Will Cenas heel turn make as big of an impact as Hogans did?

[xFrenchKissx]

Cenas current gimmick is much the same as the original Hulk Hogan character. Both are aimed toward a younger fan base, Cena with the "Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect" and Hogan with the "Eat your vitamins and say your prayers." Don't jump all over me, everyone knows that children gobble up that baby face do gooder stuff.

Hogan was the baby face to beat all baby faces until 96, much like Cena is right now. Then when Hogan turned heel in WCW, it rocked the wrestling world, and in return garnered Hogan untold of amounts of heat.

Fast-forward to 2003, when John Cena made his face turn. Since that time, he has become one of the most recognizable superstars in the company, has perfected every aspect of that character, and is in much the same situation that Hogan was in.

Seeing as how Cena is comparable to Hogans character back in the 80's, do you think that when he finally makes the heel turn it will make as big of an impact as Hogans' turn did?

Do you think the fact that Cena has already been a heel will lessen the effect?

Or since we all know it is inevitable, none of us will be surprised when it DOES happen?

Or will anyone care... much like how when Jericho made his second return it kind of flopped because we had known it was coming for so long?

 

[LKP]

No i do not think so. So many kids love cena now its madness. I think if it happened 5 years ago yes.

 

[maty619]

I'm not expecting a John Cena heel turn any time soon, so I will be shocked if it happens around this time or if it happens full stop, John Cena has been a heel and I think that it might have been a case of 'you have to pay your dues as a heel' thing with Hogan. If John Cena does make a heel turn then it will make a huge impact not only on the business but on Vince's wallet, and it would not be that kind of impact that is for the good. I think the viewers that would tune in to see how WWE would handle this turn would not counter balance the children tuning out because their hero has 'turned on them'.

 

[kingovkings]

Tough question. Probably wont have the WOW factor that WWE wants when it happens.

1 Everyone is waiting for it to happen
2 there is spoilers now there wasn't back then. So it's bound to get leaked.
3 There isn't that ability to suspended reality now like there used to be kids just aren't built like they used to be ;P.

Although id like to see Cena turn i dont think it will have the same effect as it did with Hogan back in the day.

 

[straight_edge76]

I don't think the fact that Cena was a heel already will change the fact that no matter how inevidable it is we will all be suprised by a Cena turn, which I honestly am looking forward to seeing. But imo the two biggest turns in my lifetime have been Hogan and Austin at WM17. Cena if/when it happens there must be a face that can in a sense take over as the #1 face of the WWE. The WWE is already has a large number of top heels but not to many faces. Thus, I do not see it happening for another year or two when maybe a guy gets established as THAT face to take over where Cena left off.

 

[LadyHotrod]

I don't think it would make as much of an impact. Hogan was a HUGE face for a long time and no one thought he would ever turn heel. He was THE WWF hero and a heel turn was one of the biggest surprises.

I really don't think Cena will ever be as big and important as Hogan. He actually gets quite a lot of boos (though on TV, it seems like he gets 100% cheers) and people look at Hogan as a big figure in the wrestling world because he was a part of the wrestling boom. Cena doesn't do anything amazing and it wouldn't be a big deal if he went heel.

 

[noumenon]

A lot of factors to think about with something like this...
As someone already said, there's spoilers/internet rumors to worry about today so that immediately takes some of the shock value off of it.
The writing in general is also pretty awful lately so unless they severely step up their game, it may not be that epic.

With those things said, it's obvious Cena is the biggest face we've had since the likes of The Rock and Austin. Both of which had heel turns of their own, however they were a little more expected. The Rock was by all accounts kind of an asshole regardless of whether he was heel or face, same goes for Austin. This is of course why everyone compares Cena's eventual heel turn to that of Hogan, the all American goody goody loved by almost everyone face.
I think one of the main factors that will play into Cena's heel turn is how long they wait to do it. Take for example Batista's recent turn. It's what everyone wanted and was essentially done for the sole purpose that it needed to be done. He became so incredibly stale in his old role that they had no choice. If they wait to do the same with Cena then of course it's not going to have a huge impact, it's simply going to receive the "OH FINALLY!" response from most people.
Where, I don't think the turn will have as huge of an impact as Hogan's did (let's face it, Cena is nowhere near as big of a star as Hogan) it's still going to be really entertaining to watch. I seriously don't want them to film whatever is going on in the ring, just shots of the children's crushed faces in the crowd.

 

[straight_edge76]

just shots of the children's crushed faces in the crowd.

Not gonna lie, when Hogan turned back in the day I shed a tear or two.

 

[noumenon]

I actually loved it, I remember being really fucking happy.

 

[maty619]

I remember not being alive

 

[Mike Chaos]

there is a few things to factor in with a cena he'll turn. if he turns his back on his fans, the kids, they need anothr john cena to cheer for to go up against cena. plus who knows, what if the kids are so mad and betrayed that they don't want to watch anymore? I say give it 5 more years let this generation of kids grow up and say 'i grew up a john cena fan' and then they are about teenager age, turn him heel, make sure you have another hero in line the kids will cheer for and people will pay money to see that guy kick cena's ass cuz he turned on the fans. turning cena heel has a lot things involved to factor in.
(i am typing on my phone hence the typing errors and lack of capitalization)

 

[Nation]

I will not put up with 5 more years of Superman John Cena. I can't even imagine him getting staler. Also no it won't have as big of an impact because Cena already gets quite a bit of heat. Hogan easily had the majority of cheers but Cena on the other hand not so much.

 

[the408kid]

unfortunately John Cena is percieved by the wwe and this generations Hulk Hogan so they wont turn him heel for a while, and with pg era in full force they dont want to lose their kid audience.

 

[Mike Chaos]

I will not put up with 5 more years of Superman John Cena.

What will you do about it?

 

[kimball99]

The problem with him turning heel is people still watch wrestling somewhat. When Hogan turned heel, no one was watching wrestling. His heel turn made people wanna check out wrestling again, where as Cena turning heel would just be to make the smarks happy, which in case no one has noticed, WWE don't give two shits about.

Maybe, and I know I'm shooting for the moon here, but if TNA ever was able to compete with WWE, then a Cena heel turn would be great for business. But like others have said in this thread, turning him now would turn the kids away that spend all there parents hard earned money on Cena.