|
One of the things with Cena is that he had a real "Homer Simpson through the eyes of Frank Grimes" deal going on. Like back in the day, we had Bobby Heenan and Jesse Ventura to straight-up call out Hogan and Warrior for their character flaws. We were meant to disagree with them, but at least it was something. The company was so all-in on Cena that not even heel commentators could say bad stuff about him. Everything he did was great and right and none of his decisions could be questioned. Add to this that despite being considered the nicest guy ever, Cena's stories inadvertently made him look like a total rear end in a top hat, especially to his friends. Like one story people always go to is when the WWE title was vacated. On Raw, they started doing an eight-man tournament to crown a new champion. An episode of Raw started with the tournament finals, where Rey Mysterio defeated the Miz. Then backstage, as Mysterio celebrated, he was told that he would be defending it against Cena in the main event. Cena, who hadn't wrestled in over a week. Nobody mentioned what a dick move this was. And if one of Cena's allies did finally start pointing out his lovely actions, Cena would say, "Nice speech," and start rambling about how the other guy is a weak crybaby who will lose this Sunday at WWE No Mercy. There's also how afraid Vince was to show Cena in a weak state. There was a big story where he lost to the Rock at WrestleMania and got his win back at the following WrestleMania. The year in-between was supposed to be this soul-shattering time where Cena was dealing with being a gigantic failure. Only... not really. He was still doing great! For instance, the night after Rock's win, Cena got attacked by a returning Brock Lesnar. They had a match at the next PPV. Instead of going the sensible route and having Brock win, Cena still won. Then he kept winning PPV main events despite not even being champion. WWE simply couldn't commit to their own plot because they were afraid of Cena actually losing.
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 15:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 28, 2024 09:51 |
|
|
Ad by Khad posted:if anyone actually does this, please include hunter's "me and my friend mark" promo which has aged and continues to age absolutely beautifully Also the bit where (IIRC) Vince, Shane, Stephanie and her husband Paul Triple H are all in the ring telling the fans they're in charge and things are going to be completely different from now on, and then absolutely nothing about the WWE product changed one bit. This is important not just for the comedy value of that segment aging like fine milk, but also because (again, IIRC) it was done because they thought they'd signed The Young Bucks (and possibly Kenny Omega? My memory's a little fuzzy there) until the Bucks decided at the last minute not to take WWE's offer and wound up eventually helping start AEW instead.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 15:44
|
|
|
Sydney Bottocks posted:Also the bit where (IIRC) Vince, Shane, Stephanie and her husband Paul Triple H are all in the ring telling the fans they're in charge and things are going to be completely different from now on, and then absolutely nothing about the WWE product changed one bit. Lol. Like anyone is going to pry the company from Vince's hands. He'll be 150, and plugged into life support on a golden throne booking the company in 2100. And it'll still be the same poo poo.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 18:05
|
|
|
Cornwind Evil posted:I said in my Hell In A Cell posts that people generally get into wrestling for two reasons: as a calling, or a job. I believe Cena is the former, or at least, leans that way much more than the latter. Admittedly, he didn’t start as a wrestler-to-be; he was originally a bodybuilder. Whether that was just what he did first before moving onto his desired career, or not, that’s what happened. If anyone remembers Atom Films (YouTube before YouTube was a thing, with a focus on short films), I remember watching some video that was a prototype to those prank channels you saw pop up a few years back. I can't remember the premise all that well, but I do remember a very large, muscley, veiny man coming out and screaming at people. I unfortunately can't find it anywhere and even IMDB doesn't make mention of it in his credits. But this is pretty much what he looked like then.  It should also be noted that in Cena's early days in WWE, he would always come out in tights with matching colors to the football team of wherever they were doing shows that day. Then he went into his rapper phase that was like the opposite of Kerwin White yet somehow worse, with raps about how gay he thinks you are. Then after filming The Marine, he'd now salute and wear camo jorts. And I don't know where things went from there because that's when I stopped watching. But the guy's character had always been about pandering and throwing poo poo at the wall and seeing what sticks. And whatever didn't stick, well, they're gonna use your face to wipe it up and press you up against the wall and then say "Look! They love it!"
