John Cena has his drawbacks just like any other wrestler, as well as his detractors. I understand and personally agree that Cena's act has gotten stale and no longer am I at all interested in him being WWE Champion. I also agree that WWE sometimes protects Cena to such a degree that it's a detriment to other wrestlers he's in programs with. I think the best and most recent example of this was at Extreme Rules in his steel cage match against Bray Wyatt in which Cena ultimately overcame the 3 on 1 odds and had the match won had it not been for the kid popping up at the cage door to start singing. The worst part, for me, was Cena being able to overpower both Harper & Rowan as they were trying to keep the cage door shut. I get that wrestling is set up, I even get that WWE wants to crow about Cena's strength, but slowly overpowering two men like Luke Harper and Erick Rowan is just ridiculous.
With that being said, however, while I'd personally prefer Cena taking a backseat to others on the roster, I fully understand and appreciate why that won't happen. Cena's a top money maker for WWE and for all the hate he gets via the IWC, his merchandise sells, his segments on Raw are often among the most watched on the show and he tirelessly hypes the WWE brand. WWE's a business and that's how it has to be run.
As far as all the "you can't wrestle" stuff about Cena, it's probably some of the most laughable of all the various anti-Cena arguments. For someone who "can't wrestle", it's amazing how many extremely strong matches he's had over the course of the past 10 years with such a broad variety of opponents ranging from all over the spectrum of high flyers, mat technicians, powerhouses, brawlers and jacks of all trades. The Five Moves of Doom stuff is crap as too many of the haters conveniently ignore the fact that
EVERY wrestler has a handful of signature moves and sequences that we see in their matches.
John Cena is hated to such a degree sometimes that I think it emanates from a number of sources.:
1. They push Cena instead of the guy I like. - We've all been there at some time at some point with some wrestlers. We see guys we're just not into all that much getting pushed instead of those we prefer. Sometimes, in order to justify it to ourselves, we have to come up with reasons why. We all know the various reasons: Cena's playing politics, my guy's being purposely held back because management doesn't like him, WWE has no idea what talent is, etc.
2. It's good old fashioned cynicism. - There was a line from the first Spider-Man movie back in 2002 in which the Green Goblin is doing his villainous monologue in attempting to persuade Spidey to join him. I can't remember it word for word, but it was essentially something like "if there's one thing people love more than a hero, it's to see a hero fall, fail and die trying." I think that's a very true and unfortunate thing in society and we see it happen all the time. Whenever someone on television, movies, in sports, music or whatever makes it big, some fans start looking for ways, reasons or excuses to tear into them. Right now, for instance, people hate on Miley Cyrus all the time, including people who were fans, because she isn't a G rated Disney character like Hannah Montana in real life. It's almost as if some people resent the fact that she's a grown woman. In John Cena's case, he's been a major star in WWE and the genuine face of the company for almost a decade. In the mid 2000s, people were going nuts over him. Some of it is due to just being dissatisfied that he's still on top, that he's essentially the same act he always has been, that they're just burned out on him, etc. All of that's understandable, but the guy sometimes gets a lot of hate that isn't deserved.
As far as fans going too far with the hate, there are times and places where it's just not appropriate. For instance, at the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony, held in New York City, they showed a video presentation of John Cena granting wishes via the Make A Wish Foundation and the crowd in attendance shit all over it. I don't buy into the "I paid my money, so I'll do whatever I want" nonsense in situations like that. Essentially, they were booing a video package featuring sick and dying children who made a wish to see their favorite celebrity, some of whom may have passed away since and some of whom probably won't live to graduate from elementary school. Yeah, it's really edgy and cool to give the guy shit for visiting dying children.
There's just a time and place for the Cena hate that's acceptable, but that wasn't it. Gee, and some New Yorkers wonder why so many people have the impression that they're all assholes.
