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Post by angryfan on Apr 9, 2016 17:43:49 GMT -5
I don't see him as mid-90's HBK, or something akin to late WCW stuff. And, honestly, unless a "top guy" comes out and says he's a "me first" guy, then many will just dismiss any claims off hand. Reks comes out and says "He whined over my finisher, he badmouthed me" and the only return comment was "Eh, he's just a jobber". Same for the Tarver situation. Jericho and Edge even dismissed the DDT spot as having blinders on.
Frankly, he's a guy who wants to keep what he has, because it's tied into the entirety of who he is. He loves to do charities and cheerlead the company, and the best way for him to do that is from the top spot. Thus, he has to keep it to keep everything else.
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Post by DZ: WF Legacy on Apr 9, 2016 18:09:04 GMT -5
I hear he's an advocate of Calvin Coolidge.
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Post by MrElijah on Apr 9, 2016 18:29:34 GMT -5
In terms of dirt, I think Taker wins(outside of Vince) via his standing and how long he's been with the company.
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saintpat
El Dandy
Release the hounds!!!
Posts: 7,664
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Post by saintpat on Apr 9, 2016 18:56:26 GMT -5
CM Punk in his interview with Colt Cabana cited Cena as the only other one on the roster (besides himself) who would tell VKM "F--- this, this is stupid" and refuse to do some things. At least the only one he mentioned that would do that on a somewhat regular basis.
I don't know if that's politicking or not, but I'd have to say Punk is a pretty good source.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2016 19:30:46 GMT -5
On an episode of MLW's Writer's Room podcast a few months back, Brian Mann (who had been a writer for the company for only a few months in 2011) said something that I'd never heard before - apparently, PPV main events are (well, were, at least) decided well in advance by Vince, HHH, and...John Cena. Assuming that is true, that could very well be the reason we don't hear about his political maneuvering (if there is a significant amount of politicking) - he would be able to keep it contained to those meetings with Vince and HHH, without anyone else knowing. The f***? Does this mean Reigns will beat everybody unless it's Rollins or Ambrose? I can see it now "Nah man, I don't care if he's popular and he's on a run, he's not in the Shield. Let's let Ambrose or Rollins go over me. f*** Shinsuke. I mean he's cool and all but he ain't stomp with the Big Dog know what I'm saying?"
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Post by Magic knows Black Lives Matter on Apr 9, 2016 19:55:55 GMT -5
Literally every top star that has ever been on top for a significant amount of time has played politics at one point or another. Hogan, Bret, Austin, the list goes on and on. It'd be rather naive to think that Cena hasn't done the same considering that he's on his 10th year as the top star.
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Post by Magic knows Black Lives Matter on Apr 9, 2016 19:57:44 GMT -5
I remember hearing stories Cena was spending way more time with Vince in 2004 and 2005 than the other young upper midcarders which got him pushed over more than Orton or Batista and others. And HHH resented Cena until 2008 because he was getting too close with Vince and HHH wanted his first choice Orton or Batista to be the guy. I don't believe that Cena is some evil politician, but I can believe that HHH resented Cena. Like I honestly believe that all of Cena's bad booking is some kind of "reverse burial" as punishment for not being Orton or Batista, like somehwere down the line, someone in management decided "YOU WANT CENA, FINE. WE'LL GIVE YOU ALL THE CENA YOU WANT UNTIL YOU'RE SICK OF HIM."...No. Just...no.
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Post by ZombieElvis on Apr 9, 2016 21:35:32 GMT -5
I'm sure Cena said no more than a couple of times when asked to do jobs, chaged a few finishes and other political acts. I don't really blame him for any of it since every top guy in every promotion ever has done this.
Flair, Austin, Bret, Hogan, HBK, HHH and many others with the pull.
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wisdomwizard
King Koopa
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Watching you.
Posts: 11,087
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Post by wisdomwizard on Apr 9, 2016 22:10:39 GMT -5
Of course Cena has fought for his spot, as did his predecessors like others here have said. Unfortunately, there are people out there who go out of their way to use what he's done to disparage him as a person, like it isn't enough that they can hate on his character which is perfectly fine; no they have to invent reasons in their own minds why he sucks in real life too.
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Bub (BLM)
Patti Mayonnaise
advocates duck on rodent violence
Fed. Up.
Posts: 37,742
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Post by Bub (BLM) on Apr 9, 2016 22:30:23 GMT -5
CM Punk in his interview with Colt Cabana cited Cena as the only other one on the roster (besides himself) who would tell VKM "F--- this, this is stupid" and refuse to do some things. At least the only one he mentioned that would do that on a someone regular basis. I don't know if that's politicking or not, but I'd have to say Punk is a pretty good source. Given the fact that Punk didn't bury Cena at all in that podcast, I was left to assume that Cena's politicking was at the standard level for any top guy and not on the Hogan/Triple H level. If Cena runs around trying to bury guys left and right, Punk would have destroyed him in that interview because that guy seemingly hates everyone who was on a level above him.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2016 23:36:06 GMT -5
CM Punk in his interview with Colt Cabana cited Cena as the only other one on the roster (besides himself) who would tell VKM "F--- this, this is stupid" and refuse to do some things. At least the only one he mentioned that would do that on a somewhat regular basis. I don't know if that's politicking or not, but I'd have to say Punk is a pretty good source. He has been in some cringey stuff from memory (JBL is poopy, losing a match because of a child with a funny voice, Nexus servant, pushing Ryder into the friendzone then outing his love interest as a slut and so on) makes you wonder just how bad the ideas that he nixed must have been.