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 18:53
|
|
|
I absolutely hated the ARE TROOP poo poo Worse yet, apparently ex military people ate it up
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 19:49
|
|
|
Elephant Ambush posted:I absolutely hated the ARE TROOP poo poo How dare a company with a history of pandering to American patriotism, use American patriotism as a pandering tool! And those loving soldiers, that signed up to fight for thier country, they like it? Gross. Ugh.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 20:04
|
|
|
Elephant Ambush posted:I absolutely hated the ARE TROOP poo poo I'm prior service military and i thought it was dumb because the John cena was never in the service. Sergeant Slaughter was also never in the military but that's ok because he was a cartoon character My favorite incident of Cena looking like a full-on douche was on Total Divas. His wife decided to cook him a nice dinner and he arrived while she was cooking and he was completely aghast and angry that she would dare to cook in the flawless kitchen of their massive empty mansion. He angrily scrubbed the whole kitchen with clorox wipes and then insisted that they go out to eat.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 20:08
|
|
|
titties posted:I'm prior service military and i thought it was dumb because the John cena was never in the service. Sergeant Slaughter was also never in the military but that's ok because he was a cartoon character I'm ex military too and that's another reason I hated it. Homie is not TROOP because he played one in a movie. Also my pedantic side was always like "you don't salute indoors what are you even doing?" Trollologist posted:How dare a company with a history of pandering to American patriotism, use American patriotism as a pandering tool! You're incredibly stupid lol
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 20:13
|
|
|
Guys it's ok to pander to warmongering and jingoism if it sells shitloads of t-shirts. I mean it's always been like that UGH how dare you hate lovely things.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 20:15
|
|
|
4+ decades of cartoonish racism also made millions of dollars so it's impossible to say whether it's good or bad
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 20:16
|
|
|
Elephant Ambush posted:I'm ex military too Thank you for your service. *does the british military swat-the-fly-on-the-end-of-your-penis salute indoors* *knocks 10% off the price of your double meat subway club*
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 20:19
|
|
|
Ex-military here also who absolutely loathed WWE's pandering via John Cena, that was the corniest horseshit ever
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 20:19
|
|
|
sgt. slaughter has lied about serving in the military a few times but slaughter is probably so brain poisoned by wrestling he might actually believe he was in the military now lmao
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 20:24
|
|
|
Elephant Ambush posted:Worse yet, apparently ex military people ate it up Elephant Ambush posted:I'm ex military too and that's another reason I hated it.  Elephant Ambush posted:You're incredibly stupid lol 
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 20:29
|
|
|
Elephant Ambush posted:Also my pedantic side was always like "you don't salute indoors what are you even doing?" 
