Why is John Cena blamed for why the WWE is the way it is right now ?

[jminter2698]

I don't get it, when John Cena first debuted on WWE Smackdown in June 2002, it already changed to the WWE from the WWF a month prior to that. Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton and Batista already came in before him, The Rock was away making movies but did return for his last run as the WWE Champion before dropping the belt to Lesnar and then reappeared in 2003 after another hiatus but he wouldn't be around much longer. Stone Cold Steve Austin walked out on the WWE due to creative differences but like Rock, reappeared in 03 then quit for good after his injuries caught up with him. John Cena wasn't even originally meant to be the top star, it was Brock Lesnar until he quit in 2004 and Cena was already getting popular anyway due to the whole "hip hop street rapper" image he was doing at that time. It was only when he went to RAW in 2005 that he started getting booed, but it's gotten to the point where the fans blame him for what's wrong with the WWE when it was really the top stars before Cena leaving without anybody else to fall back on. Why is that ?

 

[Gembo]

I think most people just don't like the way his character went, with the whole kid-friendly "rise above hate" shit and all that. When a company goes from having a beer-drinking, anti-authority redneck as their top guy, to having a child-friendly, boring wrestler as their top guy, it's gonna piss a lot of people off. Like i said, I think it's mostly down to his booking and character than the John Cena himself, who is actually a very good in-ring worker with natural talent on the mic.

 

[Cloud]

5 moves of doom. His superhero like comebacks in matches. Plus however many years of the same shtick.

 

[bullyballmm]

Wait who is blaming Cena? The hate is going towards Vince and/or Roman, isn't it?

 

[RedDwarfTechy]

I think he just got stale over time. Same thing for what? 10 years? That is bound to get stale.

And like others mentioned, it's not entirely on him but his booking. Much like how people may continue to loath Roman if they keep giving him the big dog title chases like he's had the past couple of years. WWE just doesn't get it anymore.

Austin got over organically, they went with it. PROFIT.

Same with The Rock I would say.

Cena got over organically and they changed him into Barney.

No, Not this Barney

This one

Roman is their first 'Engineered' main event guy I can think of and we all know how well that's going, right?

 

[Doxo]

I'd assume it's because WWE was so dependent on Cena that they never bothered to prepare for the future, thus the weaker main event scene we have now. That's just my guess, I've never heard that complaint since like, 2014

 

[SWL]

people love to hate whatever's getting heavily pushed, I guess it's natural now. Even though nowadays it's getting harder for them to hate on Cena because he's proven time and time again that he's a great in-ring performer. Almost the same happened to Rock in 2002 as well, where people were sick of seeing the Rock everywhere, so they marked the fuck out when Lesnar beat him for the WWE title at Summerslam. Fortunate thing for Rock was, he left before the boos got too loud and people like Cena stuck around and worked through it

 

[Solid Snake]

5 moves of doom.

To be fair here, I think him having very few moves greatly decreases his risk of injury which is likely what they wanted.

 

[Cloud]

To be fair here, I think him having very few moves greatly decreases his risk of injury which is likely what they wanted.

Fair point. When you've one guaranteed bankable star. You limit his moveset to ensure visibility and avoid injury.

 

[Solid Snake]

Fair point. When you've one guaranteed bankable star. You limit his moveset to ensure visibility and avoid injury.

Yup. And that is their fault.

 

[Cloud]

Yup. And that is their fault.

Which then leads to Cena taking the blame for everything.

As a Cena non fan he could've been more to me but the WWE banked a lot on him.16 top titles. Like Solidus says that was leant towards a limited moveset and weak kid friendly gimmick. Dude can actually wrestle and talk to a degree. As anytime he's been given freedom he has shown that ability. They relied on his fitness.

 

[Zardnaar]

Probably over exposure and he had a back stage habit of changing finishes to benefit himself (not as bad as HBK but still)

He has been around 15 years and on top for 13 perhaps. Austin more or less burnt out in 5 years on top, Rock was something similar, HBK and Bret Hart were not on top that long and even Hogan (1986-1996) changed his gimmick and turned heel.

His win rate was also around 80% while Austin/Rock were closer to 60%. Rock would put people over, Cena buried them (not always his idea).

WWE relied on the class of 2002 for 2 long + older Attitude era stars+ Undertaker. Think about the Attitude era in 1998/99 how many starts from 1983-85 were still on top? WWE basically wasted a generation of talent ( a generation in wrestling terms about 10 years) on feeding the older guys.

How do you get over big time when you get fed to Taker at WM each year or Triple H/Cena/Brock/Orton etc.

 

[Nikki Nitro]

[HASHTAG]#BlameTheCreativeTeamandVince[/HASHTAG] NOT the wrestlers. The wrestlers are just there to do their Jobs. If they would bring back some of the attitude from back then, Somehow or Someway, Maybe people would enjoy the shows more? Just My Opinion.