I don’t want to turn my column into a John Cena hating session but I feel the big difference between these two is the fact that John Cena cannot wrestle anywhere near as good as half of the current young roster. His mat skills are not good enough and he relies on his big ‘Signature moves’ like The Rock did, which appear over the top and very ‘pantomime’
John Cena’s promo’s are starting to become stale, they always begin with his slow talking light-hearted comedy with the interviewer and by the end of the interview he has screaming into the camera looking like he is being strangled with every possible vein sticking out of his head! (Very similar to Samoa Joe but that’s another subject!)
John Cena seems to be unable to judge reality within the squared circle. An example could be when Randy Orton punted him in the head at Hell in a Cell. Everyone that has received that punt has been injured or at least sold it to be a deadly move. Cena just got up after he was pinned and stared at Orton like it never happened.
I would even go as far as recently on Raw in which Sheamus scissor kicked Cena twice during the segment with Mark Cuban. Cena stayed down on the second kick like he had been shot by a sniper. As soon as Cuban went through the table he was up like a shot and doing his hulk impression.
Now I know what I just said sounded like a contradiction, but what I am trying to say is that John Cena never seems to be sure of how to sell, for how long and what to do afterwards. The segment on Raw could have gone better by Sheamus having to battle Cena off to try and get to Cuban rather than him lying in the ring like he had been shot.
Anyway back to the topic. HBK started to get the response that Cena has now and what did they do? HBK went heel in 97 just as his babyface character was becoming stale and created DX, one of the most recognisable groups in the last few decades.
Could the next steps of John Cena’s career be the ones to define his career? Sure… WWE are making massive amounts of money on his merchandise, but what they gain in merchandise are eventually going to stop PPV buys and TV ratings.
John Cena still has a long time left in his career and we know that the heel turn is coming. How they go about this is what will make the impact.
WWE looks like they are pushing for the John Cena vs Undertaker main event for Wrestlemania next year and I feel that if they do not make the turn before this they will go with the slower heel turn that Randy Orton received when he challenged Undertaker at Wrestlemania 21.
My personal opinion is that WWE needs to do a sudden heel turn to have the biggiest impact.
In conclusion I feel that the chemistries between HBK and Cena are the same. But if Cena improved his timings and his mat skills… Stop pulling silly facial expressions in his promos… and switched his character about a little then he could be classed in the same regard as HBK.
We all know that when HBK hangs up his boots that he will be in the Hall of Fame and respected for his charisma, his attitude on character and his wrestling ability. People will see him as the whole package.
With the way WWE has pushed John Cena we can see that he will be a Hall of Fame contender in 10-15 years… Fans will remember John Cena and be forced to respect his charisma and dedication but I personally feel that people will not respect his actual wrestling ability… I feel this is the area he needs to work on, because if he didn’t come across as the bosses easy pick every time, then fans would hold him in higher regard in future years.
Do you agree or disagree? Email me on [email protected] and I will try to reply to you as quick as possible.
Martyn
