Carlito interrupted John Cena and went on to say that there are a lot of guys hoping to see someone like Sheamus beat Cena for the title. Carlito explained that there are a lot of guys who are tired of Cena hogging the spotlight. He even made note of the hats, shirts, and other merchandise/marketing aspects that Cena carries with him.
It was a blunt statement that many people are tired of John Cena and his gimmick. Nothing like these thoughts had been scripted onto WWE programming since ECW “One Night Stand,” when Cena was the hated heel going against Rob Van Dam. This position of admitting Cena would be the heel was obviously for one night because of the setting.
Every wrestling fan who doesn’t cheer for John Cena would find some agreement in what Carlito said. He was suppose to be speaking for much of the locker room filled with guys who are not at that elite level and left out of he title picture.
While I doubt in real life that most of the locker room filled with Evan Bourne, Shelton Benjamin, Kane, and the others actually dislike Cena for his popularity, what Carlito was scripted to say was true to the perception of many fans. Some of the wrestlers may be upset that they are not given pushes, but I don’t think they blame John Cena. It is no secret that when they are not in character, many guys on the roster acknowledge Cena’s dedication and work ethic that comes with being the face of the company.
The dialogue in what Carlito had to say, and what Jesse Ventura said when he hosted RAW, is what you would think if you are a wrestling fan who chooses not to buy into Cena-mania! I don’t know if the WWE will continue with this concept of young guys being held down and trying to make a change, but it is entertaining.
My complaint as I have said in the past is that Sheamus shouldn’t be the young guy to step up in this situation and get the nod to face Cena.
In relation to utilizing talent and listening to the fans, I want to also talk about the tag team division.
It used to be very good. It use to have classic matches like the TLC matches we saw in the early part of this century. The days of the Road Warriors, Rockers, Steiners, carried a great prestige to tag team wrestling.
Now a tag team match is often a way to let a bunch of big names to come down the ramp but actually wrestle for 2 minutes each. Its like giving the talent the night off without writing them out of the script or reducing them to just cutting a promo.
When we are watching a RAW leading up to a PPV, and we put two or three big name heels up against two or three big name faces, its simply giving the live crowd a chance to see them make their entrances along with time for the commentators to plug each competitors upcoming PPV match. There is hardly any relevancy of story in the tag match itself.
Tag team wrestling use to be a great showing of the good guy team displaying innovative double team moves clashed with the heel team finding every way to cheat behind the referee’s back. I thought Miz and Morrison of doing both while remaining a heel team.
There are so many guys on the roster who are getting paid but not being used on television as much as they could. Put some of these guys together to create some tag teams and give them time for a match to use their in-ring skills together.
If we are going to continue to see the main event picture with the most of the same guys, than the WWE should take the underrated talent who isn’t getting to be prominently involved in singles feuds on RAW or Smackdown and let them be apart of a revitalization of tag team wrestling.
