Ruthless Aggression a failed planned Cena Era?

[Dave at the Movies]

They really really tried to push this back in 2002. I have a theory about it and here it is.

I think they always wanted Cena to be their top guy from the first day he debuted against Kurt Angle in a pretty damn good match. He had a great showing in that match and showed he could work in the ring.

If you remember he came out iin response to McMahon's big Ruthless Aggression speech which i think is pretty obvious was WWE's attempt to create a new era after the Invasion angle fizzled out.

I believe that what happen was Cena wasn't getting over as just a short tights wearing guy who made a ruthless aggression constipated face during matches. Shortly after the whole Ruthless Aggresion phrase became a joke.(Benoit even came out with a shirt that said Toothless Aggression. lol)

I don't think it was until they let Cena be himself that he got over. And then I think they only decided he shoudl be a midcard and didn't have plans for a main event. But once he lit fire as a heel and then morphed into a face in his Carlito and JBL feuds I think that was the momentum they needed to do exactly what they had planned for him all along.

Today I believe Cena resembles the way he debuted. Hardly any sign of a gimmick and mad faces. Only this time he has on urban clothes. Honestly I think if they want to make him the top guy like they originally wanted him to be they need to let him go back to that gritty style that made people like him in the first place. The current gimmick he has is a shell of it's former self and he has only been in WWE for 7 years.

WWE use to build up on good gimmicks like Cena's old thuganomics one. With Steve Austin you had pretty much the same thing. They brought him in under a stupid gimmick like they did Cena and it wasn't until he came up with his own gimmick and put in his own personality that he got over. The reason Austiin worked though was because they kept building the gimmick up to something better until it peaked around 1998-2000. With Cena they just reverted back to what they started with some how in some crazy upside down world 4 year transformation.


Here is Cena's debut for any that haven't seen it. it is pretty obvious to me just by watching this that Ruthless Aggression was suppose to be the Cena Era. I couldn't find Vince's big speech about Ruthless Aggression though.



What do you guys think?

[Ryushinku]

Interesting theory but I personally don't think so. I think it was more a case of them deciding to jump on Vince's speech to give Cena a handy plantform to get onto the roster, not that he was intended to get pushed to the moon asap.

They already had big angles in place to be resolved so there wouldn't have been anywhere convenient for him to suddenly come in. I don't think they even realised how big he'd get, just thought he showed a lot of promise and a match against Angle (who was having great matches for fun those days) would be a good debut.

[S-Chrome]

You know, that's a pretty damn good assessment. Cena went from nothing to heel rapper to somewhat tweener, to face rapper, to Marine, and now there's absolutely no discernible gimmick.

[wrestlecrapcrap]

I don't think Cena was ever meant to have this 'instant' main event push. I think they knew he had potential, could talk and work, but Lesnar was supposed to be the poster boy for the era. Cena came in like Orton as a plucky mid-carder and they just used the Ruthless Agression speech as a way to debut him.

[I Like Your Poetry]

Cena got pushed to the main event too soon in 2005, not here.

And for the record, can we link to this match anytime tries complaining that Cena only knows 4 moves? He's clearly a brawler now, but does know how to keep a match together.

[Fade is a CodyCryBaby]

I don't think they saw him as an instant Main Eventer or anything but I thought it was a strong way to bring him in. They certainly saw potential in him. But he was flunking around for a while..I even heard he was close to getting fired before Steph overhead him "Freestyling" and decided to go with the Thuganomics gimmick..

But I agree with the OP and the majority of how Cena just is today.

[Metalheadbanger Man]

Dec 29, 2009 12:13:23 GMT -5 I Like Your Poetry said:

Cena got pushed to the main event too soon in 2005, not here.

And for the record, can we link to this match anytime tries complaining that Cena only knows 4 moves? He's clearly a brawler now, but does know how to keep a match together.

Oh yeah. Watching his earlier matches, where he busts out dropkicks, DDTs, powerbombs etc...makes me sad that how all he basically does is that sequence of about 5 moves that starts with a shoulderblock and ends with a STF.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

No, I think Ruthless Aggression was a generic slogan to define the WWE at the time it was first post-Attitude, rather than it specifically being Cena-centric. Lesnar was the long-term guy at the time, or at least that was in WWE's plans. As it turned out, Cena was just bitten by a bigger wrestling bug and Brock moved on.

I've seen WWE seriously wanting a future main-eventer more in the debuts of guys like Batista, Punk and Kennedy (and two of those were more successful than the other).

[lildude8218]

no, if it was Poopy Aggression then maybe

[cabbageboy]

Ruthless Aggression was more of a theme to push Lesnar in 2002, not Cena. And it was also a way to bury Rob Van Dam, who was somewhat the top face at that point but was too laid back and stoned to be all that ruthless or aggressive.