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 20:34
|
|
|
*thanks doink the clown for his service*
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 21:10
|
|
|
shadow puppet of a posted:At least 7% of Cena's net popularity comes from the first few seconds of his Raaaaapppadooooo intro once the horns kick in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi_iHB2-HEA
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 21:20
|
|
|
AEW Revolution is tomorrow night. It's probably going to kick rear end. Here's a post about it. HANGMAN ADAM PAGE (C) VS. ADAM COLE AEW Championship Adam Page and Adam Cole were both part of the Elite, a faction born out of the Bullet Club. Years ago, Cole left to sign with WWE, where he became a major part of NXT and led the stable Undisputed Era. As AEW started, Hangman spent years going from the self-hating, alcoholic weak link of the Elite, to being kicked out and rebuilding himself to the point that he defeated Kenny Omega to become the company’s champion. Since defeating Omega at the last PPV, Hangman has successfully defended the title against the likes of Bryan Danielson and Lance Archer. Since showing up in AEW a few months ago, Adam Cole has been undefeated in singles action (not counting an unsanctioned hardcore match) and has earned his way into a title shot. Cole has been followed to AEW by his Undisputed Era buddies Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly. While he wants to have all of his allies working on the same page as part of his plan to become the top guy, said mission hasn’t been working out so well. Still, he has since gotten the best of Hangman by duct taping him to the ropes while beating up his buddies from the Dark Order and then smacking Hangman around. JURASSIC EXPRESS (C) VS. REDRAGON VS. THE YOUNG BUCKS Triple Threat for AEW Tag Team Championship Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy recently became tag team champions after defeating the Lucha Brothers. Since then, they have been taking on all comers, though they’ve been light on actual feuds and storylines. Luckily, even though they’re stuck in a three-way match, their opponents might be too focused on each other and let the Jurassic Express succeed. As mentioned, Adam Cole is friends with both the Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) and his teammates from his NXT days reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly). As much as Cole wants the two teams to be on the same page, there’s too much tension and distrust. To crown new #1 contenders, AEW had two contests. First was a tag team battle royal. In the end, reDRagon won after betraying the Bucks. The second contest was a tag team Royal Rumble. This time, the Bucks won. Now it’s all going to come to a head. DR. BRITT BAKER, DMD (C) VS. THUNDER ROSA AEW Women’s Championship About a year ago, Baker and Rosa had a violent feud that led itself to a “Lights Out” match, where anything goes, but it’s unsanctioned and doesn’t count towards your win-loss record. Thunder Rosa won the bloody match and the feud. Baker sprang back from her loss by going on a streak of wins that got her into the title picture. Since then, she’s been a dominant champion, thanks in part to her henchwomen Jamie Hayter and Rebel. Recently, she sent Mercedes Martinez after Thunder Rosa as another hired gun. When Rosa won their match, the two showed each other respect. Baker didn’t like that, so she and her crew laid them both out. JADE CARGILL (C) VS. TAY CONTI TBS Championship Jade has been undefeated since appearing in AEW and shows no signs of stopping. The inaugural TBS Champion has been growing bored with her lack of true competition, but now fan-favorite Tay Conti has answered the call and hopes to be the first to take Jade out. She probably won’t, though. FACE OF THE REVOLUTION LADDER MATCH Winner Becomes #1 Contender for the TNT Championship It explains itself. It’s a ladder match with six entrants, all of which had to earn their way into the match. They are: Keith Lee (defeated Isiah Kassidy): Former top guy in NXT, WWE dropped the ball on him and fired him. He made his AEW debut in his qualifying match, where he showed off his insane strength. Wardlow (defeated Max Caster): MJF’s long-suffering bodyguard is the favorite to win the match. The War Dog has been threatening to overshadow (or even just beat up) his boss for a long time and this is his window to success. Powerhouse Hobbs (defeated Dante Martin): Representing Team Taz, Hobbs adds to the muscle in what is normally a match filled with high-flyers. Luckily, Hobbs has an ally in the ring with him... Ricky Starks (defeated Dark Order’s 10): Taz’s main protégé has been getting confrontational with Keith Lee going into this match, which is easy when you have someone the size of Hobbs watching your back. Orange Cassidy (defeated Anthony Bowens): A trickster god in the form of a slacker, Orange Cassidy barely understands what a ladder match even is. He’ll try anyway. Maybe. Whatever. Christian Cage (defeated Ethan Page): Helped innovate the ladder match in his younger days and has definitely been in more ladder matches than everyone else in the match combined. CM PUNK VS. MJF Dog Collar Match CM Punk and MJF have had many a war of words since crossing paths. MJF was ducking Punk quite a bit, but when they did have a singles match, MJF won via cheating, the match got restarted, then won via cheating