Columns - Online World of Wrestling

WRESTLING COLUMNS

A Message To All Cena Haters
September 26, 2005 by Matt Kopp

I have been writing for OnlineWorldofWrestling.com for approximately 3 months. In these 3 months, I have heard a ridiculous amount of Cena-bashing on this site. As a great writer named Ditto Robinson put it, "It's funny how people bash champions". Ms. Robinson is 100 percent correct, because while Cena was U.S Champion, everyone loved him, and now that he's WWE Champion, everyone hates him. I am here to back up Cena, as he is the future of this company no matter how much you bashers try to ignore it. I almost let all that shit you guys were throwing around change my opinion about him, but then I got my head out of my ass and realized that a lot of you don't know what you are talking about.

One of the biggest things that people target is Cena's gimmick and charisma. Well, first off, there are very few people who have an original gimmick, and some who don't even have gimmicks. For example, Kurt Angle's gimmick is that he's an American Hero, and he's a REAL AMERICAN (hint hint). Hmmmmm, where have I heard this before... oh I just cant put my finger on it... Oh yeah, HULK HOGAN!!!!!!! That American Hero gimmick was being used before Angle had even started wrestling in High School, but I don't hear any of you bashing him! Mind you, I have the utmost respect for Kurt Angle, but you can't say that Cena is the only guy without an original gimmick. Most of the Cena bashers are fans of the Rock, and believe that he stole The Rock's gimmick. However, I have a question for all you Rock fans. What was the Rocks gimmick" He was a hero in every town, and could make the crowd do whatever he says" So his gimmick is an Ass Kisser" No" So his gimmick was being a hero" Well, if any of you believe that being a hero is an original gimmick then I would like you to grab a blunt object and beat some sense into yourself. Cena has a secondary gimmick besides being a fan favorite, and that's being a thug, who's raised on the streets and is a lone fighter. As for the charisma, many people say he is constantly ranting on for five minutes and telling lame kindergarten jokes and making gay raps.

First I would like to address the raps. I haven't heard any of those since the Royal Rumble, and that one was...good. Second, there are tons of people who take too long on the mic. For example, Chris Masters, (personally, I don't turn on my TV every Monday night and watch RAW to hear you pat yourself on the back for 10 minutes about how hot you are.) Carlito, (giving this guy 5 minutes on the mic is 5 minutes longer than he deserves), of course the Rock, and Hulk Hogan. As for the jokes, they are getting better and better with time, and all of them were better than some of crap I've heard out of a lot of people's mouths in the WWE. Also, Cena's charisma is one of the highest in the WWE, no matter what you say, and one of the best things about him is that he works best as a face or a heel. To prove my point I would like to address the attempted face run of Randy Orton. It was obvious that the crowd was not buying it, and he was constantly half booed during his promos and matches. When it comes to charisma, Cena is unmatched today.

Another big thing that all people seem to bash about Cena is that he has terrible finishers and a small move set. To address the finishers, many of you bash the 5-Knuckle Shuffle as being one of Cena's finishing moves. I would first like to address that the 5 Knuckle Shuffle is not one of Cena's finishing moves. Next I would like to address that the FU is not a bad move. John is 6"1. While he keeps you up on his shoulders he will whirl you of and slam you down 6 feet on to a plastic mat, along with all his body weight coming with you. Unlike many of you Cena-bashers out there I actually WRESTLE and can tell you from experience that the FU will take all your breath out of you and sends shock waves through your body. Oh and for your info the guy who was doing it to me was only 5"6. So unless you have ever had his moves done to you, you should keep your mouths shut as far as rating Cena's moves go.

Finally, a lot of people are complaining about Cena's matches. One of the most widely recognized was his match with JBL at WrestleMania 21. When I read that someone thought that JBL carried Cena through that match I couldn't help but laugh. In case nobody watched SmackDown throughout 2004, all of JBL's matches were piss-poor and he was the one being carried by Undertaker, Eddie, Booker T, Big Show and Kurt Angle. Cena was, in my opinion doing much better on SmackDown, but now he's on RAW, where he's forced to get the crap kicked out of him for two-thirds of his matches on RAW before finally mounting a comeback at the end. I always used to like then Cena got really pissed, he'd completely destroy anyone he faced (I.E. Jesus at Armageddon and Carlito when he returned and JBL at Judgment Day). However he's completely lost that now, but I am always hoping that he will be used better, instead of being slapped by Eric Bischoff and raped by Kurt Angle.)

