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Should John Cena Turn Heel?


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76 members have voted

  1. 1. Should Cena turn to the dark side?

    • Yes
      39
    • No
      37


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Having this debate at prowrestlingonly.com. Thought I would bring it here. 

 

Cons

- Lose the #1 Make A Wish star

- Loss of kiddie merchandise

- #1 house show draw

- Claim that the people that boo him will now cheer him and it will be the same 50/50 reaction

 

Pros

- Freshens up the WWE product

- Allows young guys to rise through the ranks to assume #1 babyface

- Create mainstream buzz

- Impossible to trigger another boom with Cena as your #1 face

 

 

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I look at it more as "Can they even think to turn John Cena heel?" and the answer is no.  They can't afford to do anything drastic that would keep them from losing money.  The WWE Network might make them money in the future, but right now it's hurting them.  They need that kiddie merch to sell, they need him to be that Make-a-Wish guy (and bless him for doing that)  And they surely need him to draw what they can for house shows.  Would it be good to freshen things up?  Sure, but it's not going to happen.

 

If they were going to do it the angle with Bray Wyatt was the prime opportunity.  He knew they shat on him, and his promo before Extreme Rules was all the reason he needed to turn heel.  But he didn't, and if not at that point then it's likely never.  Besides, those that boo will see through it and they'll lose the kids.  It's a lose-lose.

 

All I want to see is just him to have an edge to him.  Drop the lame comedy and be serious.  That's it.  Make him a cool motherfucker, because from the little I've seen of him outside of the ring he can be.  Or maybe with all he's done he's so much in machine mode it's too late.  But it's worth trying.  It's too bad he doesn't want to take time off, because it would open up room for somebody else.  I'm hoping when he loses it to Lesnar he slides down the ladder a bit, but that's it for now.

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I still think Cena will have an awesome past-his-prime heel run that lasts about 6 months or so a la Austin, but that's on hold until Bryan gets back at the very least. There's no one else that can carry the face side of things right now. Maybe Ambrose or Reigns can get there, but they're still a ways off. Bryan was the only guy since 2006 that looked like he could take Cena's spot (unless you count those 2 weeks of CM Punk in 2011).

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I think the biggest problem with turning Cena heel is that by doing so you're essentially turning him face to the other half of the audience and you're going to end up worse off for it.

 

If Cena turned heel on Daniel Bryan, you might get a universal heel reaction.

 

Cena's heel turn has to be done just right. I don't doubt that it'll happen eventually but you only get one shot at getting it right.

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Cena and The Authority vs. Daniel Bryan would be a money feud. As we've seen earlier this year, Bryan can easily step into the "Make a Wish" guy role and the kids even seem into him.

 

But Cena is the prototypical WWE guy so watching him feud with Bryan would be entertaining.

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Don't they have a pattern at this level where when there is a super-top guy, and they are building a new super-top guy to take over, they like to hedge their bets by having them both be faces for awhile, team up even.  And then if it looks like the 2nd guy is working they have the older guy turn on him directly, and if it's not (or if Hogan bullshits them into thinking it's not) they can still abandon the plan and have the 2nd guy turn ("you're stealing my thunder and you won't share the spotlight!") and drop back down the card.

 

So until we see someone being John's buddy for awhile, I don't think there's any smoke there.

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Yes, though I think the ideal time to do such a thing has passed.  A Hogan-esque heel turn with him joining the authority would be excellent if done just right, though I mainly say that because it's about the only thing that could happen to make me interested in him.  A scenario I could imagine-

 

-Bryan returns and defeats Lesnar to regain the title

-He grants Cena a title shot at the next ppv and wins

-On Raw the next night Cena comes out and congratulates him, says he respects him as an opponent, all that happy horseshit

-At the end of the show, the Authority sends whomever their brute squad is at the time to tune Bryan up in the ring, Cena comes out seemingly to make the save, but ends up attacking Bryan instead.

-He cuts a promo about how he did everything for the fans, but they still gave him shit.  From then on he goes full into smark-baiting asshole.

 

Of course, he'd eventually re-turn face after a while but it would be something to do for a while.

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Yes, but with a caveat. If it's turning him heel just to turn him heel then it'll be wasted. Cena (Kane and Orton as well) is as stale as twenty year old bread. You need to something fresh and exciting to turn him... it can't be just 'cause.

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Rather than a sudden swerve turn, I'd like to see them eventually do something slower.  He had that run with the Rock where there was kind of an Act II to his overall character.  Where he paid the price for not being serious enough and had to grow up a bit.  He spent a year getting more careful and then proved himself to be a different guy than when it started. 

 

That would have been a great set-up for him then eventually getting more and more serious and starting to resent his fans.

 

But they got distracted from all that with a bunch of old-fashioned "Cena vs. evil" stuff and the Rock stuff is all ancient history now.

