Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2018 11:46:46 GMT -5
Lemme see.
Cena was way more popular. Cena was better on the mic. Cena was better in the ring. Cena could pull out better matches against shittier guys. Cena didn't start out as a Golden Boy and had to work his ass off and was only picked after the 3 other guys didn't work out. Cena could turn shit angles, segments, promos and matches into greatness better than Reigns can. Cena sold way more merchandise than Reigns. Cena felt like he was The Guy rather than Reigns feeling like he's someone in The Guy's position who the fans won't accept. Cena's push felt organic while Roman's feels manufactured. Cena didn't ride the coattails of indy dudes to be popular and he continued to evolve his gimmick unlike Reigns.
Yes, Cena was better than Reigns.
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Urethra Franklin
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Post by Urethra Franklin on Aug 5, 2018 11:49:35 GMT -5
Cena was obviously a superior mic performer and I give him the edge in the ring, too.
And that’s not to say Roman is a bad worker because he’s not. I just think Cena was better.
But I don’t think the issue is that at all. Even at the height of “SPOILER: Cena wins,” there was never this heavy a feeling of him being hammered down the throats of the viewers like there has been with Roman. People are rejecting Reigns because of how many times the WWE is going back to this well.
Imagine there’s a TV series that takes place in medieval times. The whole plot of the first season is the story of a knight taking out the corrupt king. In the season finale, he finally does it.
Well, the critics and fans of the show don’t really like it. They hate it at worst and are indifferent at best.
The show responds by doing the exact same storyline for Season 2. And Season 3. And Season 4.
That’s an entirely nonsensical scenario because what show would be stupid enough to do that? Well, I give you WWE.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2018 11:54:46 GMT -5
Cena was painful, but Reigns is more painful.
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Jiren
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Post by Jiren on Aug 5, 2018 12:00:09 GMT -5
I abhor Cena but his push wasn't as nauseating and spiteful as Roman's.
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Post by Mister Pigwell on Aug 5, 2018 12:00:35 GMT -5
Unquestionably.
And I'll just flat out admit it, it was at least FUN to hate on Cena. Reigns. Man I just shake my head and groan with him. The dude isn't fun in any regard.
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Post by Cyno on Aug 5, 2018 12:06:26 GMT -5
I've always been a Cena fan even when his superpush was at its most divisive. Yeah, there were times where I got sick of him being champion, but I always liked watching his matches and the dude only improved in the ring over the years where he became one of the most consistent performers in the WWE.
Roman isn't fit to sniff his sneakers and jorts.
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Post by edgestar on Aug 5, 2018 12:11:21 GMT -5
Cena handled the hate, in a different stride.
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Post by Toilet Paper Roll on Aug 5, 2018 12:13:14 GMT -5
I don't think some people have grasped just how bad the continued Reigns super push has been.
Fans have made clear they don't want him for damn near five years and hes main eventing summer slam for the title.
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Aug 5, 2018 12:24:41 GMT -5
Unquestionably. And I'll just flat out admit it, it was at least FUN to hate on Cena. Reigns. Man I just shake my head and groan with him. The dude isn't fun in any regard. Yep... not to mention Cena was still liked by a large chunk of the audience... not least in part because it was fun to boo Cena... Roman just isn't.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2018 12:38:04 GMT -5
I don't think some people have grasped just how bad the continued Reigns super push has been. Fans have made clear they don't want him for damn near five years and hes main eventing summer slam for the title. Roman's push is unquestionably the most bizarre thing I've seen out of the 20+ years of wrestling that I've watched. I remember randomly turning to WCW for the first time ever and seeing Nash randomly show up there, I remember the Matt/Edge stuff, I remember a lot of things but this Roman thing? I've never seen anything like it. It's just crazy.
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DragonMasterP
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Post by DragonMasterP on Aug 5, 2018 12:49:38 GMT -5
Cena by far.
Also, in addition to what has been pointed out already, Cena was charismatic, Reigns isn’t.
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Post by Cyno on Aug 5, 2018 12:55:17 GMT -5
Unquestionably. And I'll just flat out admit it, it was at least FUN to hate on Cena. Reigns. Man I just shake my head and groan with him. The dude isn't fun in any regard. Yep... not to mention Cena was still liked by a large chunk of the audience... not least in part because it was fun to boo Cena... Roman just isn't. Love or hate Cena, he was never boring. He always knew how to play to a crowd that either loved him, was 50/50, or despised him. I still think one of his most memorable matches was when he lost the WWE Championship to RVD at ECW One Night Stand. He knew he was going to be booed mercilessly, especially as he was SuperCena Prime at the time, and adapted to playing the heel for the match well.
Roman's just boring and tiresome. And that's the biggest problem. I don't want to cheer him. Booing him isn't very fun at all, either. I just want him to go away.
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mo
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Post by mo on Aug 5, 2018 13:07:21 GMT -5
Cena is better but I couldn’t stand his run at the top.
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Post by ritt works hard fo da chickens on Aug 5, 2018 13:07:27 GMT -5
Cena ended Triple H's reign. People forget how bad the show was before Cena. His push ended the reign of terror. He was the only one they trusted to dethrone the King of Kings.
