Would you consider Cena wasted potential?

[ChitownKnight]

Before you start laughing, hear me out. I know the guy was face of the company for a decade and all, but character wise he could have amounted to so much more. His first 6 or so years in the company were perfect, and his veteran character in the end of his full time run was pretty good as well, but they never did the heel turn nor change of characters during his 15 year full time run. I feel like he could of accomplished so much more and the guy has the talent to do it. What do you guys think?

[The Heartbreak TWERK]

John Cena is a big case of If It Ain't Broke.

You could argue based on ratings taking a dive after it became apparent he would never have the same prescence he once did, and his lifetime merch sales that there never was a reason to change him whatsoever.

Of course, that's creatively bankrupt, but that's another argument for another time.

Theoretically, they milked John for all he was worth. It's impossible to prove that a heel turn with him would create a huge ripple like the Hogan turn did, because they never tried.

[clifford]

Not turning him heel once between 2005 and...well...now must be seen as a wasted opportunity. But it terms of getting their mileage out of him, the WWE got their money's worth, an then some.

[The Heartbreak TWERK]

Mar 22, 2019 10:03:28 GMT -5 clifford said:

Not turning him heel once between 2005 and...well...now must be seen as a wasted opportunity. But it terms of getting their mileage out of him, the WWE got their money's worth, an then some.

Especially considering that initially, Big Dave was supposed to be "The Guy" and John was supposed to be "The Batista".

[Ben Wyatt]

Nah.

He's done everything there is to do from a kayfabe standpoint, short of a heel turn. As others have said, he made a crap ton of money for the company with merchandise and after some struggle at first, has gone mainstream.

[Deleted]

Nope.

The heel turn is so predictable that it's refreshing to see someone stay on course.

It is interesting to think about how a heel turn might rejuvenate his career at this point like it did for Hogan in '96.

[xCompackx]

Eh, they got their money out of him. Creatively, John Cena has only rarely been interesting, but he sold a lot of shit.

[Rican]

I will say and have argued before that in some of the more interesting and memorable Cena angles, such as the CM Punk and Daniel Bryan matches, he was essentially functioning as a heel anyway without them doing an outright turn. Like he wasn't doing vicious beatdowns or insulting the fans but he was clearly going to be booed in those stories and they leaned into it. I give a lot of credit to Cena for being able to pull that off. He was great at being whatever the company needed him to be.

[Tea & Crumpets]

Creatively, artistically, from a fan enjoyment perspective? Absolutely. He's been a metronome that stagnated the company's entire output for nearly a decade, and always inserted himself into the cool new things to either kill them (Nexus) or try get shine on himself (The US Open being a chance for Cena to do mindless spotfests).

From a business perspective? Nah. Cena's made them bank. Could they have made more had they taken more chances creatively on him or others? Sure, maybe, but they also might have made a lot less. I don't like it but I can't blame them for taking the safe route if it works for them.

[Deleted]

Between this and the Wasted Potential music thread, I'm convinced a lot of people on this board don't understand what the term actually means.

John Cena is one of the biggest stars in wrestling history. Clearly his potential wasn't wasted.

[Tenshigure]

Mar 22, 2019 11:00:38 GMT -5 Rican said:

I will say and have argued before that in some of the more interesting and memorable Cena angles, such as the CM Punk and Daniel Bryan matches, he was essentially functioning as a heel anyway without them doing an outright turn. Like he wasn't doing vicious beatdowns or insulting the fans but he was clearly going to be booed in those stories and they leaned into it. I give a lot of credit to Cena for being able to pull that off. He was great at being whatever the company needed him to be.

Cena was, and still is for all intentions, WWE's Superman. His righteousness can be used in storylines for both good and evil, and whether everyone agrees with his stance or feel he is an obstacle in the way of the other hero is left to perspective. At the end of the day, his moral code had him stand up for what's right in the end (see: Cena stopping interference vs CM Punk at MITB).

[Dub H]

Yeh,I think so.

Long term Cena booking was more detrimental than positive.

[ERON]

Mar 22, 2019 11:27:52 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

Between this and the Wasted Potential music thread, I'm convinced a lot of people on this board don't understand what the term actually means.

John Cena is one of the biggest stars in wrestling history. Clearly his potential wasn't wasted.

One can be extremely successful, and yet still have had the potential to be even more successful. It's like what CM Punk said about Vince McMahon being a millionaire who should have been a billionaire. So, yes, one could theoretically be one of the biggest stars in wrestling and still be an example of wasted potential, if the opportunity was there for that individual to have accomplished even more, but was not capitalized upon.

That said, I wouldn't put John Cena in that category. I think he has accomplished everything he was capable of accomplishing in his career and then some. There was never any need for a heel turn.

[BoomPeriod]

If he never has a match in NXT then yes.

[Mister Pigwell]

From the Roman match on, yes.

The potential is there for nostalgia pops for the young twenties and teenagers.
The potential is there for the hardcores in the older genertion who finally softened on him.
The potential is there for a grizzled vet run and story.
The potential is there for a former "The Guy" who is still in good graces with the company (for the first time ever) to be used to get very hot programs with upandcomers.
The potential is there to use a decade's worth of sacrificing others to him and make it worth something instead of wasting him and making that decade worth of a very painful superpush meaningless now.
The potential is there for a Hogan-like late career heel turn (yes there's like no chance of this but still, it'd be huge and we're speaking in hypotheticals).
The potential is there for a lot. But WWE/Vince has no idea how to act because every top guy had a falling out with WWE on their way down or during their exit. So instead of figuring it out he just got made to look like a joke in a crap match in a shit program with Roman where the poor guy couldn't keep up with Cena on the mic. Now Cena is just sorta existing and doesn't feel like he matters at all.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Part time Cena has absolutely been wasted potential. They have used him atrociously.

This isn't about him not turning heel before, because he still drew. He had the longest unbroken run on top of the modern era. But he could have done EVEN MORE even showing up sporadically.

[Ben Wyatt]

Mar 22, 2019 11:00:38 GMT -5 Rican said:

I will say and have argued before that in some of the more interesting and memorable Cena angles, such as the CM Punk and Daniel Bryan matches, he was essentially functioning as a heel anyway without them doing an outright turn. Like he wasn't doing vicious beatdowns or insulting the fans but he was clearly going to be booed in those stories and they leaned into it. I give a lot of credit to Cena for being able to pull that off. He was great at being whatever the company needed him to be.

I'd add the RVD match at ONS and he was a borderline heel in the first Rock feud

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

He was like Pedro Morales in a sense, kept the company afloat and did good business but never surpassed the business done by Bruno.

Another thing that hurts him is that he became a mainstream star after he score better movies and became a leading man, not because he was a wrestler like Hogan or Austin and Rock did.

Before the Amy Schumer movie in which he got that breakout role, he was mostly seen as a joke by the mainstream, like his talk show appearances were awkward and he wasn’t very respected.

Regarding the heel run, Cena wanted to do it and they were gonna do it but Vince backed out at the last second.

[Joe Neglia]

Yes.

While he reached the maximum potential WWE allowed for him, there was a lot more there with him had they not been gun-shy on letting another "bigger than the company" guy happen.

[The Thread Barbi]

Mar 22, 2019 14:26:23 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

He was like Pedro Morales in a sense, kept the company afloat and did good business but never surpassed the business done by Bruno.

I don't think it's comparable to be fair.

They took Wrestlemania into stadiums annually, launched the Network, WWE Films all under his watch.

He was instrumental in creating the breeding ground for WWE to make bank on TV deals and really reassess their business model.