Former Writer on Friction Between Cena & Vince

[Keith]

I take it you are unaware of what Cena does for WWE if your only statement to quote me is 'oh dear'. Now, I am not a huge fan of the wrestler, aside from his incredible mic work, but outside the ring he does so much charity work and shit on WWE's behalf. I have nothing but respect for that. He's been the company man for so long because he's worked his ass off, trying to help get other people to work just as hard, and tries to help get the younger talent up.

And gets a shit load of money and perks which most other wrestlers don't get for it. I think Taker's reaction was harsh but don't make Cena out to be a saint or to denay how lucky he has been.

 

[Rated R Superstar]

I'm not a Cena fan I ca promise you that, but he has worked hard for what he's got.

 

[Keith]

I'm not a Cena fan I ca promise you that, but he has worked hard for what he's got.

Not saying he hasn't but considering his lack of talent and the fact he still divides the WWE audience he is very lucky to be where he is.

 

[Deezy]

Not saying he hasn't but considering his lack of talent and the fact he still divides the WWE audience he is very lucky to be where he is.

Lack of talent? What is he lacking? Just the fact that certain people in the audience are booing him solely off nothing but to be the antiquated cool guy who don't cheer for shit kids like.

The guy can wrestle, and by wrestle I don't mean exchange wristlocks and headlocks and pointless Dean Malenko spots where the guys exchange obviously fake pin sequences that get people tiny crowds on their feet for reasons I can't fathom.

Pro-wrestling is all about reactions and he gets that in spades. Funny how CM Punk still couldn't get a cheer in his matches with Cena, it was always still about "Let's go Cena" "Cena Sucks". You know The Rock didn't have that problem in his match with Cena.

Anyways, this story makes me wonder "where's the friction?" More like miscommunication than anything.

OK Cena wants some time off, and the boss wants him because they are getting killed by Football. OK.

Why do all Cena stories degenerate into how he sucks or how he is good.

 

[Keith]

Lack of talent? What is he lacking? Just the fact that certain people in the audience are booing him solely off nothing but to be the antiquated cool guy who don't cheer for shit kids like.

The guy can wrestle, and by wrestle I don't mean exchange wristlocks and headlocks and pointless Dean Malenko spots where the guys exchange obviously fake pin sequences that get people tiny crowds on their feet for reasons I can't fathom.

Pro-wrestling is all about reactions and he gets that in spades. Funny how CM Punk still couldn't get a cheer in his matches with Cena, it was always still about "Let's go Cena" "Cena Sucks". You know The Rock didn't have that problem in his match with Cena.

Anyways, this story makes me wonder "where's the friction?" More like miscommunication than anything.

OK Cena wants some time off, and the boss wants him because they are getting killed by Football. OK.

Why do all Cena stories degenerate into how he sucks or how he is good.

But one point me and you seem to differ on is weather it is a problem half the audience booing him you seem to think not. I disagree based on the fact he is their top babyface, don't you think if Hogan got that sort of reaction back in the day it would have been an issue?

As for lack of talent I mean his over the top cartoonish promos (yes I know they are badly written but his delivery doesn't help) his fake looking punches and submission hold (I already know your response to this so in advance Austin and Rocks were never that fake looking and besides to make out that this doesn't matter is silly it is all part of suspending your disbelief) and his selling is crap too. Not saying he is the worse or anything, have been impressed in the matches with Punk, but it takes more than a few great performances to make you a great talent.

Not to flog a dead horse but ratings and buyrates have been down for years, not saying it is all down to Cena there are other factors, but you can almost trace it back to the time he started main evented and the fact they just got worse since seems a pretty strong case to me. As much money as he may have made them he has also held them back. Until either WWE do something fresh with Cena or create new stars, or both the problem will remain.

 

[Chris]

I know this isn't actually a good thing per se, but Cena legitimately made Edge blackout with his STF once, so I don't really see how it can look fake when it actual did that. Also, saying Cena has little talent is asinine, it's like you don't even watch the PPV matches he has with guys not named Big Show, Johnny Ace, or Khali.

 

[Keith]

I know this isn't actually a good thing per se, but Cena legitimately made Edge blackout with his STF once, so I don't really see how it can look fake when it actual did that. Also, saying Cena has little talent is asinine, it's like you don't even watch the PPV matches he has with guys not named Big Show, Johnny Ace, or Khali.

Not saying it didn't happen but I don't remember him making Edge black out. Chris the thing is people here suddenly over the last year have made Cena into this super worker based on his series with Punk and yet before most of them were slating him for his work, pretty sure you just become a great worker that fast. My view which I have said all along is that most of Cena's best matches have been when he has been carried by better workers, Angle, Edge, Michaels, HHH etc or when the match has been booked to work around his weaknesses such as the Last Man Standing match with Umaga. Clearly we disagree and will never agree on this point, so it is time to move on.

 

[Chris]

I heard an interview where Edge said he blacked out during it awhile ago.

Okay, I'll give you that Cena's best matches have been when he's carried by great workers like the ones you named. But now I'll pose the question: When in the hell is he going to be against someone that isn't a great worker? I've seen people say that about Sheamus as well, "He only has good matches against good opponents." But how often is Cena against bad opponents for that to matter? Sure, he has shit matches against Big Show, but hell, just about everyone else does too.

 

[Keith]

I heard an interview where Edge said he blacked out during it awhile ago.

