He’s the face of the company. He’s a multi-time world champion. He’s the highest merchandise seller in the
company. Kids love him, most adults seem to hate. John Cena is a man that has
been around since 2002 and has played a few different personas In his time with
the WWE. After he ditched the tight pink shorts he debuted in, he became the “doctor
of thuganomics.” Now though, Cena has evolved again. He’s now the face of the
WWE and preaches “never give up.” He’s portrayed as one of the good guys and is
seen as a role-model by many of the younger members of the WWE Universe.
He’s been preaching the same
message for years again but now we can all see its time for him to change
again. A heel turn is something a lot of the WWE Universe seems to crave. I can’t
see it happening though. Admittedly his gimmick is stale. We’re fed up of the
same stuff being recited to us over and over again. We’re bored of the same old
thing. I personally like Cena but the gimmick is old and now, there are many
people who want to boo him. They want a reason to hate Cena and that’s why fans
are so eager to see a heel turn. The main question is, is this “best for
business?” The truth of it is no. As noted before he’s the top merchandise seller
in the company by far as kids love him. All the company actually cares about,
no matter how much they say it’s all about the WWE universe, is the money.
I can’t envisage a Cena heel turn
but I can see a revamp to Cena’s character. I remember when Cena was in his “word
Life” “doctor of thuganomics” stage and although it worked at the time and was
in my eyes, massively entertaining bringing back that gimmick is not a good
idea. cutting as of late, Cena’s promos have involved him talking a lot about the future of the WWE and
the new talents that look set to join the main roster. He’s name dropped Cesaro, Sami Zayn and Adrien Neville to name a
few and I believe, one way to make Cena work would be to put him in a faction
with a lot of young guys. Slternatively he could unite with superstars who have
had failed pushes or are in need of a revamp. I’ve discussed him being part of
a faction with guys like Dolph Ziggler and Ryback in a previous article, “factions
are the way forward. Part 3.” I’m not going to bore you all and go into that
again.
I do genuinely think though that
putting Cena with guys from NXT would work and although many of them are actually
better than him in ring, he could act as an on screen mentor. He could take
guys like Adrien Neville and Sami Zayn under his wing and use his main event
status to guide them to the top. This is something I could actually see
happening but as Cena isn’t going to be out of the ring for a long time (if he
avoids a career ending injury) this would be less likely to work. If I was
Vince, I would avoid having a GM for the moment. I’d wait for Cena to sustain
an injury and then, I’d have him work as the on-screen GM. He’d be installed by
Vince to fight against The Authority and that would be a story-line in itself. It
could lead to a feud between HHH and Cena but I won’t go into that now.
I know it could take a long time for the
opportunity for this storyline to materialise but it could work if it came
about and it would be a plus for WWE as even if Cena was injured. They could
still get him on the T.V. He would be seen to push the top new baby faces with great
technical ability to the top which would help boost his popularity with the
audience as the majorith of the WWE Universe actually want to see guys with
good in-ring ability compete. I only say this as I am aware that some people
actually only care about the storylines. This would work for both the up and
coming superstars he takes under his wing and Cena himself so it is something I
feel the WWE should consider if Cena picks up an injury anytime soon. The authority
could then be seen to take the next generation of heels under thing and push
them to the top. This would help introduce a new breed of talent into the main
roster and help introduce the new generation of top guys onto the main event
scene. I think this could give the character of Cena new lease of life and help
put the new breed over.
Aside from him starting a new
faction or becoming GM and helping legitimise the latest generation of
superstars I can’t think how the WWE could rebrand Cena’s character without
turning him heel which is something I can’t
see happening. I could be wrong though, I’ve been shocked recently by what the
WWE has done e.g. having Brock end the streak and Seth Rollins turning heel to join
Evolution. What the WWE will do with Cena I don’t know I just hope they do
alter the character slightly. The reason why I can’t see it as I think the character
of Cena changing is I think, it’s actually a reflection on the real John Cena
and a lot of his personality is in his on screen character. He needs cut out
the dodgy comedy and needs to show his real drive to get to the top and to help
the young characters get there as well. Anyway
if any of you have any suggestion on what the WWE could do other than turn Cena
heel, please leave your suggestion in the comment section. Cheers for reading.
