Uh, is Cena not very over any more?

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

I was watching Raw highlights on YouTube (I don't have Sky, so if I watch any Raw it's on YouTube) and Cena was cutting one of his usual promos which even at peak hatred he could get people to react to, and there... wasn't much. McIntyre also didn't get much but his overness fluctuates so I wasn't surprised. Corbin got mega-boos, which also didn't surprise me. I thought maybe it was just a quiet crowd.

But they were way hotter for Finn.

Has all this weird use of Cena since he went part-time cooled his heat? Are people aware he's likely to leave forever one day soon and not buying into him? Has he got nothing to offer any more? Or is it the combination bald spot/JBL hair making people turn away in sheer, overwhelming but truly human disgust?

What's happened to Tha God???

...I obviously haven't seen the whole of Raw so no idea if he got bigger pops elsewhere in the night or if it was just a weird/quiet crowd.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

I've noticed that too. Could be that newer, younger fans know him as this guy who used to be big but just comes back, acts kinda goofy, and loses.

For the older fans it is been there, done that, can't even hate that anymore.

Ideal time for a heel run.

[BorneAgain]

Cena simply isn't a presence in people's mind that much any more. He's not on television or talked about enough to engender a response like there used to be. Those that hated him often did so because he won all the time and/or was always the focus so with neither applying now mutes that reaction. The younger fans that used to like have grown up and he hasn't been around enough to earn the passion of new kids to cheer him.

He's like the uncle that half the family hated and the other half loved, but is now is just that distant relative they don't really think about much.

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

Cena's become the dad who's never there.

[Push R Truth]

Not gone enough to be missed, on too often to be special

[nisidhe]

Cena's the elder statesman now. While he might, _might_, have one more WWE title run left in him (not likely since Flair's still alive), he's no longer the Face of the Company(tm). He's back primarily because a) he's cheaper than the Rock to keep around, b) he's not as "eager" to have a full-time run as Batista says he is, and 3) they need to keep him on payroll lest he gets an offer from AEW (which could be large enough for him to take, especially if a smattering of world titles is on offer.) He's back in order to give back: last night's endorsement of Finn Balor might have seemed to some like thunder-stealing, but is kind of akin to Roddy Piper giving the rub to Bret Hart back in 1992.

Or, perhaps, a precursor to something similar to Hogan helping Savage at WMIV.

[fw91]

Too much of a part timer, and when he does come back around it’s just to say “hey John Cena is here.” Nothing of substance where he can sink his teeth into. Except his feud with Roman, he really hasn’t done anything that heavily featured since becoming a part timer

[eJm]

They spent most of the 2017/2018 WM season (Survivor Series to ‘Mania) turning him from the biggest merch seller to someone the audience are more apathetic to because he loses a lot and whines. Of course he’s less over.

[Pushed to the Moon]

People don't recognise him with his hair now. They think he's a "fake" on some Diesel and Razor shit.

[sportatorium]

Audience knows he’s a part timer now. The entrance pops them, the rest not so much.

[GuyOfOwnage]

Jan 15, 2019 15:53:28 GMT -5 YAKMAN is ICHIBAN said:

I've noticed that too. Could be that newer, younger fans know him as this guy who used to be big but just comes back, acts kinda goofy, and loses.

For the older fans it is been there, done that, can't even hate that anymore.

Ideal time for a heel run.

I guess that just begs the question, who IS Cena meant to appeal to these days? 15 years ago, it was adult males. Then after that, it was predominantly kids. But neither group really cares one way or the other anymore, so I wonder just exactly who his fanbase consists of these days.

[1 Free Moon-Down with Burger]

He got a pretty good reaction when he mentioned becoming 17 time champion and when Heyman said his name in his promo.

[Deleted]

Jan 15, 2019 16:39:05 GMT -5 Pushed to the Moon said:

People don't recognise him with his hair now. They think he's a "fake" on some Diesel and Razor shit.

The hair is f***ing awful.

[Deleted]

His booking over the year he put over Roman/feuded with Corbin/mix tag at Mania/got squashed a year later by Taker killed a lot of his shine. It's still there, but he feels so unimportant now.

[Deleted]

It feels like he's doing a parody of John Cena at this point.

[Final Countdown Jones]

That Taker feud had writing so shitty that it actually managed to sink John Cena himself, a man who could keep a large portion of the audience on his side through some utterly interminable material.

[Slingshot Suplay]

It's the haircut... kids hate the haircut.

[Jake, The Jake, Jake]

Cena should floss. That would get the kids into him again.

[Fade]

Crowd sucked last night, so there’s that.

I think people also know what the score is with Cena and WWE these days.

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

Jan 15, 2019 20:03:32 GMT -5 Jake, The Jake, Jake said:

Cena should floss. That would get the kids into him again.