The funniest thing about all this is that people are bashing him for having a rap career as well. Personally, I don't give a shit what he does in real life, as long as he's wrestling. He is an American and has the rights to do whatever he wants with his life. None of you bashers are going to change it just because you don't like it, it is none of your business, worry about your own lives, you probably have enough problems there.

All in all, I don't believe that Cena deserves any of this bashing. Cena is a fine, athletic young man who will help carry this company for the next (at the bare minimum) ten years. John, I've got your back

by Matt Kopp..

Ryan Ward wrote:
Wow, are you done" What the hell are you watching" First of all, I like Cena but there are tons of things that I really don't like about him right now. You say he has an original gimick" Are you stupid" Hello buddy, he IS trying to play the hero. The reason people liked him when he was the United States Champion was because he fought to win championships and to kick peoples asses. Now "hes fighting for the fans". What a load of shit. He's still fighting for himself and if he isn't, my apoligies to him. His gimmick is to be the most popular superstar on the roster by appealing to the fans. I don't got a problem with that, but he overdoes it. Personally, I would love to see a face/heel change, I would quite enjoy that, but that won't happen for awhile. It's too bad we haven't heard any of his raps for awhile, even though some of them were stupid, I found myself laughing most of the time. I think he has quite a bit of charisma. The most on the roster" I don't think so. Chris Masters has a lot, he's able to do what every heel has to do, piss the living shit out of the fans. I do however agree with Ortons sad attempts at portrying the good guy, I couldn't wait for him to go bad and when he did, I was quite happy. Now on to my favorite part to talk about, his move set. You have got to be the biggest pussy alive if the FU hurt you and the guy was only like 5'6. It doesn't do shit to you. I find it extremly hard to believe that only one guy has ever kicked out of it. You wanna receive a move that will keep you down for a three count, ask you friend to give you the pedigree, then come talk to me. As for his move set, its pathetic. He's got about five moves which he uses in the exact same order all the time. I predict all his matches and get them right. But hey, he recently learned how to give people the spinebuster (because it's such a hard move to learn...) so it's a start. As for his matches, they're weak. His Wrestlemania 21 match, although I was happy with the outcome, was a sad excuse for a WWE Championship match and I was quite disapointed. When the ref hit the mat for the third time, everybody in the theatre I was watching it in said the same thing ,"That's it"". JBL doesn't have much wrestling skills but without question he did carry Cena through that match. And for his rap carrer, I've downloaded a few of his songs and I quite enjoy them. Lets hope (and I don't think he will) that he doesn't pull a "Rock" on us.

Andy Sharp wrote:
Matt, this has to be one of - if not THE single worst articles I've ever read on OWW, not only did it bore me, it actually angered me whilst reading it.

I'm not going to go into detail on my opinions to John Cena - but they aren't good. Let me just say that the way I see it Cena can only ever appeal to 50% of the audience as that's how today's society is devided.

One thing I would like to touch on is how dare you say that JBL didn't carry Cena and that it was Cena carrying JBL - I actually had to read that sentance twice because I couldn't BELIEVE it had actually been written by a sane wrestling fan. Now I'm not the biggest JBL fan but the guys been wrestling for over 15 years - he knows what he's doing in there. Maybe the match at WM21 was so poor because it is impossible to even carry Cena never mind wrestle him. Cena got lucky - right place right time, and that's the bottom line Oh Hell Yeeeah!!

PokemaniacWiII wrote:
I have to agree completely with all of the haters. It's true that people will hate champions. The members of the Internet Wrestling Community I've seen had a similar case with Randy Orton - they supported him, and when he won the World Heavyweight Championship, they started talking about how much they hated him, he botched so much, he couldn't wrestle, he had no charisma. A similar case with Batista.