again. As far as he’s concerned, he beat Punk twice in Punk’s hometown. Punk earned a second match with MJF and got to name the stipulation. Inspired by an old match between Roddy Piper and Greg Valentine from the 80s, as well as an old match he had with Raven in Ring of Honor, Punk chose a dog collar match. The two will wear collars connected by a chain so there is no escape for MJF. MJF reacted to this news by baring his soul to the audience. He talked up how when he was younger, he dealt with a learning disability and being bullied for his Jewish heritage. When his hero CM Punk walked out of WWE, MJF took it badly and it turned him into a sociopath. Punk showed compassion for this admission, but once he let his guard down, MJF punted him in the nuts, busted him open, and hung him over the ropes by the chained collar. CHRIS JERICHO VS. EDDIE KINGSTON Chris Jericho led his faction the Inner Circle for quite a while, which includes the tag team Santana and Ortiz. The two have long been friends with Eddie Kingston, who isn’t so keen on Jericho. Eddie feels that Jericho’s been holding the two back and Santana and Ortiz have come to agree with him, annoyed by their lack of tag title opportunities. The Inner Circle has started to implode and Jericho has lashed out at Eddie for his meddling. The two have agreed to face each other at Revolution, but Jericho has made a point that Eddie is a career failure. He’s been at many AEW PPVs and has yet to win one. Jericho feels that Eddie really needs to win a big match for once in his life and promises to show him some real respect if Eddie wins. BRYAN DANIELSON VS. JON MOXLEY So, funny thing. They were setting up Jon Moxley to go through a heel turn and challenge for the title. Then everything stopped in its tracks as Moxley left to go do rehab for his alcoholism. When he came back, there was no way they were going to have him continue his heel turn. Instead, his spot was given to Bryan Danielson, who became more of a violent rear end in a top hat in his attempts to dethrone Hangman. When Moxley returned, Bryan seemed to be scouting him. Bryan told him that he was not interested in just having a match with Moxley. He wants to give back to the AEW locker room by joining forces with Moxley and mentoring the young talent so they could hone their skills and become increasingly violent. Moxley seems somewhat interested in this suggestion, but refuses to fight alongside somebody unless he can bleed with them in the ring. Bryan reluctantly agrees to this showdown. ANDRADE EL IDOLO, MATT HARDY, AND ISIAH KASSIDY VS. DARBY ALLIN, STING, AND SAMMY GUEVARA Tornado tag match HFO (Hardy Front Office) recently became AHFO after Matt Hardy started to work with Andrade El Idolo. Andrade has been very interested in buying the services of Darby Allin, who he both believes to be a child and also an employee of Sting (as opposed to his partner/protégé). Andrade has had little luck in purchasing this "child," so he made sure to beat him up and teach him a lesson. Andrade got involved with Darby Allin’s attempts to defeat Sammy Guevara for the TNT Championship, which culminated in a triple threat between the three. Sammy retained his title, though Darby seemed too frustrated to shake his hand afterwards. There have been some cracks showing in AHFO’s side as well. Matt Hardy doesn’t like how Isiah Kassidy has been losing lately and even walked out during one of his matches. Andrade, meanwhile, has been supportive of Isiah and even made sure to tag him in during a six-man tag match just so Isiah could get the pin. HOUSE OF BLACK VS. DEATH TRIANGLE The Lucha Brothers lost the tag team titles in a match where Rey Fenix busted up his arm. While this was going on, their stable the Death Triangle had already made enemies of the sinister Malakai Black. Black had spit his cursed, black mist into both of Pac’s eyes and blinded him for a while. He also spit his mist into Penta’s face, poisoning his soul or whatever it does. Black also introduced Brody King as his personal muscle to have his back. Pac and Penta returned, more devious than before, but focused on making the House of Black pay. While they were able to win a tag match, the two guys from Death Triangle were then attacked by House of Black’s newest member, Buddy Matthews. With Fenix still on the mend, they challenged the House of Black with a different third man: a debuting Erick Redbeard (formerly known as Erick Rowan in WWE). LEYLA HIRSCH VS. KRIS STATLANDER (Pre-Show) The tiny grappler Leyla Hirsch and alien weirdo Kris Statlander used to team up every now and then, but Leyla’s ego started to get in the way and she insisted on getting the pin whenever possible. Soon she turned on Statlander and smashed her with a chair. Statlander is pissed about that and has even gone to claim that Leyla was adopted because her birth parents thought she was too much of a piece of poo poo to keep around. Wow. HOOK VS. QT MARSHALL (Pre-Show) Ever since debuting on Rampage, “The Handsome Devil” Hook has been unstoppable. He’s also been going through a handful of QT Marshall’s students. QT was one of Hook’s trainers and doesn’t seem to enjoy the kid’s success. He has been getting in the rookie’s face over and over again and so far it hasn’t exactly worked out well for the veteran.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 21:35
|
|
|
jesus christ AEW's doing the bloated Wrestlemania style cards already?
