Wrestling Roundtable #5 1/20/08 Part 1 : John Cena's Status

Happy Dew Year! For the first show of the year, the panel will discuss whom Jim Ross called the "most controversial champion" of the modern WWE era, John Cena. Has there ever been anyone like him in wrestling? Why didn't the WWE panic & turn him heel when he was being booed so heavily? Why do the fans, or portions of the fans at least, hate him in the first place? How does Triple H factor in to the picture? When & why did Cena lose the fans that used to cheer him? Did the man famous for the FU and the 5 Knuckle Shuffle lose his edge to become more marketable? How limited is his wrestling ability? What will the reaction be when he comes back? Will he get the same reactions as before, or will they be different? Will The Marine finally turn heel? Should he or shouldn't he? Is comparing Mr. "Hustle Loyalty Respect" in the 00s to Hulk Hogan in the 80s fair? And if it is, is that because of the common distorted smart mark perception of what a 'good worker' is? Do the male fans hate him because of his 'bad' wrestling, because the kids like him, the females think he's sexy, or all of the above? Does any one else hate the spinning belt as much as me?
Hosted by the World's Oldest (Coherent) Teenager, Eric Santamaria.

* The views expressed on The Wrestling Roundtable are solely those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect
the views of any other entity, person or organization *

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[Gambit455]

To be fair, the definition of a good "worker" was altered by guys like Flair, Bret, HBK, etc. putting out books with who THEY claimed were good and bad workers. All of em buried Hogan.

[WrestlingRoundtable]

Well, the 'definition' of what constitutes a 'good worker' varies. Those sort of guys(Flair, Bret, Michaels, etc.) are of the type whose definitions would center more towards the athletic wrestler, but what we mean by Cena & Hogan is that the whole purpose of wrestling, like any other business, is to make money, and while those three certainly did to a degree, Hogan & Cena certainly make a shitload of money in their version of 'working,' which is different than theirs.

-E, Wrestling Roundtable

[gramamge33]

"you're not a good wrestler" crosses the line? Does nobody remember Rock/Jericho with the will he win the big one angle? Rock said flat out "The reason you haven't won the big one is you are not that good" there was nothing wrong with that. You're reading too much into something because you hate Triple H.

[WrestlingRoundtable]

Not really. Jericho wasn't getting a lot of heat from half the audience at the time. I won't argue that WWE never booked Jericho to be credible anyway(which they haven't, btw, heh), but you could also say it doesn't cross the line because it was just weaving a thread of reality into the storyline based on what was actually happening(one of the reasons people hate Cena is his 'ability'). However, The Kliq has a history of using their characters as an excuse to undermine people, heh.

-E

[XTREAMHORSEMAN]

The reason Cena is so hated is because he is so pushed.

[flameingblack]

Cena may be the best thing to happen in the WWE in a long time. He's extremely marketable, and versatile. Love him or hate him, he *does* get a reaction. People will either pay to see him, or pay to see him get the shit kicked out of them. There aren't many shades of gray between fans.

He's also got the ability to cut really solid promos. His in-ring skill may be limited, but that's really all you could come to expect from most any WWE Main-Event star.

[martinjamesglasgow]

Putting against Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle & Triple-H is what made him so unpopular. some of the most talented and popular guys jobbing non stop to him was awful

[SolidMike84]

@Tvtech9

I thought Batista was the Warrior of this generation...

[Tvtech9]

If John Cena is so bad, then Randy Orton is a lot worse. He is the Warrior of this generation. At least Cena sells moves better than Orton, and has a good locke room attitude.

[UltMitSinner78]

Smarks are idiots.  All that matters is drawing money putting asses in the seats, get over with the crowd that's it. Cena has it, Triple H has it, Angle, Bret, Shawn, Hogan, Taker, they all have/had it. You do what brings in money that's all that matters. If smarks don't like it they can turn the tv off.

[wwescreename]

In Eddie guerrero's autobiography he says that his dad taught him that it doesn't matter if the fans boo or cheer what matters is that you get a rwaction. cena gets a reaction. that's a good thing.

[JMBitchboy]

Guys, I don't know as much as you do but could you please tell me if WWE and Cena made the right move of making his character less edgy and forever a babyface? I know it's PG but is this the right thing to do?

[Sweetguy9009]

@WrestlingRoundtable I still don't understand why people despise John Cena so much, I mean sure, he is not a great worker, but at the end of the end of the day it's about drawing cash and putting butts in seats and Cena does a good job at both. And with the right guy he can have an awesome match. There are worse workers than John Cena (mutters:) Jeff Hardy...

[WrestlingRoundtable]

Austin probably would have been to had he not gotten injured in 1997. When he came back in late 2000, his matches in the next year or so were incredibly better post-surgery. However, once he was starting to break down in 2002, they returned to their 1998 formula I believe.

-E, Wrestling Roundtable