Cena: Better bloody than humiliated. photo by Hub Pacheco
by Jeff Ty
February 27, 2006 (March 18, 2006 here in the Philippines; 2-week delay) was the day when the loudest boos for John Cena since New Year's Revolution were heard live on television. This was the night when he stalled and tested the crowd reaction but unfortunately, he was disapprovingly booed and booed to the point that he should have broke down to tears. This was the night when one of his co-workers, namely Triple H, his Wrestlemania 22 opponent, shot directly on his wrestling skills (ouch). Worse, the heel (Triple H) got cheered instead of the face (John Cena). Damn, John Cena was like a little nerd nodding to whatever the big bully (Triple H) said. John Cena apparently got lost. He had lost his touch. The Champ could have never been so low and humiliated in that edition of Raw.
This is a disgrace. This is an outage. This is disturbing me. I don't know what to say. I'm speechless.
I don't get the logic that a face should be booed that bad. There has been some circumstances that it did happen, but for some specific reasons. Christy Hemme was booed, of course, but not as a wrestler, but because she was a product of the TV time-consuming Raw Diva Search. Edge was booed in his hometown of Toronto at Summerslam 2004, but again not as a wrestler, but because the Toronto fans were quite an eccentric and disrespectful (I feel for the sympathetic comments of an American internet wrestling columnist) bunch of Canadian die-hards stemming from the Montreal Screwjob. Rey Mysterio got his own share of boos by performing the 619, a WWE-created finishing maneuver, on ECW One Night Stand that earned the ire of ECW loyalists and "Extreme-ists". Alas, John Cena was booed. As a wrestler himself.
I just don't really get it. John Cena was supposed to be a heel, but it was the fans that actually willed him to be a face. Personally, I hate newcomers, especially the heel ones. The likes of John Cena, Randy Orton, Chris Masters, Carlito, Snitsky, Muhammad Hassan, and (aargh) the Spirit Squad. Except for the last one, I have learned to appreciate what they have brought to the table and are able to show that they have something to prove. When John Cena began tangling with veterans in the ring like Undertaker (Vengeance 2003) and Kurt Angle (No Mercy 2003); created a fad like "Chain Gang", a catchphrase like "You Can't See Me", a new and cool (?) wrestling move called the "Five Knuckle Shuffle", and a devastating finishing maneuver, "F-U", fans live on TV and worldwide including me were amazed at this young man's rise to superstardom. His face turn culminated at Survivor Series 2003 when he was able to hoist up the 500-pound the Big Show and deliver an F-U. At Wrestlemania 21, he beat JBL to become WWE Champion for the first time to the delight of the fans. In other words, "The Champ Is Here!"
But his status as a face was jeopardized when he was drafted to Raw from Smackdown! last July 2005. I don't think that should have materialized. I feel that you are more pressured to excel and carry the brand if you are on the flagship brand, which is Raw. Fans generally would pay more attention to Raw than Smackdown!, whoever the wrestlers are. This exposed Cena's wrestling shortcomings, my God. Not only that, he was thrown into a program with the then-heel Kurt Angle. This ultimately killed John Cena. Kurt Angle, even though he worked as a heel, still is a tough and respected wrestling professional, and that was the reason why some fans continue to cheer for him. In every Cena-Angle match, you would hear trading cheers of "Let's go Cena" and "Let's go Angle". As for John Cena, his character has grown stale and remained unchanged since he made that face turn in late 2003. And adding the fact that he was given the WWE Championship, it meant that he has to push himself more to even greater heights and exert more effort than before. An example would be Batista. An "animal" like him was able to mesh with smooth wrestlers like the late Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio, a change from his physical counterpart, Triple H. Still, he delivered the goods, and even increasing his fanbase and wrestling skills in the process. Compare Batista to John Cena. You'll be the judge. By late 2005, "Cena Sucks" chants were sporadically heard on arenas hosting Raw. At New Year's Revolution, fans cheered for the supposedly hated Edge for cashing in the "Money In The Bank" and steal the WWE Championship away from Cena. The fans were excited to remove the belt from Cena's waist and give it to someone else more deserving, like Edge who has been with WWE for a decade now. John Cena has worn out his welcome to the WWE fans, unfortunately.