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 21:41
|
|
|
Tazz's son looks like a cartoon character from like a really bitching anime about kickboxing or smething
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 21:44
|
|
|
That’s a lot of matches and it’s only like a third of their roster. Their catering bill must either be enormous or it’s just a huge pot of franks and beans with the franks slyly picked out for the vegetarians.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 21:47
|
|
|
Peggy Edson posted:jesus christ AEW's doing the bloated Wrestlemania style cards already? Why not? AEW is here for a good time, not a long time.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 21:47
|
|
|
I finally got around to finishing that 20 minute minidoc about Scott Hall and gently caress man, I'm convinced his son is in wrestling just to give the old man an excuse not to drink himself to death. Christ. Stephanie comes off pretty poo poo in her little bit, too.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 21:48
|
|
|
stephenie compared the steroid trials to 9/11 lmao
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 22:00
|
|
|
Trollologist posted:Why not? AEW is here for a good time, not a long time. 4-5 hour shows are not fun
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 22:02
|
|
|
‘After the Sheik and Hacksaw Jim got caught sniffing coke in the parking lot his career fell faster than Owen Heart’
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 22:57
|
|
|
Peggy Edson posted:4-5 hour shows are not fun Maybe not for you, but I'm getting the impression that AEW is more interested in what Tony Kahn wants to see.
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 23:05
|
|
|
Trollologist posted:Maybe not for you, but I'm getting the impression that AEW is more interested in what Tony Kahn wants to see. the cycle continues
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2022 23:45
|
|
|
rumours coming out that wwe offered cody rhodes a big number if he jumped ship, and then after aew put out a press release saying he was leaving the number was magically half of what they discussed that's some old-time carny music
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2022 00:05
|
|
|
Vince is totally gonna make Codes dress up in a holographic neon jumpsuit with the most rear end-blistering makeup on and assume the heel personality of WOKEDUST for shits and giggles.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2022 00:35
|
|
|
FilthyImp posted:Vince is totally gonna make Codes dress up in a holographic neon jumpsuit with the most rear end-blistering makeup on and assume the heel personality of WOKEDUST for shits and giggles. Cody might just start his own wrestling company. That'll show em
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2022 00:39
|
|
|
Cody Rhodes sucks rear end
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2022 00:40
|
|
|
FilthyImp posted:Vince is totally gonna make Codes dress up in a holographic neon jumpsuit with the most rear end-blistering makeup on and assume the heel personality of WOKEDUST for shits and giggles. he's going to to wear dusty's polka dots and then be murdered by vince on an episode of RAW
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2022 00:47
|
|
|
Cubone posted:MJF cut a promo a short while ago about... well, I'm not going to be able to do it justice, but it would be insane to me for someone to suggest that this is somehow guilty of not taking itself seriously holy crap that’s a promo and a half. I actually kind of want to see this match now.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2022 00:54
|
|
|
it’s not for nothing that MJF’s had/having angles with Chris Jericho and CM Punk; dude is a red-hot talent and is only getting better Cody Rhodes is a gatdang doofus, whom I still find more relatable and worthy of respect than Triple H
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2022 01:34
|
|
|
Cubone posted:Tazz's son looks like a cartoon character from like a really bitching anime about kickboxing or smething He's pretty much literally Baki the Grappler 
Elephant Ambush fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Mar 6, 2022 |
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2022 01:43
|
|
|
