After my tirade on John Cena last week I’ve been able to sit down and read through the huge response that came through Twitter, Email and the Comments thread at the bottom of the article.
Firstly, I’d like to address some of the common responses that came up. A lot of people called the article a “Bitch Fest.” Now I agree that I got slightly frustrated but at the end of the day I gave my argument and expressed my opinion and gave reason. If I was having a “Bitch Fest” I would write it into every column without reason, direction or explanation.
A lot of heat was generated on Chavo Guerrero for the comment that he made regarding John Cena and my use of his words. At the end of the day Chavo Guerrero might not appear like a main event level talent but you cannot argue with the fact that he a very solid technical wrestler. The fact whether someone can draw money is not just in their ability to make a connection with the crowd but in also how much exposure WWE can give you. John Cena is plastered all over the place whereas half of the roster is never marketed in the same way. Chavo made the same argument that if Cena was able to put the same effort in the ring as he does in the gym and the appearances then he would be held in high regard without all this negativity.
Other people made comments that if you don’t like Cena then you’re just OLD. I started watching wrestling in 1996 at the age of 12 and from that people I have gone back through as much archives as possible to watch wrestling history. Maybe that makes me old but I wasn’t begging for things to go back to the way they were, I just want a change, I want wrestling to start evolving like it has had to in the past, if that makes me old then so be it. If you read the whole article I didn’t say that the issues with Cena couldn’t be rectified. I wouldn’t have as many issues with him if he started to reach this amount of reigns as he got later into his career but the fact is, the guy could still be on top for over 10 years and we all know that if they book him like this for the next 10 years like they have for the past 6 then he’ll break every championship record possible.
Another argument was that I wanted to ruin the kid’s fun! I’m not expecting them to completely change his character, I’m not trying to spoil the kids fun but small changes would make a massive difference in him catering to ALL audiences! Look at so many products in the world. Take Toy Story for example, is it a kids film? Does it also have a large reference point for adults to enjoy? It caters to ALL. John Cena could be the same. He could improve within the ring more to cater to the diehard wrestling fans. He could alternate his finishes so his character still wins but doesn’t bury his opponent by making him tap out. He could make more edgy promos that won’t offend kids but still entertain adults. But instead all we get is the lazy and safe way of booking things.
People argue that if you don’t like it then you don’t have to watch, that’s a fair point but at the end of the day I WANT to watch, I just want to see better. I want some unpredictability! I want to take interest in John Cena storylines, but there is hardly ever any doubt in the outcomes.
Another point was “If it’s not John Cena then Who?” Well I’m not sure but why does it have to be one man? You can’t have a promotion with one draw. How do we ever know if anyone else could be at the same level of Cena if they never give anyone the same chance? When Cena first won the WWE Championship there was a lot of heat on him as he wasn’t a good performer in a lot of the veteran’s eyes. But they stuck behind him and he held the title for nearly a year. Del Rio gets the same response as he wins the title for his first time and he drops it three weeks later, is that really giving someone a go? Even after 2 months, if Del Rio wasn’t drawing or working out THEN you can go back to your plan of putting the belt back on Cena.
The last argument I wanted to bring up was how someone mentioned that the title never stayed on someone for longer than 2 months during the attitude era and that was apparently the ‘golden age’ of wrestling. Well I don’t entirely agree it was the ‘golden age.’ It was definitely the fresh period of the industry. But if you want to compare that then look at it statistically, we have just had 7 title reigns in 5 months? And that’s just the WWE Championship. Is that really smart booking?
Overall I wanted to thank everyone for expressing their opinions on this. As we all know it’s a subject that is often brought up and is something that fans seem to be split 50/50 on. For people thinking that I hate John Cena then you are wrong, as a person I cannot fault his efforts to promote WWE and give back to the fans at live events and appearances. But I can fault him for not improving over a large period of time and becoming stale between those ropes. People have said that he has made improvements within the ring and I won’t take that entirely away from him but I want more improvements than just a drop kick. Long may the improvements continue, as I would like nothing more than him to be remembered in wrestling history as someone who fans appreciated rather than felt angry about for having too many runs on top and burying talent at the wrong time.
Martyn
You can reach me at beansontoastuk@msn.com or on Twitter at @BeansOnToastUK.