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Apr 9, 2016 23:56:48 GMT -5
Judging by the grapevine, I think he protects his spot mainly out of his fixation with trying to help promote WWE and make it grow, sort of a "I can't let this power fall into the wrong hands" scenario.
That's not wishful fanboy thinking, there just aren't that many juicy stories about the dude as there are with the Hogans and HHHs (and I say that as a huge HHH fan) of the biz.
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Apr 10, 2016 0:37:26 GMT -5
In Cena's defense again, babies grew up and went off to college in the time it took Cena to take that DDT, get in to position for the 450, Gabriel to gaze at him, and Cena to move. this has nothing to do with the three sets of time traveling twins of aj & punk. I think we'll hear more about cena being a politician of a wcw hulk Hogan scale once he retires from wrestling.Exactly! It's just one of those things where there are probably a lot of skeletons waiting to pop out of the closet. Like a lot of people who probably have the scoop on this really wouldn't want to say anything right now. A lot of them are still in WWE where Cena is still huge. I'm thinking Miz, Wade Barrett, some of the other Nexus guys, Dolph Ziggler, Dean Ambrose, heck maybe even Damien Sandow.
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Post by -Lithium- on Apr 10, 2016 2:00:41 GMT -5
He strikes me as like a Jay Leno type who would just be like "I'm just doing what the company tells me" when they stupidly choose Cena over someone else in a situation. Like someone who isn't going out of his way to politic directly, but still can find a way reap the benefits of not doing the right thing...
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Post by EvenBaldobombHasAJob on Apr 10, 2016 8:18:23 GMT -5
he certainly has, but no more than any other top star. certainly not on a "member of the kliq who buries people for shits and giggles" level.
the only guy I can think of hearing of him actively burying was Ken Anderson, and it wasn't just him complaining.
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Apr 10, 2016 9:55:09 GMT -5
He strikes me as like a Jay Leno type who would just be like "I'm just doing what the company tells me" when they stupidly choose Cena over someone else in a situation. Like someone who isn't going out of his way to politic directly, but still can find a way reap the benefits of not doing the right thing... Sheds some light on why Michael Tarver really got released. John Cena: And you'll really enjoy the chemistry between Tarver and me! *Cut to Tarver looking sour* Michael Tarver: Shut up, man.
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Post by The Dark Order Inferno on Apr 10, 2016 10:59:09 GMT -5
I don't believe for a moment that Cena has had to pull Hunter/Kliq/Hogan style antics to keep himself on top, his bad booking is the same as every other guy they've wanted to be the face of the company. 'Spoiler: <Face X> wins' has always been par for the course, you could swap Cena for Diesel for Hogan for Mysterio (when they realised he was money) for Reigns and the booking would be the same, Cena is smart enough not to rock that boat, just give a thumbs up in the booking meeting and collect the multimillion dollar paycheque because he knows it's in the company's best interests to keep him strong and heck, he has no reason not to trust them.
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Post by kingoftheindies on Apr 10, 2016 11:35:48 GMT -5
honestly a lot of shoots I've seen recently say that you have more guys trying to politic to Cena to get them pushes, and that's what has worn on him more than anything.
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Post by Stu on Apr 10, 2016 11:54:51 GMT -5
I remember hearing stories Cena was spending way more time with Vince in 2004 and 2005 than the other young upper midcarders which got him pushed over more than Orton or Batista and others. And HHH resented Cena until 2008 because he was getting too close with Vince and HHH wanted his first choice Orton or Batista to be the guy. I don't believe that Cena is some evil politician, but I can believe that HHH resented Cena. Like I honestly believe that all of Cena's bad booking is some kind of "reverse burial" as punishment for not being Orton or Batista, like somehwere down the line, someone in management decided "YOU WANT CENA, FINE. WE'LL GIVE YOU ALL THE CENA YOU WANT UNTIL YOU'RE SICK OF HIM."
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Post by angryfan on Apr 10, 2016 14:22:40 GMT -5
Judging by the grapevine, I think he protects his spot mainly out of his fixation with trying to help promote WWE and make it grow, sort of a "I can't let this power fall into the wrong hands" scenario. That's not wishful fanboy thinking, there just aren't that many juicy stories about the dude as there are with the Hogans and HHHs (and I say that as a huge HHH fan) of the biz. Psychologically, I agree with you, and I think that his own words (scripted as Total Divas is or not) back it up. He said he wouldn't get married because it would take away from what he does, he can't "serve two masters" so to speak. His ability to work with the kids, to do the charity stuff, THAT fills a void for him, gives him a purpose. It's noble as hell. Thing is, when you become THAT focused, and that driven on keeping that one thing that gives you purpose and drive and emotional fulfillment, of course you'll protect it. I don't think it's a malice thing, at least not any more than any other top guy might have gone "Um, no, that's mine, you can't have it" and maybe some petty jock ego stuff that comes with the territory of his background, but I will say that it proves a few things. He WILL, night might, not could, but WILL be another Flair unless he really catches on in Hollywood, because the wrestling industry, at this point, is quite literally all the man has. Parents, siblings, I get that, but he's a single-ish guy in his near 40's who has work and...stuff outside work that still revolves around work. Take work away, take any part of that work away, and things can get dicey.
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