Prof. Crocodile posted:holy crap that’s a promo and a half. I actually kind of want to see this match now. The follow up really clenches it. https://youtu.be/2jz4WaYHDVU
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2022 02:04
|
|
|
I’ll be honest, I have no idea what could have been done to ‘fix’ Cena. There’s no magic bullet solution that would have lessened if not eliminated the burrs that have been clinging to his jerseys since around 2006 or so, at least from where I'm standing. In terms of getting to the top, yes, maybe he was inexperienced by older wrestling standards, but everything got faster as the 20th century went on. Go look at the original times for the world record in the 100 meter dash back in 1900 compared to now; the original times set are sometimes twice or more the current world record times. But he wasn’t like Kevin Nash, who went from ‘popular upper midcard to world champion and blew it, probably partly because of such a jump’, or Jeff Jarrett, who got his top of the cards placement by nepotism instead of actually earning it through fan approval. Yes, maybe he went ‘backwards’ in naming his fans, but he didn’t change THAT much as 2004 came around. He was still primarily John Cena: Doctor of Thuganomics, and he won his first WWE title through cheating, hitting Big Show with a chain at Wrestlemania 20 to win the U.S Title. Which he then modified so that the title had a ‘spinner plate’...  ...something that carried over to his later WWE Title. Which meant that the W in its center was almost always off-kilter; you’d think they’d find some way to lock it in place. But that came later. The second ‘hindsight’ moment could be said to happen in later 2004, when Cena lost the U.S Title to the debuting Carly Colon, or “Carlito Caribbean Cool” as he was called. To this day, I have no idea if the WWE meant to call him “Carlito Caribbean Cool” like his actual name, ala something like John Wayne Gacy (first example that came to mind), or if he was saying “Carlito (my name), Caribbean Cool (what I am).” and the WWE mangled it into his name. (Also, in another weird example of names sticking, Carlito would ultimately settle on using what is known in general terms as “The Lungblower” at his finisher, where he’d leap up, plant his knees against either side of an opponent’s spine, and fall down, driving his opponent into his knees and shins and assumingly, knocking the wind out of them. He, or WWE, dubbed it “The Backcracker.” When Carlito turned heel after adapting said move, it was renamed “The Backstabber”. You would assume that ‘The Backstabber” would just be Carlito’s version of the move, but much like the word “Hurricanrana” came to be associated with a grab-with-legs-and-toss move, when it had just been known as “a Rana” unless pioneer Huracán Ramírez was doing it, then it was a “Hurricanrana”, but the second word supplanted the first in American wrestling minds, when Carlito left and other wrestlers did the Lungblower, the commentary team kept called it the Backstabber.) In any case, the WWE, still coasting on the harder edge of Attitude, then did a storyline where Cena was then stabbed in a nightclub by Carlito’s bodyguard, putting him on the shelf for a month and at risk at losing a kidney. What was the actual reason? Cena had been tapped to helm the second film of the newly created WWE Studios, a little number known as The Marine. Once he returned in November 2004, he regained the title, beat up Carlito’s bodyguard at the December PPV (with said bodyguard vanishing from WWE afterwards), and as 2005 rolled around, he was still very over. So much so, that he ended up as one of the final two at the 2005 Royal Rumble, where he was supposed to be eliminated by Batista. But something went wrong, and the pair managed to, supposedly wholly by accident, eliminate each other in such a way that it was virtually too close to call who had hit the floor first. They’d done this spot with Lex Luger and Bret Hart in the 1994 Rumble, but 1) That had been planned, and 2) Even planned, it hadn’t played out as well as Cena/Batista; Lex fairly clearly hit the ground first, and the WWE had to cover it by acting like they didn’t happen to have a good camera angle of the elimination. This resulted in some furious improvising that infamously culminated in an angry Vince McMahon storming to the ring, perhaps not properly calculating an angle or a momentum, and ended up tearing both his quad muscles