Can They Be Champ? 10.16.07: FU, Cena Haters

A bit of an aimless start for today’s column, I suppose. But worry not, I am in more control than it would seem. I have my topic ready to go. Well, it may actually be a bit more of a rant, but that’s only if I get uncivil. Who knows if the ranting me will come out as I type. You see, today I’ll be asking a question, and that question will be “Why do people hate John Cena?”.

First off, I know everyone doesn’t hate John Cena. In fact, far more people (especially children) love him. But there is that incredibly vocal minority that seems to absolutely hate the man. So much so that they claim to be happy that he got injured. What could Cena have possibly have done that would piss people off so much that they would be happy to see the man hurt? Well, that’s exactly what I’m going to be exploring today.

Well, let’s to figure this out, I guess. Let me think of some of the most often heard reasons that “Cena sucks”, and examine them.

He can’t wrestle.

You don’t hear this one as often as you did a year ago, but it still lingers. I don’t know what to say besides that… you know, he can wrestle. We have seen him put together good matches with men like Angle, HHH, Edge, and HBK (to name a few). Of course, “haters” (lets just call that group of people who dislike Cena so much “haters” from here on out) would try to say that Cena was carried in those matches by his opponents. Even Kurt Angle himself claimed that he carried Cena and made him look good (in an interview done after he left the WWE on bad terms). Alright, let’s say that every good match Cena has had was due to his opponent “carrying him”, meaning that they were calling all of the shots, while Cena would supposedly just do as told. Well, how does that explain the great matches Cena had with Umaga? It’s not like we’ve seen Umaga in very many good matches. His last PPV match against HHH, for example, was pretty mediocre. Still, he and Cena had a Last Man Standing match that was at least ****. You really want to tell me that Umaga was calling all of the shots on that match?

Cena is also criticized for his “5 moves of doom”, meaning the combination of moves that set up the end of the match. Hey, you know what other wrestler has a series of moves that lead up to his finisher? Shawn Michaels. I don’t think HBK has been criticized for the inverted atomic leg drop, scoop slam, elbow drop, sweet chin music combination lately. Actually, such a set of finishing moves is common practice in wrestling. They are meant to not only build up to the finisher, but to let the audience know that it is coming, allowing them to get going or eventually be swerved if the finisher misses.

Some haters would go as far as to say Cena only knows about five moves. At the very least, they claim he has a limited move set. That’s ridiculous. Every wrestler has a limited move set. We all know that wrestlers do the same moves over and over again. You rarely ever see someone pull out a “new move” just for the heck. You can criticize wrestling as a whole for this practice, but it’s hardly fair to only criticize Cena.

The claims that Cena can’t wrestle confound me. It seems to me that he is a very good wrestler. He delivers a lot of good PPV matches, always works hard, understands in ring psychology, is able to get the crowd invested in the match (whether they hate him or love him), and knows how to deliver a promo. Yes, I know he’s not the Rock. Christ I’m sick of that. Anytime you say someone is good on the mic, people automatically feel compelled to tell you “they’re no Rock”. What, John Cena isn’t the Rock? And all this time I thought he was some sort of Rock cyborg clone. Christ. Look guys, just because someone isn’t the best at something doesn’t mean they’re not good at it.

Alright, I think we have that covered. Let’s move on to a different topic.

Cena was pushed too fast/too soon.

You know, was he really? Think about it; he debuted on Smackdown in June of 2002. He won his first world title in March of 2005. That’s three years. The Rock, for comparison’s sake, debuted at Survivor Series 1996, and won his first title at Survivor Series 1998. That’s only two years. I’m not trying to criticize the Rock. My point is that seniority is not the only thing that matters for being a world champion.

A lot of people are really bitter over this. They seem to think that Cena was tailor made to be the next “big thing”, whether they wanted him or not. Well, if that was the case, then why was it Batisita, and not Cena, that fought HHH at WrestleMania 21? I mean, if Cena was planned to be the next big thing, why did they have him win his first belt off of JBL (no offense to JBL, but I would not call him one of the greatest champions)?

I think haters want to believe that the WWE should listen to them. They arrogantly think that their views are the views of the majority, ignoring the fact that Cena is still the most popular wrestler and the biggest draw that the WWE currently has. If you were to bring this up to a hater, they would immediately dismiss those facts by saying that Cena is so popular because women and children like him so much. You know, what exactly is so wrong with children liking Cena? We criticize children for not being smart wrestling fans and for buying merchandise. You know what, it looks to me that children seem to be having more fun with wrestling than any of us. While we all post in our message boards about how “this PPV was disappointing” or how “that wrestler should/shouldn’t be pushed”, kids just talk about how cool everything is. I mean, can you really blame the WWE for wanting to appeal to them instead of us?

Bringing it home.

I know I sound like I’m condemning everyone who doesn’t like Cena. That’s really not what I’m trying to do. I’m sure some of you have better reasons for disliking Cena than I just went over. If that’s the case, I’d like for you to write to me. Really, I think seeing signs saying things like “I’m glad Cena got hurt” just pissed me off. Being happy that anyone got hurt, especially someone who works his butt off to entertain you, is incredibly low. It’s frankly pathetic.

The fact is, Cena gets a lot of hate. Now, the staff here at 411, and a lot of readers, are actually very fair to Cena. I don’t think I’ve ever actually read a unnecessarily negative Cena column here. That said, I’ve never seen an incredibly positive column about the man either. So if this comes off as a love letter to Cena, so be it. Frankly, for all the work he’s done, he deserves it, and I for one am going to miss him these next several months.

Alright, let’s look at the current champs, including our new TNA Champion.

Let’s see how long this Sting reign lasts.

Hello,

Frank Sanchez

Thanks for those insights, Frank. I’m really into this Save_Us.222 thing. I think it’s one of the cooler things the WWE has done in awhile. I find that bit about Revelations 22:21 especially interesting. I wonder when Jericho will finally be revealed? Survivor Series, perhaps…

First off…let me say that MR. KENNEDY…KENNEDY…needs to get a huge push and become the champion. I usually do not cheer for the heels, but I like him.

Brian “The Law” Lauderman

I am actually a fan of Kennedy’s as well, and I also hope that we see him as champion sometime within the next year.

As for the belt, I don’t think it’ll be changing. The spinner belt, whether we like it or not, has gotten over as a coveted prize. Replicas of it sell like hotcakes at WWE events. I think it may be the WWE belt design for at least as long as Cena is a part of the title scene, which could be for at least a few more years

That’s it for this week. Don’t forget to write in any question or angry letters. Again, I would love to hear from some of you who are on the anit-Cena side of things, just to better understand where you guys are coming from.