Title: Why Is Cena Getting Booed?
prof_plague - December 3, 2005 06:04 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE |
Why Is Cena Getting Booed?
December 2, 2005 by Adam Veltri
I think that everybody has to notice, including the WWE, that John Cena is getting booed more and more. It is happening at the recent ppvs as well as the weekly RAWs. I know I was one of the fans at home last night that was disappointed (or booed) that Cena retained the title. One big reason why I believe the fans are booing Cena is they are simply tired of him. When was the last time a face held the title for such a lengthy period of time? You have to go back to the days of Diesel, Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan for lengthy face title runs. In this day and age, with monthly ppvs and a weekly program, the champs are over exposed and become stale with the fans more quickly. It is bad enough when a heel does it like the recent reigns of JBL and Triple H, but the fans are supposed to boo those guys. The WWE probably thought they were simply getting booed a great deal because JBL and Triple H were such great heels. I do think these two are great heels, however, I think it was more that the fans grew tired of seeing the same guys being champs all the time. When you do this with a face, you are only setting him up to get booed. There is also the idea of it always being more interested in seeing the faces chase a heel a champion. Considering all this, you may ask, what about Batista?
Well, I’m one that would like to see him lose it as well because of what I stated above. However Batista has lost fewer fans than Cena since their title wins simply because of their characters. Cena’s appeal is more to the kids and teenagers growing up on hip hop while Batista has more of a balanced appeal as a face. Fans of all ages can get into his quiet Goldberg-like character spiced with his sarcastic type of humor. With Cena though, the WWE is thinking they are back in the 80s, where most fans are the kids and teenagers. However, when you see the fans in the stands at the arenas, there are definitely more adults than kids out there. Cena’s character has also kind of gone soft so to speak. It kind of happened to the Rock as well awhile back. When Rock was intermittently coming back as a face after being gone for awhile filming his first movie or two the fans were not into him as much. He still made fun of other wrestlers but his act became formulated and not as hard-edged – see feud with Lesnar and the RAW anniversary special. When he tried to be a heel in his feud with Goldberg, he started getting that support back again. He was singing funny songs, ripping on cities and most fans could not help but enjoy his antics. It is that “cool hard edge” that fans enjoy and that is why he actually got as much cheers as Goldberg if not more in their little feud. I believe if Cena got more nasty, even kind of turning tweener or heel he would regain some support or respect so to speak. He was a little more vicious last night when beating up on Masters and I thought I noticed he was looking to the crowd to see what kind of reaction he was getting. Cena’s character has been kind of similar to the Rock in that his funny but mean promos giving him that “cool hard edge” is what turned him from heel to face to begin with. Now, he has become less mean and by doing so less funny and cool to the fans with a more toned-down a formulated character. I believe this formulated character has also led to a formulated unskilled wrestling style.
Since becoming a face, Cena’s wrestling skills haven’t had a chance to grow. He is doing a formulated unskilled wrestling style in the ring and most fans today appreciate good wrestlers more than bad ones – see Benoit, Angle, HBK, and even Triple H. Seeing Cena using more variety of moves (even like that STF last night) will help get him over with the fans as most simply don’t have respect for him as a World Champion. Cena has the repertoire as he has shown in the OVW and his early WWE days, but was probably informed to wrestle a more formulated style because the WWE thinks the fans like faces that do the same repeated spots in the ring. I believe his recent wrestling style is a product of the WWE believing they know what they audience wants and this is the real problem.
The WWE think they know what the fans want by giving us these lengthy face title reigns, a hip hop gimmick appealing to mostly kids, and formulated unskilled wrestling styles. When you combine all of this, I believe you get the real reasons of why Cena is currently getting booed. |
Scrooge McSuck - December 3, 2005 06:14 PM (GMT)
I boo him because he sucks (5 word response), but the guy makes good points, with much more detail.
TheGreatWhiteChoate - December 3, 2005 06:19 PM (GMT)
I like Cena, but don't get me wrong, I think there's plenty of room for improvement. It might be time to retool his gimmick and his style, and a heel turn might not be a half bad idea either.