when he entered the ring, causing him to tumble onto his butt and awkwardly sit there as he and the referees and whatnot covered the mess up by arguing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QLe_tAQ2Rs The Rumble was ultimately restarted and Cena properly eliminated, but the fans were fine with either winning. Cena equally maintained support when he entered a tournament for a shot at the WWE Title, as Batista went to challenge for Raw’s World Title, and would make it all the way to the finals, and win, defeating Kurt Angle. There was no indication then of what was to come with later fan reactions: Cena’s win was seen as the biggest of his career. He dropped the U.S Title, and one year after opening Wrestlemania 20, he co-main evented Wrestlemania 21, defeating JBL to finally end the man’s near year long title reign. When he flopped into the crowd to celebrate, everything seemed fine. He was over. He was accepted as WWE Champion and a top guy. And it wasn’t like the next night he came out as the Cena that angry smarks would come to hate. Heck, he still had an edge; you remember those pictures of him covered in blood from earlier in the thread? That was after his WWE Title win, when he finished off his feud with JBL in an “I Quit” match. So…when DID it start going wrong? In all honesty, I think it began in June, with the WWE Draft Lottery, where Raw and Smackdown would get ‘random draws’ of talent switching shows. Lo and behold, Cena would be the first draft, switching shows from Smackdown to Raw, with Batista switching over to Smackdown so the top titles switched shows. It’s possible, around then, that Cena might have been pushed a step too far. Yes, he was over, there was a reason he got drafted to the “A-Show” as their new top champion…but there was a difference, maybe, in being the top guy on the “B-Show” and being the top guy on the A-Show. Maybe in some weird subconscious arbitrary line, this was seen as too much of an advancement. Or maybe it began after Cena won his first feud on Raw, getting Chris Jericho ‘fired’ as the Canadian put Cena over before departing the WWE for a few years, only to be immediately jumped by his next feud opponent, hand picked by evil Raw GM Eric Bischoff, Kurt Angle.Yes, Cena had overcome Angle early that year, but that was in one match. Maybe in that same weird stupid arbitrary head-line, Cena now being the top guy on the A show holding his own against very well established wrestler’s wrestler Kurt Angle was seen as too much, the equivalent of Ant Man holding his own against Thanos without using the dumb meme of ‘butthole expansion explosion’ on him. Or maybe it was because around the end of 2005 that Cena started to develop his storyline habit of ‘running on odds’; he would be put in a clearly disadvantageous, if not severely disadvantaged situation, and he’d overcome it. Why is this a bad thing? Isn’t that what top faces do? The fans hadn’t gotten turned off by say, Austin standing up to Vince and his whole group of cronies who were all dedicated to loving him over, did they? Was it because Cena had started to adapt more old school babyface aspects of overcoming those odds, namely that he seemed to be on the back foot or totally doomed until his own arbitrary line, at which point he’d spring up, break out what was usually the same set of moves, and win, ala Hulk Hogan kicking out of a finisher, ‘hulking up’, then punching his opponent repeatedly, making them run into his boot, and then dropping his trademark legdrop? I mean, every wrestler has signature moves they do every match; Cena was far from the first to have a series of MOVES OF DOOM(a name cribbed from Scott Keith originally coined for Bret Hart always breaking out a ‘inverted atomic drop/side Russian leg sweep/backbreaker/second rope (or Bret’s rope) elbowdrop/Sharpshooter five move combo at the end of many of his matches. In his case, it was THE FIVE MOVES OF DOOM). What did it matter if Cena had his own FIVE MOVES OF DOOM? What WAS it that started the seeds of discontent? Was it when he was put in a ‘submissions only’ match, with Cena having no known submission holds, only to break out the STF for the first time and get the win in seconds at the end of the match? Would it have gone over better if say, Cena had been forced to apply the submission hold repeatedly due to inexperience and with drive and guts