How would "John Cena" be fixed?

[toddpolt]

Got nothing personal against Senor Cena, and honestly I've come around to him as a wrestler.

But to recycle what's posted every 15 minutes here, his character is rather boring. Yeah yeah I know, I won't rehash the rest.

So here's my snap question: What can or should be done with his character to make it fresh, make you give a crap, and actually might overturn a IWC smark commandment?

It can be done. But how? And no, "heel turn" without elaboration isn't enough.

[Mozenrath]

This isn't about removing the balls, is it?

"How will Cena win with this cone around his neck?!"

[James McCloud IS John Godot]

I don't think there's anything wrong with his character, it just doesn't jive with what happens onscreen. I could get really behind John Cena's confident underdog character if he was actually ever an underdog.

[The Charismatic Enabeler]

I say heel turn back to the old rapper gimmick and a feud with the Undertaker that reaches it's apex at WM. Takers out of credible WM adversaries and Cena would fit the bill.

[Spankymac is sick of the swiss]

Sept 29, 2009 0:24:49 GMT -5 James McCloud IS John Godot said:

I don't think there's anything wrong with his character, it just doesn't jive with what happens onscreen. I could get really behind John Cena's confident underdog character if he was actually ever an underdog.

Exactly. Cena as a character doesn't need fixing. The people writing the storylines for the character need fixing.

[toddpolt]

Sept 29, 2009 0:24:49 GMT -5 James McCloud IS John Godot said:

I don't think there's anything wrong with his character, it just doesn't jive with what happens onscreen. I could get really behind John Cena's confident underdog character if he was actually ever an underdog.

I take it you saw last night.

Not that I blame you.

[Citizen Grimm]

Eliminate the aspect of SuperCena, first and foremost.

Have Cena go back to giving his own promos and not the writer's versions of them.

I think that'd be a quick way to make him watchable again. Maybe get him an extended moveset and a new finisher or something. Just give the man his edge back.

[Allie Kitsune]

Most of what Cena says doesn't seem to fit what he's doing at all.

It almost comes off as backhanded insults, like he's patronizing the poor fool he knows he's going to overcome in the end by faking like he's worrying that he could actually lose.

I'd actually like to hear one of his opponents accuse him of that, or at least say "What? Are you mocking me?"

[Deleted]

What I think would be interesting, and make for good character development, would be for Cena to get in a feud with a heel who he hasn't had a main event run against quite yet.

Not sure who that would be, exactly, but it'd need to be someone of a certain sort to do what I have in mind.

Basically - have Cena get into a title feud with... Know what? Let's say Punk for the purposes of this (though Jericho would work well too, dispute being very familiar to Cena), he fits the mold for what I have in mind perfectly. Basically, have Punk come out (maybe after the feud's been running for a few weeks - could start it off as anything else), cut his usual promo, and Cena interrupts to preach how Punk's views are fun but his character is questionable. Naturally, Punk'd cut in... then claim that Cena isn't as squeaky-clean as they make him out to be.

Cue airing clips of some of the things Cena's done of questionable character, as both a face and heel. The John Ritter comments, some of the stuff from the Guerrero feud, cheating to beat Big Show at Mania, that sort of thing. Naturally could then lead into preaching about how Cena's spotless ideal position is just a facade so the children will love him. Naturally John'd answer that he has done questionable things but he's grown as a person and realized where his preferences lie.

In response, Punk vows to bring out the true John Cena. Cue a systematic destruction of everything Cena holds dear - take the spinner title and destroy it. Take a cue from Edge's book and beat down his dad. Hell, start beating him with a chain like he used to do to people - all the while having Cena grow more and more frustrated, and maybe could in an arena with a hostile crowd have him momentarily snap and scream at them before catching himself and apologizing.

From there you could either turn Cena heel slowly or have him get revenge and recompose himself, but with a new touch of darkness. Either way, it'd greatly liven up his character.

[AriadosMan]

Cena is approaching Kenshiro-level overpoweredness. Dial it down.

[toddpolt]

Sept 29, 2009 0:35:31 GMT -5 AriadosMan said:

Cena is approaching Kenshiro-level overpoweredness. Dial it down.

What was that infamous WCW PPV where Hogan and Savage destroyed the Dungeon of Doom and the Four Horsemen in a cage?

Yeah that came to mind tonight.

[Citizen Grimm]

Sept 29, 2009 0:32:26 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

What I think would be interesting, and make for good character development, would be for Cena to get in a feud with a heel who he hasn't had a main event run against quite yet.

Not sure who that would be, exactly, but it'd need to be someone of a certain sort to do what I have in mind.

Basically - have Cena get into a title feud with... Know what? Let's say Punk for the purposes of this (though Jericho would work well too, dispute being very familiar to Cena), he fits the mold for what I have in mind perfectly. Basically, have Punk come out (maybe after the feud's been running for a few weeks - could start it off as anything else), cut his usual promo, and Cena interrupts to preach how Punk's views are fun but his character is questionable. Naturally, Punk'd cut in... then claim that Cena isn't as squeaky-clean as they make him out to be.

Cue airing clips of some of the things Cena's done of questionable character, as both a face and heel. The John Ritter comments, some of the stuff from the Guerrero feud, cheating to beat Big Show at Mania, that sort of thing. Naturally could then lead into preaching about how Cena's spotless ideal position is just a facade so the children will love him. Naturally John'd answer that he has done questionable things but he's grown as a person and realized where his preferences lie.