Reigns initial push ended Daniel Bryan's. And when that fell flat they tried to make Brock someone people wanted detroned by anyone thinking we would then be ok with Reigns.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2018 13:18:41 GMT -5
But I don’t think the issue is that at all. Even at the height of “SPOILER: Cena wins,” there was never this heavy a feeling of him being hammered down the throats of the viewers like there has been with Roman. People are rejecting Reigns because of how many times the WWE is going back to this well. I don't agree with this. In more recent years Cena's relationship with fans has been more healthy and a lot of the boos seem to be more playful but fans were pretty frustrated with him during his peak years in a similar fashion to Roman Reigns now. I think a big part of why Roman is having such a hard time right now is because we had been through this with Cena and people don't want shitty top babyfaces anymore. In the thick of it, they'd been doing similar things with Cena, like simmering down Christian's push because it's getting in John's way. They pummelled us with endless feuds like the one with Edge where they were literally cutting promos on each other saying how this is the greatest feud since Austin/Rock. They sacrificed storyline integrity to keep Cena strong, like with Bray Wyatt and Nexus, and even Brock Lesnar in the early goings of his second run. They had Kurt Angle say he doesn't like black people and wants to tap out Jesus Christ just to try and get him some boos over Cena and that was in the early stages of the whole thing. There's no doubt that Roman Reigns is on a whole other level in terms of wild top babyface experiments, to such an obnoxious level it's amazing to me. But it's a really amped up version of the template they used for John Cena.
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Magnus the Magnificent
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Post by Magnus the Magnificent on Aug 5, 2018 13:36:19 GMT -5
Cena ended Triple H's reign. People forget how bad the show was before Cena. His push ended the reign of terror. He was the only one they trusted to dethrone the King of Kings.
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Post by xxshoyuweeniexx on Aug 5, 2018 13:38:02 GMT -5
Also compared to his contemporaries, unlike with Cena, he doesn’t stand out in a way that makes you go “yeah he’s the most popular guy and ticks off the most boxes with people so I see why they’re pushing him”.
With Cena, you could tell he had the edge over Batista and Orton at the time. He had a better attitude, better in the ring, less injury prone, and was more popular with kids. What does Roman have over Seth? Both have been injuries for months at a time in the middle of a push, Seth’s better in the ring, Seth’s just as popular with kids if not more so since Burn it Down became a thing, and neither are troublemakers.
Unless “he’s related to the Rock and maybe a movie studio will be dumb enough to let us put Rock in a match with Roman where he gets hurt again costing them millions” is a leg up on Seth then he’s just pushed like this cause the 72 year old control freak says so.
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Post by 2coldMack is even more baffled on Aug 5, 2018 13:38:54 GMT -5
Unquestionably. And I'll just flat out admit it, it was at least FUN to hate on Cena. Reigns. Man I just shake my head and groan with him. The dude isn't fun in any regard. Pretty much. Cena had FUN with it. Cena was clever about it. Every part of this thing with Reigns is increasingly sad and cringey.
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EyeofTyr
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Post by EyeofTyr on Aug 5, 2018 13:50:04 GMT -5
Cena's initial push into the main event was terrible. Like, point blank, it was bad. It exposed him a lot as being nowhere near ready for the position he was vaulted into when he was put in there with such seasoned talent like Christian, Jericho and Angle, Michaels, Triple H and even Edge. Many of them only being able to carry him to presentable matches and outside of them Cena was usually stinking up the joint. I know there's some revisionist history going on about the "good old days" of Cena's run, but let's not mince words, Cena was so hated that he was the first person to actually get Triple H a face reaction in years. Which back then was a very impressive feat as even the majority of the casual fans hated and were weary of H's presence.
This run also saw Cena at arguably his most jingoist and homophobic in terms of character work and promo work, as during which he morphed into his "Marine" gimmick.
But for me there's one thing that makes even that era of Cena more tolerable than Reigns' current ascent.
They committed.
They put the belt on Cena and they committed for better or for worse with him as their top guy.
Reigns has been in the same holding patterns for the better part of a decade now and feels like a sitcom "Will they, won't they?" scenario that's tedious to watch play out. Because they give him enough to make him the center of attention and deny any other talent the ability to potentially move up into the position of the top guy. But they won't actually go all in.
Also while arguably a comparable start, Cena by this point in his run had improved by leaps and bounds and had grown into his role as the top guy legitimately by putting on some great, memorable matches and generally getting better on the mic and having better material to work with.
Reigns has not improved to that degree, having several noticeable amounts during this run of extreme regression for extended periods of time before refinding his footing.
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Post by The Dark Order Inferno on Aug 5, 2018 14:06:59 GMT -5
Cena had the fans on side during his push to the world title but lost them after the Marine came out and they shaved off everything that fans liked about his character and replaced it with winning a lot. Reigns has never had the fan support to be where he is on the card, people liked him as a tag guy but that was part of a group, and when it became clear people weren't on board with his journey to a fixture in the Wrestlemania main event as a solo performer, they kept at it anyway.
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