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Assuming Lesnar wins at Summerslam (I mean I can't imagine Taker would be happy if he lost), I can see the seeds of Cena finally snapping and turning heel being planted. Cena is everything the company wants in a superstar, but the real fans have voice time and time again they don't want him and his bubble gum act.

 

In the old days you could probably draw something like Cena turning heel to Survivor Series or even The Royal Rumble. But now with everything hinging on network subscription numbers, if Cena was gonna go bad they would probably blow through three or four months worth of stuff in like 3 weeks. That said I can see him losing the title to Brock and whom ever beats Brock (for fun lets say Ambrose cause Bryan's not gonna be back for a while), Cena becomes jealous that the fans would choose someone like that over him.

 

Idealy the best time for Cena to go bad would be a huge match against The Authority where he turns on his partners and stabs everyone in the back. But unless they plan a Wargames match for him to pull a Curt Hennig type move, I can't see a good chance for them to do it and for it really work.

 

But if Bryan can come back sooner and take the title off Brock, then go full steam with Cena turning bad. Bryan is way more likeable than Cena so a jealous causing him to turn dark would absolutley work.

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I agree with the jealousy scenario with someone who's damn near over as he is, but I'm not sure he needs the Authority. He's a big boy on the mic, he can talk for himself. He can hire some muscle if he wants the intereference.

 

I think the whole "selling out and joining the corporation" heel turn is best reserved for people who stand to gain by it, like Rollins. He was at one level in his career, and he wanted to get to the top, so he stabbed his friends in the back and joined the corporation. Cena's already at the top, he doesn't need them. That would cement the Authority on-screen with Cena all the time, shutting them off from helping anyone else, lest they get overexposed by being on TV 2 hours and 30 minutes a Monday instead of 2 hours now. I just don't think either Cena or the Authority need each other.

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I don't see any money in it. The people who are sick of Cena being on top aren't going to change their minds if he grows a beard and starts wearing black. It's a huge gamble losing the kiddy merch, and one I don't think they can afford to take. At least not until Dean Ambrose plastic switch blades and brown paper bags with a mystery item inside start flying off the shelves.

 

People want to compare this to Hogan, but fans in early 1996 hated Hogan or were apathetic to him. Cena is still loved by a good amount of the fan base, and makes money off of them. Plus he doesn't have two red hot main eventers who just jumped ship when that sort of thing rarely happened by his side to freshen up his act.

 

This would end up more like Austin in 2001 instead of Hogan in 1996.

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I think Cena needs to be less corny and have a bit of a gimmick update. Going heel is not the answer, becoming less stale is. I think all the people who 'hate' Cena will turn the corner if the presentation is different. New music, new signature moves, new slogans, and a new 'featured legend' type of push. What is a 'featured legend' push? Cena out-of-the main event scene as THE GUY and instead working the 2nd or 3rd match from the main event against a guy who is on the come up. Cena can make random apperances in multi-man matches on Raw, Smackdown, PPV, etc. but for the most part he should be kept out of the main event proper and as far away from the WHC as possible. Cena should be the gate keeper to the WHC picture.

 

I think making those changes, while not actually turning him heel, will breath much needed life into him as I feel the majority of the Cena backlash are coming from fans who feel its the same old shit at the top of the card and nothing is changing soon because Cena is dedicated to his craft.

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I think Cena should turn heel when he's ready to retire.  The main thing about him turning heel is that it's gotta establish the whoever replaces him as the man, not extending Cena's career on top as a heel and getting even more LOLCENAWINS but just as a heel.

 

Ultimately, what's the goal of turning Cena heel?  That's the important question.

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I think Cena should turn heel when he's ready to retire.  The main thing about him turning heel is that it's gotta establish the whoever replaces him as the man, not extending Cena's career on top as a heel and getting even more LOLCENAWINS but just as a heel.

 

That would be a nice send off for him. That's easily a year long angle. Cena is aiming for his 16th WHC, but HHH decides that he wants to go in a different direction with the company. Cena is upset because he feels its his destiny and he has worked to become the greatest and surpassing Flair's title reigns will cement him as the best of all time. HHH begins to publicly phase Cena out and wants Cena to become more of a WWE ambassador instead of a wrestler. While all of this is going on HHH is promoting the 'younger' guys who are in the WHC picture. Guys like Ziggler, Cesaro, Ryback, Bryan, Bray Wyatt, Bad News Barrett, Reigns, Rollins, and Dean Ambrose.