As for Cena himself, his segments and promos are entertaining. Cena taping Bischoff's mouth shut was the kind of humor that is good for Cena, and his talking has gotten better (though that may be due to the fact that he no longer makes poop jokes...).

Most Cena-haters are the same typical internet sheep who won't let you stray from the popular IWC opinion. He's not nearly as bad as the people who say and those who say he's so horrible shouldn't bother you.

Huthaifa Abdulhafeez wrote:
While I like and respect Cena, I just feel like your replies, were just off. The Rock becames the "People's Champ" because of the crowd's response. Their devotion and admiration to every catchphrase. Its why he cant be an effective heel now, he is too admired too entertaining.

Cena rips off the Rock, like no other. The 5 knuckle shuffle is the hip hop people's elbow.I am waiting for the day he does the Hip Hop Eye Brow.

This is what I respect about Cena, he took a gimmick that no one has made work, and lived to the fullest, and "made" the crowd love him. That takes talent,dedication, and charisma.

Cena's FU is a nice simple move, that focus the crowd's attention and can even be dramatic. The only problem is that Cena puts no power behind the move. I am not going to rip Cena's in ring skills, because his in ring persona shouldnt wrestle like Eddie Guerrero. He should be a brawler. I would like to him do a Samon drop from the top or second rope. Something that is simple but has great impact.

Another great thing about Cena is his entrance music, its just big time. I like it so much, that I bought his CD.

But one thing, I do wholeheartedly agree with you on, is -- THE CHAMP IS HERE

Rhey Higgins wrote:
Alright...first things first, you say that everyone acts like Cena's the only one with an un-original gimmick. That's crap. In case you have'nt noticed, almost everyone in the WWE has a recycled version of someone else's gimmick. That's what happens after you've been in business for a long time; the original ideas start to fade, and you have to start using new ones again. What everyone's complaining about is how terribly done his gimmick is. The Rock's gimmick was bad enough, but mix it with a bad-ass and a rapper, you've got a gimmick that pisses off most intelligent fans. Yeah, you came from the streets and like to fight, so you "sing" about it...we get it.

Which brings me to his rapping/promos. Thank God he stopped rapping! They were terrible, repetitive, and really fuckin' stupid. Wait...so are his promos! "I'm gonna' beat your ass 'cause I don't know the meaning of quit and I'm a thug from the streets and I never back down from a fight and I have the support of the Chain Gang and YOUUUUUUCAAAAAN'TSEEEEEMEEEE!!!" Now, explain to me how his promo skills are improving again" Charisma can only get you so far, and the only people that enjoy Cena's promos right now are little kids who think they're "gangsta'", the marks who think it's all real, and the girls who think he's good looking. Did you happen to hear the crowd at SummerSlam" Or the RAW the night after SummerSlam" Only the little kids and the girls were cheering for Cena. All the guys were cheering for a Jericho victory. The fans are finally starting to smarten up and realise what a joke of a champ Cena is.

Finally, his matches and move set. Cena's matches stink so bad they make shit smell good. Everyone says "yeah, he sucks now, but you should have seen him in OVW! Man could he wrestle!" ...and" Obviously it isn't helping him now, 'cause he uses all of five moves in his matches. punchkickhiptossprotoplexknuckleshuffleF-U. And I'm supposed to be impressed" Is ANYONE supposed to be impressed" I've seen more talent in backyard wrestling movies. You say JBL had a terrible year match-wise in 2004. Did you happen to watch Cena's matches" Maybe you blinked and missed them; ten-second squash matches that resulted in him winning with the DEVASTATING F-U. But wait...apparently, you're the only one on this site who actually wrestles, so if you say the F-U is deveastating then we all have to listen to you! I'm 6' and I've taken it from someone three inches taller and 30 pounds heavier. Yeah, it knocks the wind out of you, but that's it. Any reasonably-conditioned athlete can kick out without too much trouble. Yet, we're supposed to believe that the toughest of the WWE can't kick out of it. Right.

