely sucks is really just blindly hating IMO. And please don't tell me that those matches were all Swagger or all Jericho either. Regardless of what people say, it takes 2 to make a really good match. That's just my $0.02.

 

[Franchize1990]

I believe the Cena hate is still very alive and well and will never completely die for the rest of his career IMO. I can't tell you how many times I go to YouTube to watch a show that I missed and as soon as Cena's face appears in a segment, the majority of the comments read 'Cena sux' or 'Cena is the worst thing to ever happen to the WWE'. I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion but some of the statements are just plain ignorant.

I believe the reason most haters despise of Cena is because of his character or gimmick what ever you want to call it. I'd have liked to see him in the WWF during the attitude era and compare that one to the man we've got now. In no way would he had been the face of the company then but I'd say he could be on that Austin/Hogan level everyone is talking about now.