Okay, I'll give you that Cena's best matches have been when he's carried by great workers like the ones you named. But now I'll pose the question: When in the hell is he going to be against someone that isn't a great worker? I've seen people say that about Sheamus as well, "He only has good matches against good opponents." But how often is Cena against bad opponents for that to matter? Sure, he has shit matches against Big Show, but hell, just about everyone else does too.

Can't asnwer that one only time will tell.

 

[Rated R Superstar]

What about his matches with The Miz? I don't think Miz is a better worker than Cena. Those matches were pretty good.

 

[Keith]

What about his matches with The Miz? I don't think Miz is a better worker than Cena. Those matches were pretty good.

Think I only saw the Mania one and imo it was a poor match. Most of the blame must go to Cena too as the most experienced main eventer.

 

[Deezy]

But one point me and you seem to differ on is weather it is a problem half the audience booing him you seem to think not. I disagree based on the fact he is their top babyface, don't you think if Hogan got that sort of reaction back in the day it would have been an issue?

As for lack of talent I mean his over the top cartoonish promos (yes I know they are badly written but his delivery doesn't help) his fake looking punches and submission hold (I already know your response to this so in advance Austin and Rocks were never that fake looking and besides to make out that this doesn't matter is silly it is all part of suspending your disbelief) and his selling is crap too. Not saying he is the worse or anything, have been impressed in the matches with Punk, but it takes more than a few great performances to make you a great talent.

Not to flog a dead horse but ratings and buyrates have been down for years, not saying it is all down to Cena there are other factors, but you can almost trace it back to the time he started main evented and the fact they just got worse since seems a pretty strong case to me. As much money as he may have made them he has also held them back. Until either WWE do something fresh with Cena or create new stars, or both the problem will remain.

Hogan got that same reaction when WWF starting building up Randy Savage and Bret Hart , not to mention the lukewarm responses he would get in WCW when he signed with them. Nobody panicked, and nobody is panicking now because Cena doesn't do well in certain markets. He gets better reactions throughtout most of the country, but let's forget about that and say he gets booed everywhere because markets like Chicago and New York are everywhere.

And LOL @ you saying Cena's punches and submissions look fake then saying oh Rocks n Austins didn't look fake. Good call there, you must've been proud of that one. Suspend disbelief? Uh.....Yeah. This is pro-wrestling afterall. That's kind of the whole point of it.

And his selling is crap? You are legit Blue.

His selling is the thing he does best and for you go after that just proves you have no idea what you are talking about.

And it's whether.......Not weather, thats not even a fucking homonym.

 

[PHX]

How was there not panic with Hogan? He started appearing occasionally in WCW because they turned on him and he wanted to do his best to try and stay fresh and stop them from booing. WWE was editing footage to make it seem like he wasn't booed in the 90's. There was a lot of panic and they tried to do anything they could do to reduce the boos. Of course this all ended up turning into a heel turn and the rest is history. Obviously WWE panicked a bit in regard to when Cena started getting booed trying to cover it up any way they could they still do stuff to try and make the fans not boo him. I hate to say it since it is a good cause but you can't tell me part of the motive of making Cena be the guy to wear pink for breast cancer awareness is to do the whole "how can you boo this guy?" They're going about it different than it was done with Hogan as WWE kind of embraces Cena isn't liked by everyone since Cena has embraced it but they still do whatever they can to reduce the negative reactions just no where near as much panicking about it as there was with Hogan.

 

[Deezy]

Wearing pink isn't so the fans can't boo him, it's because he is the face of the company.

If this was 99, you would have Steve Austin doing the same shit, not saying he would be wearing pink leather jackets, but he would be doing something like that.

As for Hogan appearing sparingly in WCW, he got himself a good deal and only appeared on shows and PPVs that were guranteed strong ratings and buyrates to boost his standing and make it look like it was because of him why they got that pop.

And for editing boos on for tape purposes, well guess what you can do that to protect future sales. WWE will make these guys look as good as they can so they can make money of their asses long after they die.

Act like the Church didn't change some shit in the Bible to make it look better for future generations.

 

[PHX]

I said part of it not all of it. I don't think Vince is heartless but don't be naive to think WWE doesn't have interior motives on some things. Ever since the shit storm they got in 2007 they've done anything they could to clean up the image which is not wrong at all. Just saying they aren't doing some of these things like Be A Star and Make a wish simply out of the goodness of their heart there is interior motives which is all I was saying in regard to Cena. It's a smart idea because if anyone tries to question it it'll make them look like they're attacking WWE. I think you're truly underestimating Vince's genius if you don't think that all good things he's making Cena and WWE as a whole do doesn't have a plan that could benefit them.

Back to Hogan it was all to try and keep Hulkamania in tact and they did everything they could to save it. Hogan wasn't stupid that deal appearing sparingly was a attempt to keep him fresh and keep the boos low but it didn't work. From that to the whole Darkside Hogan thing just tried anything they could until they HAD to absolutely turn him heel which is part of why the heel turn is so legendary. There was undeniable panic when it came to Hogan since he was still the biggest star in wrestling and his star was fading slowly due to wrestling being in dire need of a change and you can look back at that time period as proof. If there wasn't any panic we would have never saw them try stuff like Darkside Hogan, editing in cheers, appearing sparingly in and out and his heel turn.