You know what" You've convinced me; Cena's the greatest new thing to hit the WWE since Kurt Angle!...or not. As a wise man once put it... Cena sucks!!!

Devin Skaggs wrote:
I would just like to respond to Matt Kopp's outcry for people to stop beating up on John Cena. The issue isn't so much that we dislike John Cena, the issue is what WWE creative forces have done to John Cena. The WWE has a special talent, as of late, of turning gifted athletes into wrestling comedians. Steve Austin, The Rock and John Cena are the three largest offenders. Personally, I am sick of seeing guys have their 'gifts' swallowed up turning them into crowd-popping shills. Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, Bret Hart and many other wrestlers who were champions, while developing characters and whatnot, still were able to display amazing wrestling MATCHES, not moves. John Cena is a dull, white-boy-trying-to-be-ghetto, stale stereotype. The Five Knuckle Shuffle may take people's breath away when you are competing against him, but seeing Cena do these stupid raps and make like a 'You Got Served' poster boy makes me want to change the channel. There is one thing about a wrestler connecting to the audience... there is another thing about the wrestler trying desperately to keep the audience in tune with his mouth so they don't see his lackluster matches. Out of all the talent in the WWE, Batista and Cena both should not be where they are, I am sure many people disagree with me, but explain to me why Booker T (an actual black man) hasn't had a strap and Cena (plays a black man on TV) has" Basically, what I am trying to say is, nobody hates John Cena, we only hate being forced to look at him as a champion because whether you are in the ring or out, we like to see wrestling in the ring and stand-up comedy on a stage.

Jon Scott wrote:
People dislike John Cena (me included) because of the way he's been promoted over the past year. Instead of being his own man, he's been made to look like a Austin/Rocky combo. More specifically, over the past month when he goes on his rants he tries to sound exactly like The Rock. People liked the heel-Cena more because of the creative raps he use to come up with, now he does nothing. He's not creative anymore, just an attempt at a rehash of two of the top guys ever in WWE. By the way, Kurt Angle's gimmick is that of an Olympic Gold Medalist/ass kicker, nobodies ever done that before.

Philip Frazer wrote:
As great as this article was, I have to be the first to say: Pull your head out your ass. First, Cena's gimmick is not original, that is right, but erm, what the hell is his gimmick again" I mean to start with he was a rapper (I liked him then), then he turned face but still did his raps (good) then he won the US Title and turned completely boring. He stopped rapping, so he is no longer a rapper. He does nothing but punch, so in theory he is a brawler. And a brawler is not really very imaginative AT ALL. Anyone can brawl, hell you could throw ANYBODY into the ring and they would try to BRAWL their way out. And on a side note, Kurt Angle's gimmick is not the same as Hogan's, because Hogan (supposedly) stood up for everything America is, where as Angle was more of a pompous ass American, while being a real american he contradicted that theory by taking the easy way out, and always cheating. As for The Rock, the people liked Rock because he was the same as he was when he was a heel, but less of a jackass. So The Rock was not a hero, and Cena did not copy or do that, however he should've. When he was the heel rapper, people liked him, he turned face and dropped it, despite that was what the people liked.

And for the way that you have said that people hate him because WWE Champion, because I hated him around Wrestlemania XX last year, when he was challenging for the US Title. And I haven't hated anyone because they became WWE Champion, I either hated them or still liked them.

Now, for Cena being charismatic, explain how. I mean any idiot can run around going 'A-Ha!' and yell all the time. All John Cena does is yell at the top of his voice an act childish, I mean the karate thing he did to Bischoff this week" I used to do that, when I was 5! I mean, good god, what can anyone like about that"! And Carlito is actually pretty good on the mic, and is better than Cena, as at least what he says is witty, while some repetive, but talking of repetitiveness, Cena says the same thing EVERY week. Masters is repetitive and does go on for too long, but if his speeches were shorter and a little more varied he'd actually be pretty good. And Cena doesn't hog airtime"! How thick are you" I mean, when he comes out he takes over and doesn't let anybody else talk, and he goes on for about fifteen minutes, which is five minutes shorter than being Triple H.