In response, Punk vows to bring out the true John Cena. Cue a systematic destruction of everything Cena holds dear - take the spinner title and destroy it. Take a cue from Edge's book and beat down his dad. Hell, start beating him with a chain like he used to do to people - all the while having Cena grow more and more frustrated, and maybe could in an arena with a hostile crowd have him momentarily snap and scream at them before catching himself and apologizing.

From there you could either turn Cena heel slowly or have him get revenge and recompose himself, but with a new touch of darkness. Either way, it'd greatly liven up his character.

I really like this. I've actually been wanting a Face character with a darker edge for a while now. It'd be great to see a Heel push Cena past his moral limits and have him finally snap. He could stay a Face and be fun but once he started to get serious in his promos, you know its about to go down.

I'd actually like to even see something similar with a Heel. Have Cena embarass a midcarder for a few weeks straight, in both promos and matches, and then have the midcarder snap and just pummel the crap out of Cena with a chair or brass knuckles or something.

I thought there we heading that way with Miz after he attacked Show and Cena with a chair but boy was I wrong.

[toddpolt]

Sept 29, 2009 0:32:26 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

What I think would be interesting, and make for good character development, would be for Cena to get in a feud with a heel who he hasn't had a main event run against quite yet.

Brilliant, and Punk is the perfect guy for this. Just remember what he said about Jeff Hardy.

Punk was right.

Thus Punk has legitimacy as the straight-talk heel, the sort who says things that people won't or aren't willing to say on the air.

WWE has in the last year or two (three?) have poked holes* here and there in the Cena superhuman hero and his fans. Almost as red meat to the smarks. Let Punk apply the shiv in the showers.

*=Remember HHH teasing him last year about how his fanbase won't watch their PPV title match because its past their bedtime? ;D

[Lancers]

According to my good friends over at WebMD, the vas deferens from each testicle is clamped, cut, or otherwise sealed. Knowing how Cena overcomes the odds, you'd probably have to do all of the above.

Heh, I typed overcome.

[Allie Kitsune]

Sept 29, 2009 1:03:26 GMT -5 toddpolt said:

Sept 29, 2009 0:32:26 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

What I think would be interesting, and make for good character development, would be for Cena to get in a feud with a heel who he hasn't had a main event run against quite yet.

Brilliant, and Punk is the perfect guy for this. Just remember what he said about Jeff Hardy.

Punk was right.

Thus Punk has legitimacy as the straight-talk heel, the sort who says things that people won't or aren't willing to say on the air.

WWE has in the last year or two (three?) have poked holes* here and there in the Cena superhuman hero and his fans. Almost as red meat to the smarks. Let Punk apply the shiv in the showers.

*=Remember HHH teasing him last year about how his fanbase won't watch their PPV title match because its past their bedtime? ;D

The thing is, you can't have Punk always be perfect and never be wrong, ever, or what's the point of even having anybody else on the roster, except just to feed everybody to him?

[AriadosMan]

Sept 29, 2009 1:05:40 GMT -5 Lancers said:

According to my good friends over at WebMD, the vas deferens from each testicle is clamped, cut, or otherwise sealed. Knowing how Cena overcomes the odds, you'd probably have to do all of the above.

Heh, I typed overcome.

You can't cut Cena, no blading, remember?
Besides, you'd need He-Man's Sword of Power to even give him a paper cut, he's so strong. That is, if he doesn't use Hokuto Ryuken to blow up your head so fast you don't see it. ;D

[toddpolt]

Sept 29, 2009 1:07:13 GMT -5 Allie Kitsune said:

Sept 29, 2009 1:03:26 GMT -5 toddpolt said:

The thing is, you can't have Punk always be perfect and never be wrong, ever, or what's the point of even having anybody else on the roster, except just to feed everybody to him?

I didn't say that?

I only wrote that after the Hardy arrest fiasco, Punk as a villain has an edge in the "truth" smark department. You know whenver that is deployed.

[i.Sarita.com]

First, I'd change his ring attire...then, I'd send him to Smackdown.

[AriadosMan]

Sept 29, 2009 1:19:32 GMT -5 i.Sarita.com said:

First, I'd change his ring attire...then, I'd send him to Smackdown.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

[Push R Truth]

I'd love to see Cena go against a Midcarder like Chris Masters... Cena treats him like a jobber like he did with the Miz, but actually loses the first match.


Cena more or less calls it a fluke. He tries to channel SuperCena the next match against Masters, but gets schooled again.


Frustrated, Cena declares he wants a Submission Match to unleash the beast inside himself. He goes out there with a huge entrance and everybody treats it like Cena is going to kill Masters.... and loses in about 30 seconds to the Master-Lock.


Later, you see Cena backstage more or less having a midlife crisis and he says he needs to figure himself out and find out where he went wrong.






From here on, he leaves for around 3-4 months. I really don't know what he returns as, but I think that would be a great way to give the guy a little rest and a reason to redo a little of his character... and put somebody mega over. It doesn't have to be Masters, but anybody that put down Cena 3 times like that would be an instant Main Event Threat. Maybe do it with somebody like Mark Henry.