John Cena to blame for WWE's current struggles?

[K2Jelly]

that is probably the most important thing to point out here, Wired is a tech mag, has nothing to do with television of any sort, much less wrestling

See, it's that type of ignorance that offends me as a wrestling fan.

It's bad enough when actual fans, who've been watching the product for years and are actually in touch with it, are the ones who construct these uncouth and baseless examinations on wrestling but when some uncultivated neckbeard decides to take arms, it's just down right insulting.

[TheJosephBanks]

Cena, the man who can pull strings to get into the WWE Title hunt whenever he wants... but has to go through a terrible storyline(Up until that kiss), before getting a WHC Title shot.

[Automatic]

Kayfabe still lives in this article.

[MachoManFan]

I thought it was great article!
Not really, but I thought someone should say something nice before we collective tear the writer a new one.

The whole thing read as if he had the idea to compare Cena/WWE to Animal House and forced the "facts" to fit. He's clearly never watched any WWF product from before the Attitude Era and crosses the line between Kayfabe and back in a way that says to me he'd blame Luke Skywalker for not talking to George Lucas about the Star Wars prequels.

As for what is being suggested: That the best known, biggest draw, highest merchandise selling hero to the target demographic is responsible for WWE's waning appeal, I'd disagree.
WWE is aiming it's product at kids and yet their flagship show runs between 8 and 11pm (I think). Now if we call "kids" under 12's surely even nowadays anything after 9pm is bed time? (I'm 30 and British so I might be out of touch). It's a bit like having Ben 10 and Spongebob on at that hour and bitching about low viewing figures. WWE need to cater to the audience that is watching. Saturday Morning Slam has it right. Raw and Smackdown need to be pitched at teens and adults, they need to respect the intelligence of the audience and spend more time on in ring action, coherent storylines with a genuine payoff and, as someone mentioned on another thread (Friday night Rawdown), understand that if someone missed a show they'll catch up on YouTube and do away with the endless reminders and rebounds that would even annoy Dory from Finding Nemo.

As for Cena, I'll reserve my rage until after he beats Ziggler. 1) I don't think he will. 2) There are ways to maintain Ziggler's push if he does. 3) Cena as WHC could lead to a bright future (unified titles etc.).

[ewantu2]

I think Cena might have something to do with the ratings drop as i have talked to loads of people who stop watching it because of Cena Main event over and over again. But i find it funny how people think they know what goes on backstage.

[joebro]

Biggest load of nonsense i have read in a long time

[Robstar]

I think Cena might have something to do with the ratings drop as i have talked to loads of people who stop watching it because of Cena Main event over and over again. But i find it funny how people think they know what goes on backstage.

Which is pretty much what you're doing with this statement.

[BlazersDozen]

The reason WWE has declined is because creative is horrible, they dont push nearly enough guys to the top of the mountain & they continue using the Attitude Era ways of booking when they don't have the roster for it.

By that I mean only having a few top guys, putting PPV matches on free tv (we should not be seeing Cena V CM Punk in the middle of their fued on a normal episode of RAW EVER). They spent so much time a couple years ago making the entire roster look weak against Cena when they could've been pitting the young guys against eachother here and there and letting HBK, Kane and other older guys put them over instead of feeding them to Cena to be squashed but none of this is Cena's decision. It is creative's and Vince's.

Also, the news of getting a little edgier isn't going to help anything. It might be a short term band aid but as long as they keep booking the way they do then it won't do anything for them in the long run.

[bmh67wa]

I find it funny that this article is no different than the garbage that some of the obvious Cena haters here have been spouting off for a long time. There are several people here who could have wrote this article themselves. LOL

I'm guessing that people were saying some of the same things about Hogan back in the day too but they didn't have the internet to voice their opinions with back then so the scale of how many people heard it was much smaller.

While Cena might get away with directing his own storylines more than most of the other wrestlers, McMahon, who has been known to change outcomes and angles at the last moment during live events, is the final say in what goes on during "his" show. Even the almighty Undertaker ultimately answers to the same man if he wants a paycheck.

You can hate on Cena all that you want but at least hate him for reasons that are within his control. He doesn't solely deserve the bad rap for the state of wrestling. It's just that Cena has been the centerpoint for a long time now and is starting to wear on everyone just as Hogan had when his welcome was running thin. The way that they are pushing Sheamus right now it wouldn't come as a shock to me to see similar articles with his name in the place of Cena's in a few years.

If anything, because of social media and the ease of the fans to get their voices out there for all to hear, the fans are just as much at fault here for the current state of the WWE as anyone else. If as much effort was made by the live audiences to air their displeasure, as they seem to have no problem doing it on the internet, then things wouldn't be as bad as everyone makes claim to it being today. Quit buying tickets or PPV streams. Quit attending live events or if you do boo loudly at EVERYTHING or don't make a noise at all. Crowd reaction plays a big part in pushing storylines. Quit watching WWE programming on TV so their ratings drop. Eventually Vince would either have to see the light or fail.