John Cena has become too cheesy for the WWE fans, especially the knowledgeable ones and/or the smarks (smart marks). But for less knowledgeable fans, mostly women and children, his babyface character is ideal to them. But his wrestling offense lacks transitional timing, and tends to utilize clotheslines too much. He would show flashes, of course, but the only things I like about his wrestling, honestly, is the F-U and STFU (his submission move). Of course, he is still a face. No wonder the Araneta Coliseum capacity crowd literally erupted when his entrance music hit. However, I could not imagine that as far as Manila would Cena hear deregatory chants about him. I think that this was really obnoxious on the part of those "Cena Sucks"-shouting fans. C'mon, give the visiting guest some love. What, show Cena and his co-wrestlers that Filipinos are no different from the American fans? From the looks of it, it sounded unsincere and unemotional, seemingly afraid that Cena would retaliate and beat the living hell out of them. Even though I am also influenced by the alarming response to Cena's wrestling incompetence, I still cheered for him and kind of marked out when I first saw his entrance last Feb. 24. After all, he has remained professional all about these stuff.
It was an honor to witness a fighting WWE Champion right here in my hometown remaining true to his senses and worked the capacity crowd beautifully, acknowledging the overwhelming support from most of the Filipino fans. It was nice to see him take these "Cena Sucks" insults professionally, pretend that he ain't hearing nothing negative, and fortunately didn't snapped to call out whoever those nagmamagaling fans out to the ring. Hahaha, what if they faced Cena in the ring? Who now sucks in a wrestling ring?
I just hope tha Triple H won't suck the air out of Cena like Kurt Angle did, albeit it was not really Angle's fault, it was that he was just a true wrestling technician and veteran that people like to give him the credit he deserves by cheering for him. However, my hope for Triple H not to overshadow Cena is quite slim. Although Cena got the biggest pop of both dates at Araneta Coliseum, it was mostly vocal shouts and cheers. You just can't imagine the eerie silence, as a sign of recognition that a true star wrestler would enter, just before Triple H's music hit, and when it did hit, the crowd reaction was very special. Special, or unique. It just can't be described, you have to see it to experience the atmosphere. It was not only out of admiration and awe, it was this one crucial factor that Cena doesn't have: respect. That seven-letter word, I tell you, is truly difficult to earn in the WWE. If Cena hopes to be a main-event player for years to come and be remembered not as a fluke, he should shake off the cobwebs and revitalize his character. Otherwise, even I would believe that he truly sucks for this.
I still don't believe that the Washington D.C. fans did that to Cena on February 27, 2006. I just don't know what to say.
February 27, 2006 (March 18, 2006 here in the Philippines; 2-week delay) was the day when the loudest boos for John Cena since New Year's Revolution were heard live on television. This was the night when he stalled and tested the crowd reaction but unfortunately, he was disapprovingly booed and booed to the point that he should have broke down to tears. This was the night when one of his co-workers, namely Triple H, his Wrestlemania 22 opponent, shot directly on his wrestling skills (ouch). Worse, the heel (Triple H) got cheered instead of the face (John Cena). Damn, John Cena was like a little nerd nodding to whatever the big bully (Triple H) said. John Cena apparently got lost. He had lost his touch. The Champ could have never been so low and humiliated in that edition of Raw.
This is a disgrace. This is an outage. This is disturbing me. I don't know what to say. I'm speechless.
I don't get the logic that a face should be booed that bad. There has been some circumstances that it did happen, but for some specific reasons. Christy Hemme was booed, of course, but not as a wrestler, but because she was a product of the TV time-consuming Raw Diva Search. Edge was booed in his hometown of Toronto at Summerslam 2004, but again not as a wrestler, but because the Toronto fans were quite an eccentric and disrespectful (I feel for the sympathetic comments of an American internet wrestling columnist) bunch of Canadian die-hards stemming from the Montreal Screwjob. Rey Mysterio got his own share of boos by performing the 619, a WWE-created finishing maneuver, on ECW One Night Stand that earned the ire of ECW loyalists and "Extreme-ists". Alas, John Cena was booed. As a wrestler himself.
I just don't really get it. John Cena was supposed to be a heel, but it was the fans that actually willed him to be a face. Personally, I hate newcomers, especially the heel ones. The likes of John Cena, Randy Orton, Chris Masters, Carlito, Snitsky, Muhammad Hassan, and (aargh) the Spirit Squad. Except for the last one, I have learned to appreciate what they have brought to the table and are able to show that they have something to prove. When John Cena began tangling with veterans in the ring like Undertaker (Vengeance 2003) and Kurt Angle (No Mercy 2003); created a fad like "Chain Gang", a catchphrase like "You Can't See Me", a new and cool (?) wrestling move called the "Five Knuckle Shuffle", and a devastating finishing maneuver, "F-U", fans live on TV and worldwide including me were amazed at this young man's rise to superstardom. His face turn culminated at Survivor Series 2003 when he was able to hoist up the 500-pound the Big Show and deliver an F-U. At Wrestlemania 21, he beat JBL to become WWE Champion for the first time to the delight of the fans. In other words, "The Champ Is Here!"