finally locked in it hard enough with his opponent’s leg ‘worn down’ enough to get the win? Whatever it was, it had been lurking in the background during Cena’s battles with Jericho and Angle, but as 2006 came around, it was REALLY starting to show at the January 2006 PPV, when Cena was put in a match with five other wrestlers, and won, the fans at the show and online expressing disapproval…and then joy as Adam “Edge” Copeland performed the very first “Money In The Bank cash in” to defeat Cena for the title. It was short lived; Cena would win the belt back three weeks later at the Royal Rumble. With Edge temporarily vanquished, Cena would turn to his next challenger…Triple H, who had won a tournament to get the WWE Title shot at Wrestlemania 22, the Royal Rumble having been won by Rey Mysterio in ‘honor’ of Eddie Guerrero, who had tragically passed away a few months earlier: Mysterio would be challenging for the World Title. (Another amusing side note: Mysterio’s entrance at Wrestlemania 22 would be sung by the band that provided his theme song, P.O.D. That, and instead of adapting a superhero themed outfit like he had for many of his big matches in the past and to come, Mysterio decided to have an outfit based on an Aztec theme for his Wrestlemania 22. Which included a large bird helmet/mantle. The thing was, Mysterio at the time made his entrance by being launched up out of the stage, and it was deemed that it would be too awkward for Mysterio to do this with the headdress on. The way the WWE decided to execute it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrliMvIPALU Eh, could be worse, but I remember Punchsport posts going “Well, guess Rey’s done.” for like three pages from the WM live thread. Personally, I would have put POD down on the entrance ramp, have Rey come out, and stand before them as someone placed the headdress on him like a crown, but that’s just me. And at least it worked better than Wrestlemania 26, where his launcher malfunctioned, forcing Mysterio to climb out of the hole in the stage while the cameras focused on his opponent). It seemed like a no brainer. This was Triple H fresh off the ‘Reign of Terror’ (and we only know that in retrospect, we sure as poo poo didn't know it then). He presented the match as an inevitable re-crowning of himself. As said, this was when he dubbed himself “The King of Kings” who would be going “back on his throne”. I remember being certain Hunter would be booking himself to go over, to the product’s continued future detriment. Thing was…the fans in the arenas seemed to like the idea more than me. It really didn’t help that also for the build, Triple H would accuse John Cena of being ‘unable to wrestle’...and Cena would agree with him, which was the absolute worst thing he could have done. Because now there was a REASON crystallized in critics’ minds that would never leave, and would filter through all their reactions, to the detriment of Cena’s career. Cena would get hit by all sorts of negative chants going forward, but one of the big ones, at first, was “You Can’t Wrestle” and its brother, “Same Old poo poo.” Never mind that top ultrastars Steve Austin and the Rock had also repeated the same spots in many of their matches. Who can tell exactly when, how, and why these arbitrary lines in the WWE crowds’ minds were created and crossed? Just when do signature moves and setpieces become "Same Old poo poo?" But it became very, completely apparent at Wrestlemania 22, where Triple H was cheered and Cena was booed, as well as dueling chants of “Let’s Go Cena!” and “gently caress You Cena!”. With the former being considerably higher pitched than the latter. The divide was there. The young fans supposed Cena, the older ‘smarks’ did not. And Cena, much to my surprise, did win, making Triple H tap out to his now established submission finisher, the STF. And that would more or less be the norm going forward for the next decade plus. It’s probably the last two words of the last sentence that would end up the most damning. Cornwind Evil fucked around with this message at 02:36 on Mar 6, 2022 |
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2022 02:32
|
|
|
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2022 02:32
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 28, 2024 09:51 |
|
|
lol
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2022 02:39
|
|