 

At some point-in-time Cena decides he isn't going to be the suit-and-tie guy HHH wants him to be and will take the WWE title by force. As the weeks roll by some of the top talent is being taken out viciously in the back. No one knows who is it. Finally its revealed that its Cena and Cena cuts the promo of all promos about how he is the best and no one is going to stop him from reaching his destiny, and that he will become the 16 time WHC. With the help of his new lawyer, Dave Otunga, Cena finds a clause in his contract that states he is granted one more title shot before his contract ends. This title shot must occur at Mania. Cena isn't the only one with a lawyer as HHH points out that while what Cena said my be true, it also states that Cena must compete in an X amount of matches before that time and the X amount will be determined by the COO of WWE. This begins the months of Cena running the against the roster and working with guys he never really worked programs with. I'm talking about the Big E.'s, Kofi's, etc. This will allow Cena to work against fresh guys and remain a main focus while Ziggler, Cesaro, Ryback, Bryan, Bray Wyatt, Bad News Barrett, Reigns, Rollins, and Dean Ambrose are in the ACTUALY main events.

 

 

While all of this is going on Cena continues to let everyone know he is going to win the WHC at any costs and will retire with the belt. This all builds up to a show down at WrestleMania (whatever) where its John Cena vs. INSERT WRESTLER WWE REALLY WANTS TO BUILD AS THE LEADER OF THE NEW GENERATION for the vacant WWE title. If Cena wins, he leaves with the title and will forever be the best. However, if Cena loses-- he must retire from in-ring competition for good (HHH's inital wish). Cena loses, shakes the other guy's hand, and cuts a promo about how he forgot that being the best isn't about bragging, taking short cuts, or finding loop holes in contracts. "Being the best is about leaving it all in the ring and INSERT WRESTLER WWE REALLY WANTS TO BUILD AS THE LEADER OF THE NEW GENERATION left it all in the ring tonight! And if this is the way it ends-then there could be no better ending." Cena puts the strap on INSERT WRESTLER WWE REALLY WANTS TO BUILD AS THE LEADER OF THE NEW GENERATION and walks out fo the ring ala Hogan at WM6.

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I think he's already a heel to a certain part of the audience. He delivers cheesy promos and wrestles a traditional '80s babyface style. The adult males in the crowd hate him for it. If he makes a traditional heel turn, those same crowd members will love him again. 

 

As it is, they get the best of both worlds by letting him essentially be a tweener, probably the most effective tweener in the history of pro wrestling. 

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That is the argument that bugs me the most... that the people booing Cena will automatically cheer him. The fans hated him because of the perception he couldn't wrestle and they didn't believe a word that comes out of his mouth. If he turned heel, he would still be booed by that crowd and they will still think he is a corporate hack who can't wrestle. He isn't authentic. He is a fake plastic machine who sticks up for the machine. It doesn't matter if that is who he really is. That is the perception. Daniel Bryan can't cut a promo to save his life but got huge reactions because people believed he was who he appeared to be. It didn't hurt that he was a great wrestler. 

 

Another one that bugs me, Cena is the only one who will be able to entice kids to want merchandise. You know who sold more merchandise than God to kids... Stone Cold. He wasn't marketed to kids on TV (although the countless dolls, action figures, posters, foam fingers, etc. say otherwise) but he was a huge hit for kids. Jeff Hardy was a drugged out loon who sold more merchandise to kids than Cena at his peak. Somebody else will fill the void for kids to latch on to. 

 

Right now, wrestling isn't cool. Cena ISN'T cool. Without a Cena heel turn and the hope somebody else catches fire as THE guy, the WWE has no chance of ever rekindling the casual interest. Anyway, I am not advocating that Cena turn heel on RAW Monday Night but it would be wise if they started looking for the next action figure in their violent soap opera. Turning him heel and opening up that coveted #1 Face spot would be a right step in that direction. 

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That is the argument that bugs me the most... that the people booing Cena will automatically cheer him. The fans hated him because of the perception he couldn't wrestle and they didn't believe a word that comes out of his mouth. If he turned heel, he would still be booed by that crowd and they will still think he is a corporate hack who can't wrestle. He isn't authentic. He is a fake plastic machine who sticks up for the machine. It doesn't matter if that is who he really is. It doesn't matter if that is who he really is. That is the perception. Daniel Bryan can't cut a promo to save his life but got huge reactions because people believed he was who he appeared to be. It didn't hurt that he was a great wrestler.

Cena was pretty damn loved when he was the Doctor of Thuganomics. The dislike for Cena really only started to push strong when he dropped a lot of that and became uncool to older males. It wasn't insincerity that got him booed so much as it was the general character change that made him a more bland.

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Cena still had crowd support until 3 things happened:

1.) He was stripped of any edge he had to him and he became a shallow, pandering bitch.

2.) He was put into that contrived feud with Bischoff, and was overcoming odds that even present day Cena would think are ridiculous.

3.) He got spectacularly lazy in the ring, and was matched with guys who were clearly working circles around him.

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