Five Knuckle Shuffle" I mean, come on. It's a punch. I know that's hard to expect from Cena (sarcasm), but it really is a punch. All he does is punch, and the five knuckle shuffle is a glorified punch. FU" Sure, that's an ok special, BUT it gets treated like it's the single most powerful special EVER. It's painful sure, but it is not THAT painful. Ken Kennedy's special, now that's painful. A 324 pound man rolling you off the top rope, so his shoulders hit your stomach when they connect with the floor. Showstopper, painful. A GIANT slamming you from way over 7 foot in the air down to the mat. Oh, and something you said made me laugh: 'While he keeps you up on his shoulders he will whirl you of and slam you down 6 feet on to a plastic mat'. First, he doesn't whirl you, or it would be an F5. Second, 'a plastic mat'. 'A plastic mat'. I mean, you say you've wrestled, but a PLASTIC mat"! Wrestling figure rings do not count. The mats are not plastic, and are actually slightly padded.

John Cena WAS a very talented, good wrestler, and good on the mic, 2 years ago. But all he does in his matches now is punch, taunt, a suplex, punch, kick, bulldog (botched), Five Knuckle Shuf- punch, and FU. He doesn't even do the throwback anymore. And you mentioned JBL carrying Cena at WM21, you are right to deny that. But the problem is, there was noone doing ANY carrying. The match plain out sucked. JBL sucks in the ring, as does Cena (although JBL is good on the mic, but that's a different argument). John Cena does not deserve to be the WWE Champion.

ANGLE FOR CHAMP AT SURVIVOR SERIES!!

Ditto Robertson wrote:
Seeing as how you mentioned me, I think I should respond (thanks for the "great writer comment" by they way :) I thank you for supporting my idea and am glad it helped you write somethin' up. I enjoyed your column and thought it was very interesting. Though I agree with many points, I'm not really much of a Cena-supporter. He is sometimes mildly amusing, does a good Protoplex and is nice to look at. Other then that, I don't think much of him. But, that's not the point; I think what really got to me about your article was the fact that you (amongst all of two other people) understand what I'm talking about as far as Cena bashing. I don't really get why; I mean, sitting and going "Cena sucks, he's bad at this, this is annoying" isn't going to change anything. He's still going to be the one carrying the company in another five years. Personally, I think Randy Orton makes a MUCH better candidate, but that's not the way things are going. Pissing and moaning about Cena is just going to make you miserable; I've accepted the fact that Cena is popular, he is what people want and is always going to get cheered. So, I'll just lay back and enjoy the ride; I'm interested to see where he will be in another couple of years.

Aaron.H wrote:
Dear stupid john cena fan. id just like to say that most people that i know hate john cena because he is a wanabe gangsta. he says he grew up in the streets of west newbury and dat its a hardcore place but i read in a magazine that he got smashed and beaten up for wearing gangsta clothes and that is the reason why he started making himself muscley. as far as the west newbury stuff is concearned....he dosent know wat GHETTO means. im from the GHETTO of PAMURE AND EVERYWHERE THERE ARE GANGSTAS AND EVERYTHING. and comparing the gangstas and thugs around here....john cena is sumwhere like howard finkle(being john cena) verses sum1 like tyson tomko l0l!!!!!

p.s. if u can please send this to john cena himself it would be really appreciated.

Stan Nair wrote:
Hi my name is Stan from South Auckland, New Zealand, well I respect your points Matt but I see it from another point of view. I am a Cena HATER because John Cena is an immitation of the great SAMOAN wrestler The ROCK & Stone Cold mixed up. He is not original, he copies The ROCK by trying to be funny & he tries to copy Stone Cold's with his bad guy attitude. No one can be better at playing The ROCK & Stone Cold's roles better than themselves. When Cena tries to say jokes & his freestyles only half the crowd cheers but when The ROCK says his jokes the whole crowd cheers. John Cena doesn't deserve the title someone who deserves it would probably be KURT ANGLE!!! He is way more athletic than Cena & I reckon he'll give Cena a good run for his money.

My conclusion is that Cena is a WANNABE!!!!!