But his status as a face was jeopardized when he was drafted to Raw from Smackdown! last July 2005. I don't think that should have materialized. I feel that you are more pressured to excel and carry the brand if you are on the flagship brand, which is Raw. Fans generally would pay more attention to Raw than Smackdown!, whoever the wrestlers are. This exposed Cena's wrestling shortcomings, my God. Not only that, he was thrown into a program with the then-heel Kurt Angle. This ultimately killed John Cena. Kurt Angle, even though he worked as a heel, still is a tough and respected wrestling professional, and that was the reason why some fans continue to cheer for him. In every Cena-Angle match, you would hear trading cheers of "Let's go Cena" and "Let's go Angle". As for John Cena, his character has grown stale and remained unchanged since he made that face turn in late 2003. And adding the fact that he was given the WWE Championship, it meant that he has to push himself more to even greater heights and exert more effort than before. An example would be Batista. An "animal" like him was able to mesh with smooth wrestlers like the late Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio, a change from his physical counterpart, Triple H. Still, he delivered the goods, and even increasing his fanbase and wrestling skills in the process. Compare Batista to John Cena. You'll be the judge. By late 2005, "Cena Sucks" chants were sporadically heard on arenas hosting Raw. At New Year's Revolution, fans cheered for the supposedly hated Edge for cashing in the "Money In The Bank" and steal the WWE Championship away from Cena. The fans were excited to remove the belt from Cena's waist and give it to someone else more deserving, like Edge who has been with WWE for a decade now. John Cena has worn out his welcome to the WWE fans, unfortunately.
John Cena has become too cheesy for the WWE fans, especially the knowledgeable ones and/or the smarks (smart marks). But for less knowledgeable fans, mostly women and children, his babyface character is ideal to them. But his wrestling offense lacks transitional timing, and tends to utilize clotheslines too much. He would show flashes, of course, but the only things I like about his wrestling, honestly, is the F-U and STFU (his submission move). Of course, he is still a face. No wonder the Araneta Coliseum capacity crowd literally erupted when his entrance music hit. However, I could not imagine that as far as Manila would Cena hear deregatory chants about him. I think that this was really obnoxious on the part of those "Cena Sucks"-shouting fans. C'mon, give the visiting guest some love. What, show Cena and his co-wrestlers that Filipinos are no different from the American fans? From the looks of it, it sounded unsincere and unemotional, seemingly afraid that Cena would retaliate and beat the living hell out of them. Even though I am also influenced by the alarming response to Cena's wrestling incompetence, I still cheered for him and kind of marked out when I first saw his entrance last Feb. 24. After all, he has remained professional all about these stuff.
It was an honor to witness a fighting WWE Champion right here in my hometown remaining true to his senses and worked the capacity crowd beautifully, acknowledging the overwhelming support from most of the Filipino fans. It was nice to see him take these "Cena Sucks" insults professionally, pretend that he ain't hearing nothing negative, and fortunately didn't snapped to call out whoever those nagmamagaling fans out to the ring. Hahaha, what if they faced Cena in the ring? Who now sucks in a wrestling ring?
I just hope tha Triple H won't suck the air out of Cena like Kurt Angle did, albeit it was not really Angle's fault, it was that he was just a true wrestling technician and veteran that people like to give him the credit he deserves by cheering for him. However, my hope for Triple H not to overshadow Cena is quite slim. Although Cena got the biggest pop of both dates at Araneta Coliseum, it was mostly vocal shouts and cheers. You just can't imagine the eerie silence, as a sign of recognition that a true star wrestler would enter, just before Triple H's music hit, and when it did hit, the crowd reaction was very special. Special, or unique. It just can't be described, you have to see it to experience the atmosphere. It was not only out of admiration and awe, it was this one crucial factor that Cena doesn't have: respect. That seven-letter word, I tell you, is truly difficult to earn in the WWE. If Cena hopes to be a main-event player for years to come and be remembered not as a fluke, he should shake off the cobwebs and revitalize his character. Otherwise, even I would believe that he truly sucks for this.
I still don't believe that the Washington D.C. fans did that to Cena on February 27, 2006. I just don't know what to say.
