Ring Crew Commentaries: John Cena is already a heel

By Dubya

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
— Bernard of Clairvaux

The first thought for any professional wrestling fan reading this quote would be the Straight Edge Society. CM Punk’s heel stable running for a year was all about taking the straight edge lifestyle and twisting it into a corrupt, cultist ideal. It was taking it to the extremes that ensured the fans never considered the idea of being alcohol or drug free would be a good thing and even did it during a time when the WWE has been trying to clean up their side of the business of recreational and enhancement drugs. The character allowed the casual WWE fan to scoff at CM Punk and his band of followers while also allowing the smarks of the crowd to still love Punk and his ideals. By doing this, the small minority of fans never drew away from the fact the majority of the crowd was repulsed by them. 

It isn’t very difficult to see what I would mean correlating Bernard of Clairvaux’ quote with John Cena. Cena is the most well intentioned wrestler in the WWE. He has ideals. He has values. He has tenets that he wishes his fans to follow. John Cena has been a man of principle for his run as the ace of World Wrestling Entertainment since 2005. But what is his road to hell?

One of the biggest mistakes the WWE has been a victim of several times is that once the moment comes to turn a heel babyface due to his new found popularity, they change the character. They take away what made people appreciate him. John Cena got huge for being a Stone Cold Steve Austin style wrestler in a new era of the company. Cena swore, got in people’s faces and didn’t, for any better term, give a fuck. People loved his raps and the way he refused to back down. This made him a superstar. The mistake of the company was that on June 6, 2005 the WWE moved John Cena to Monday Night Raw in a clear move that said that Cena was now going to be the ace of the Raw brand, which made him the ace of the whole company. It was by this time that Cena started to change. Cena stopped rapping so much and certainly stopped swearing. What was left was a watered down version of what people originally loved, feeling like a local band signed to a major label. It didn’t feel honest anymore and when facing veterans like Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle, the fans began to split on Cena. 

That was 2005. We’re in 2011.

Seven years later, moving close to eight, John Cena still has a split reaction. To be fair, Cena also has the loudest reaction from the WWE audience. He also moves the most merchandise and is creating a new fanbase growing up on cheering Cena the way kids grew up on Hogan. Currently, the 18-45 demographic still rules supreme for the WWE especially in terms of advertising figures but to continue to cater to that demographic exclusively could cause problems in the future for the company. The problem today is that these new fans being developed directly clash with the current viewers who grew up on previous eras of the company, and you hear it at every live event.

Yet consider what I just explained to you. John Cena is the company man. John Cena is being sold to a smaller slice of WWE fans that simply are getting into the product now, directly clashing with what the dominant demographic of the WWE wants to watch. Since 1998, “company men” were the heels, and if a guy appeals to a minority of fans and is detested by a majority of fans, doesn’t that make him the antagonist?

Well, yes. 

Visit tvtropes.org and look up “Well-Intentioned Extremist”. Now, ignore the wrestling reference of extremist and read the first few sentences of the tropes definition:

“A villain who has an overall goal which the heroes can appreciate in principle, but whose methods of pursuing said goal (such as mass murder) are the problem; despite any sympathy they may have with his cause, the heroes have no choice but to stop him. Taken to extremes, he may fully believe that Utopia Justifies the Means. Such a idealistic extremist is likely to be either a Totalitarian Utilitarian or a Principles Zealot, depending on whether he's aiming For Happiness or For Great Justice.”

Since 2007, fans have screamed for John Cena to turn heel. But why? Mostly because the way Cena acts as a babyface is a way they disgust him and they don’t want to be told to cheer him. But if Cena did turn heel, and he did change his actions, wouldn’t he going back to what made people love him in the first place? Or do they simply want Cena to be pitted against people they like? The truth is, WWE has been doing this for a while. Shawn Michaels faced him at Wrestlemania as a face. Bobby Lashley faced him as a face. CM Punk was booked as a heel against John Cena at Money in the Bank but without question he was both the hero and the protagonist in the storyline. Consider the way The Rock has treated John Cena since they kicked off their feud last year. The Rock acts like a complete jackass and people love him for it. Cena tries to smile through it all and tells the fans how he’s a wrestler and nobody wants to hear it. Why? Because nobody wants to be told how to feel. Nobody wants to be told what is right. They want to decide themselves, and Cena doesn’t give them that opportunity. That’s the crux of it.

Is this all intentional by the WWE? I highly doubt it. I think the company wants everyone to love John Cena, but want them to love him in the way they want him to be portrayed and not in a way that everyone would actually appreciate. Ever since Steve Austin ruined everything for Vince McMahon when Mike Tyson visited Monday Night Raw, there has been no heel bigger than WWE Corporate. Even if John Laurenitis is supposed to represent that in character, nobody represents it in attitude better than the Chain Gang Soldier. For the last seven years, people have been told to cheer Cena for his values and his vigour. But fans don’t want to be told who to cheer. They only want to be told who to boo.

Posted in: CM Punk,Dubya,Heel,John Cena,WWE