Scrooge McSuck - December 3, 2005 06:26 PM (GMT)
Cena getting more heel heat than the heels, but remaining face, wrestling as a face, and working the crowd as a face. A good wrestler would pick it up and work heel if he's getting that kind of reaction.
TehDoct0r - December 3, 2005 06:42 PM (GMT)
Is it just me, or did anyone pick up on some of the subtelties he did towards the end of the match on Monday that seemed like he was heeling a bit? The way he reacted to the crowd while he did the "YOU CAN'T SEE ME!" and Five Knuckle Shuffle bit seemed almost kinda mocking, and he looked like a freaking madman during the finish. Of course this was ruined when he had to celebrate to give the cameramen the obligatory fade out shot, but I was intrigued for a minute there, cause it went away from his usual schtick.
Anyway, I think he's getting booed because he's moved completely away from the guy he was when he got over. No rapping, no cocky jokes about other people, no Kill Em All attitude. He's all respectful and full or morals and shit. That didn't get him over. It worked when he was in a program with JBL, cause he was as heel as it gets at that point, but when you're working with guys like Jericho and Angle who have the fans respect, you're gonna get booed a bit.
Scrooge McSuck - December 3, 2005 06:45 PM (GMT)
If he was trying to work heel, he wouldn't have done any of his goofy shit to begin with. Rock would work heel and not do the people's elbow and/or not throw the elbow pad into the crowd to piss fans off.
He was just getting over the "I'm being booked into this crap and I'm fed up with it" shtick.
prof_plague - December 3, 2005 06:57 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Scrooge McSuck @ Dec 3 2005, 12:26 PM) |
| Cena getting more heel heat than the heels, but remaining face, wrestling as a face, and working the crowd as a face. A good wrestler would pick it up and work heel if he's getting that kind of reaction. |
I have a feeling Cena would, but that turn is up to the WWE.
Scrooge McSuck - December 3, 2005 06:58 PM (GMT)
He can still work heel for the one match. It won't kill him, since he's a much better heel than face, and a lot less watered down.
TehDoct0r - December 3, 2005 07:02 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Scrooge McSuck @ Dec 3 2005, 12:45 PM) |
If he was trying to work heel, he wouldn't have done any of his goofy shit to begin with. Rock would work heel and not do the people's elbow and/or not throw the elbow pad into the crowd to piss fans off.
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That's what I'm saying. When Rock works heel, he still does the goofy People's Elbow, he just does it in almost a cocky, mocking way to the fans. I was getting the same vibe from Cena for a minute there, but he's nowhere near Rocky's level, so it didn't come off as good. I did kind of feel it tho.
| QUOTE |
| He was just getting over the "I'm being booked into this crap and I'm fed up with it" shtick. |
It would never happen in a million years, but if they did something where he took subtle jabs at the ACTUAL booking, I could be into that. A vanilla babyface who doesn't want to be a vanilla babyface...... I know it'd never work on a large scale, but it would entertain me personally.
prof_plague - December 3, 2005 07:42 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (TehDoct0r @ Dec 3 2005, 01:02 PM) |
| It would never happen in a million years, but if they did something where he took subtle jabs at the ACTUAL booking, I could be into that. A vanilla babyface who doesn't want to be a vanilla babyface...... I know it'd never work on a large scale, but it would entertain me personally. |
:Vince McMahon reads this and calls-up Russo with a job offer:
TehDoct0r - December 4, 2005 02:00 AM (GMT)
Hhahaha. No way. I said subtle. Russo doesn't know how to be subtle. But then again, neither does anyone on the current writing team, apparently.
prof_plague - December 4, 2005 07:33 AM (GMT)
| QUOTE (TehDoct0r @ Dec 3 2005, 08:00 PM) |
| Hhahaha. No way. I said subtle. Russo doesn't know how to be subtle. But then again, neither does anyone on the current writing team, apparently. |
But whatever do you mean? :shifts eyes: