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Post by OldDirtyBernie on May 2, 2014 5:31:02 GMT -5
Obviously a lot of people would like to see him go heel. I know that, from a business/money-making standpoint, this isn't going to happen anytime soon BUT - I think they've got the perfect opportunity in this feud with Bray Wyatt. Wyatt's basically out to destroy everything that Cena stands for so you could give Wyatt the win but only after Cena snaps and just kicks the ever loving shit out of Wyatt for a while. The next night on Raw, I'd cue Cena's music but have Wyatt come out to cut a promo about bringing the monster out of Cena, etc etc. Meanwhile, you keep Cena off TV for MONTHS. Milk his popularity a bit more, have him quietly do his make-a-wish stuff and whatnot, plus you give him a chance to heal up any nagging injuries. During the Road to Wrestlemania, Cena runs out and attacks whomever is champion at that point. Brutally. He can eventually promo about how he liked what Wyatt brought out of him and wants to use it to become champion again.
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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on May 2, 2014 6:30:54 GMT -5
Turning him heel is basically all that could do it, and they'll never do that. You can't freshen up babyface Cena, because the fans are sick of it.
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Post by hossfan on May 2, 2014 7:11:32 GMT -5
Part of me doesn't want to see it, because I like the idea of Cena being a person who "rises above hate", but having him take shots at the portion of the audience who can't stand him would change things up quite a bit.
In terms of in ring I think it would be interesting if they had him start fighting a bit more dirty. Hulk Hogan iss the Ur-example of a babyface, but he would pull off some mean stunts during matches. I watched some of his MSG matches on Youtube and in every one he did something heelish (even biting a guy), but people didn't care because he was giving the heel a taste of his own medicine. Extremely unlikely in this day and age, since we have to think of the children when it comes to how to book their wrestling heroes, but watching Cena fighting like a mad dog when the situation calls for it would be a different direction to take.
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Sephiroth
Wade Wilson
Surviving
Posts: 29,061
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Post by Sephiroth on May 2, 2014 7:46:09 GMT -5
Pull a Sting. Have Cena claim that the Authority turned their back on him when he was facing Randy Orton for the title, and that the WWE Universe turned their back on him when he was facing Bray Wyatt, so he no longer has any loyalty to either and considers himself a "free agent." To reflect his changed status, he uses different wardrobe, different music, and does fewer promos. Then do a "bidding war" scenario; The Authority tries to court Cena by playing off how the WWE universe stabbed him in the back during the Wyatt feud, so he really belongs with them-but he refuses and walks away. Then have Daniel Bryan claim Cena should help him and the Shield in their war with The Authority, complete with the crowd doing the "yes" chant, and again, he refuses and walks away. And then, cap it all off with a surprise: Cena interrupts a Paul Heyman promo, Heyman is infuriated and shout "Just who do you think you are and what do you want?" And Cena replies "What do I want?" he grabs Heyman by the collar and shouts "BROCK LESNAR!"
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Post by YAKMAN is ICHIBAN on May 2, 2014 8:30:09 GMT -5
Give him a protégé, maybe even a stable? A sort of face version of evolution, with him in the HHH role.
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Malcolm
Grimlock
Wanted something done about the color of his ring.
May contain ADHD
Posts: 13,485
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Post by Malcolm on May 2, 2014 14:24:25 GMT -5
Have him leave for a while and return as a brooding tweener emo with a black hoodie like AJ Styles.
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Boomaga
Team Rocket
Evolve or Die.
Posts: 800
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Post by Boomaga on May 2, 2014 14:29:58 GMT -5
I watched some of his MSG matches on Youtube and in every one he did something heelish (even biting a guy), but people didn't care because he was giving the heel a taste of his own medicine. Extremely unlikely in this day and age, since we have to think of the children when it comes to how to book their wrestling heroes, but watching Cena fighting like a mad dog when the situation calls for it would be a different direction to take. You got a point here, and when Cena first started turning face and skyrocketing up the ladder, he was taking the shortcuts. It's because it gave him the persona of a scrappy, resourceful underdog rather than the current overpowering, unstoppable megastar. Take for example how the crowd went nuts at Wrestlemania XX when he distracted the ref, and then punched Big Show with the chain to set him up for the FU. They didn't care that he cheated, they loved that he did what it took to win and outsmarted the system. I think that's what Cena needs to do. John Cena nowadays just overpowers his opponent, when he used to outsmart his opponent.
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mrjl
Fry's dog Seymour
Posts: 20,319
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Post by mrjl on May 2, 2014 15:47:14 GMT -5
If they took him out of the jean shorts they need to have him wrestling in different colored jeans. Like in his match with that indy guy who vanished Bryan Danielson where he wore full length yellow jeans
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Post by Hit Girl on May 2, 2014 15:49:13 GMT -5
Cut the childish element of his persona
Instant improvement.
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Post by Kevin Hamilton on May 2, 2014 15:57:22 GMT -5
Honestly some time off would be the number one thing. Some R&R and time away from the camera would do wonders for his perception with the audience. Hell, he could do even more Make-a-Wish stuff in the interim.
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Post by xxshoyuweeniexx on May 2, 2014 16:06:30 GMT -5
The thread with Sheamus made me think he would be perfect in Sheamus's role right now. He can go out, have a match, beat somebody who doesn't matter, then go to the back for the rest of the night.
He can still sell merch, they can still push Make-A-Wish, kids won't riot in the streets, WWE's stock won't go in the toilet, and he can still wrestle. But the fact that they won't change anything at all anytime ever and ever about him is just a detriment to the live audience product. Just having him kill some heel midcarder would solve all of these problems. If they can find a way to write him without a vocal section of the crowd shitting on him, then that'd be great. But they've proven time and time again they have no clue.
So no more storylines for Cena, none.
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Post by angryfan on May 2, 2014 16:13:37 GMT -5
The thread with Sheamus made me think he would be perfect in Sheamus's role right now. He can go out, have a match, beat somebody who doesn't matter, then go to the back for the rest of the night. He can still sell merch, they can still push Make-A-Wish, kids won't riot in the streets, WWE's stock won't go in the toilet, and he can still wrestle. But the fact that they won't change anything at all anytime ever and ever about him is just a detriment to the live audience product. Just having him kill some heel midcarder would solve all of these problems. If they can find a way to write him without a vocal section of the crowd shitting on him, then that'd be great. But they've proven time and time again they have no clue. So no more storylines for Cena, none. This could work fine. I mentioned in another thread he's got the whole "Cenaverse" thing going, where what he does and what happens to him is separate from the show. He's got his target audience that will cheer him no matter what he says or does. Fine there too. Why not make him the anti-Lesnar. Keep the two apart, I'm not suggesting another feud, but same principle as Brock or Shaemus. Enter, win, leave. Five minute promo, five minute match, and boom, you've still got 3 hours of RAW to build other people. He doesn't have to lose (which would hurt his appeal with the kids and casuals), he doesn'thave4 to be fed risings tars (which hurts future business), and he doesn't need to be shoehorned into main event angles. The deal a while back about "stars of the future have to go through me"? Fine, he's now the midcard Undertaker. The midcarder beats him and gets over, and he can "move on" to the main event? Or, just feed Ryback to him week after week. It won't matter.
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Reflecto
Hank Scorpio
The Sorceress' Knight
Posts: 6,847
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Post by Reflecto on May 2, 2014 16:41:29 GMT -5
Nothing, Let's Go Cena, Cena Sucks is ingrained into the minds of the viewers. This leads to the same problem. Making Cena fresh as a face just can't happen, because "Let's Go Cena, Cena Sucks" is ingrained into the minds of the viewers- so the only option to freshen him up is to tweak the dynamic to run with it. If an outright heel turn doesn't work, then the way to emulate Cena would be to take from the Diesel playbook: Just go back to the "I'm not going to apologize for anything I do, but I'm still loyal to MY fans" method. It's not perfect, but then most of Cena's weaknesses are fixed: The "Let's Go Cena/Cena Sucks!" chants have a little more effect if Cena just gives up and says "Wait...i've been around for 12 years, I've been putting on the best matches possible with EVERYONE, like you demand from me. You want the independent stars- if you forgot, I PERSONALLY DEMANDED that your heroes CM Punk and Daniel Bryan get their WWE Title shots against me. And after all of this, you still hate me? Fine. I don't WANT your cheers anymore. I'll be loyal to the people who believe in me...". They increase the Cena merch sales (similar to how the black gloves Diesel sold got more sales when it became clear "If you don't buy this black glove, you're not a real Diesel fan and he thinks you're part of the problem- if you do, you're his fan and he'll brofist you..."), and Cena can continue as he is far better for it.
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Post by Gimpo Commando on May 2, 2014 16:43:36 GMT -5
Nothing, Let's Go Cena, Cena Sucks is ingrained into the minds of the viewers. So you're saying a Two-Face gimmick ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png) Well he's already stealing his lines, he might as well.
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Post by Hit Girl on May 2, 2014 16:47:38 GMT -5
Ultimately it may be impossible. He might simply need a Bash at the Beach moment of shock to be fresh again.
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Post by Gimpo Commando on May 2, 2014 17:04:58 GMT -5
Ultimately it may be impossible. He might simply need a Bash at the Beach moment of shock to be fresh again. The only way I can see a heel turn work is if he ditches his ring gear and merch, wear a suit or casual clothing during promos, bury people on the mic while keeping the douchey grin he has, and sells merch he'll never wear, which he brings to the ring and advertises. He can push the fact that he has the most Make a Wish visits, does a snobby photo op with a kid in the front row, then gives him the John Cena T-Shirt he was advertising earlier by dumping it on the kids head. He can go to shake hands with members of the military at the front row and then snub the hand shake for a salute, leaving the soldier hanging. Little dick moves like that, while getting heat by burying faces for at least a year, while giving post match interviews with Michael Cole in the middle of the ring saying that he overcame the odds and he did it for all the children who need him to win because their parents lose at life, and that the biggest odds he has to face is fighting to keep America from descending into third world status with the culture of mediocrity being passed onto future generations.
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Deleted
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Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2014 22:23:46 GMT -5
I agree with the idea that he needs to ditch the comedy. Cena moves a ton of merch, does a shitload of Make A Wish stuff, and is basically the biggest friend to all children since Gamera. And that's fine. But being a role model to children doesn't mean that Cena needs to act like a literal child. Superman never created dumb Photoshops of Lex Luthor. Goku never made gay jokes about Frieza. Captain America never spraypainted "Red Skull is poopy" on the side of a Panzer tank.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2014 23:02:20 GMT -5
I just had a possible idea. What about some kind of gimmick that takes advantage of some of the stuff that he is? Like maybe some kind of really awesome generous philanthropist. Take shades of the Million Dollar Man, Jay-Z, and Oprah and roll it up into something in which he can wear more up to date clothes and suits on occasion and uses his money and celebrity to get over on the heels. Gives away cool stuff to members of the crowd on occasion (and YOU win a car!) and can even go back a tiny bit to his old hip-hop character roots. Not sure what update to his ring attire that would entail, but I for sure think that is needed regardless. Now that's an idea.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2014 23:41:26 GMT -5
I still think the easiest way to freshen Cena up and give him new stuff to do without turning him heel is to put him in an authority figure role. After HHH's heel boss run is over, give Cena the reins as a fair, honest guy who may be in over his head since he's not the best businessman. I mean after all he's done in the business, it IS the next logical step...
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on May 3, 2014 9:52:34 GMT -5
I still think the easiest way to freshen Cena up and give him new stuff to do without turning him heel is to put him in an authority figure role. After HHH's heel boss run is over, give Cena the reins as a fair, honest guy who may be in over his head since he's not the best businessman. I mean after all he's done in the business, it IS the next logical step... This this this. AND he can still keep the comedy, because he wouldn't be involved in the kind of big fight feuds/angles where his lowbrow humor would "demean" them. Cena making a quick toilet joke in the context of an offhand backstage skit would be perfectly fine.
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