Michael Sears wrote:
Is this guy serious"" Cena does have charisma, but it is not equaled by his wrestling talent. I do think Cena is funny and he has some very entertaining raps. When you try to make someone a heel, but the fans love them anyway, they are going to be over. That is why Cena deserves comparison to Hulk Hogan. Hogan didn't have all the talent in the world, but he was (and apparently still is) way over with the fans. Cena sells better than Hogan, and he is better than JBL. But that doesn't make him a good wrestler. Jericho carried him in their SummerSlam match, if anyone happened to notice. He and Kurt Angle have good chemistry also. But let's be honest. The majority of his offense is punches, clotheslines, and shoulder blocks. The Five-Knuckle shuffle is no more damaging than the People's Elbow, but every bit as entertaining. As for the F-U, it is nothing more than a glorified fireman's carry. His weight doesn't come down on his opponent at all. So where does your so-called "wrestling experience" come into play"" If you mean backyard wrestling, stop right there. I played wrestling on my trampoline when I was nine years old, but I grew out of that. I wrestled in high school, and that my friend is "real" wrestling. Someone giving you the F-U certainly doesn't sound like amateur wrestling to me. But this isn't a hater email by any means. I like Cena. I was glad to see him become WWE champ. But he is, at best, an average wrestler in the ring. He has the look and the popularity, but the talent falls short. Compared to Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle, however, he is nowhere in their class. So be happy, because at least he is on the road to being the next Hulk Hogan. That's not too shabby.

Jonathan McCormick wrote:
Oh man, where do I begin" There is so much wrong with your article it's not even funny. I am going to have to start at the beginning and work my way down. To start, no one "bashes the champion because they are the champion." When someone deserving, such as Chris Benoit, The Undertaker, or Batista are carrying the strap, you don't hear everyone say "he sucks" just because he is the champion. The problem is Cena is not deserving of the title. He may get to that point in the future, but he is not there yet. I will address your statement about his being "the future" of the company a little later on.

As for your ridiculous statement that Kurt Angle is a copy of Hulk Hogan's persona, do you even watch wrestling" Kurt Angle portrays himself as a Gold Medalist wrestler, a REAL wrestler for the United States. He uses his olympic win as an excuse to say "people should love me because I am American" which is why he is a heel. He tells people what to like. Hogan is not anything close to a real wrestler. His entire gimmick was based on his "24 inch pythons" and his ability to no-sell finishers, "Hulk up" and leg drop them. He waved the American Flag around like Hacksaw Jim Duggan did in the 80s because everyone loved that back then. You could get by with being a patriot and that fact alone would make you a face. That doesn't hold true today like it did in Hogan's prime. To say Hogan and Angle are the same gimmick has to be one of the most absurd things I have ever read, because as I said, Angle promotes himself as a real wrestler, and Hogan is about as far from that as any pro can be. In a similar vein, don't compare the Rock to John Cena, because again, the Rock had in ring ability, and Cena has very little. The only similarity is Cena tries to pick on the interviewers like the Rock used to do. The problem is the Rock was funny when he did it. Cena is rather irritating, especially with that "AHA" laugh that he finishes all his interviews with.

Please don't claim that people don't like Cena because he is a recycled character. You said yourself that there are other characters that are re-used in the company that get over. The biggest example that you missed is Kane. Of course Kane is a joke now, but when he first debuted he was the exact same gimmick as The Undertaker. I thought it was a bit ridiculous how similar they were actually. But Kane managed to get over well because he was good at the character. Just like Kurt Angle is good at working the crowd because he is a good character too despite your claim he is a recycled Hogan. If anything this says something against John Cena, because he is a strikingly similar character to Stone Cold Steve Austin. He talks bad to everyone, feuds with the boss, overcomes the longshot, nails his one move and rarely loses. But he has far more "bashers" than Steve Austin ever did because he doesn't play the role as well.

Regarding your comments that Carlito, Masters, the Rock, and Hogan take too long on the mic, all I can really say is they all also put on more interesting interviews with the exception of maybe Chris Masters. Masters is very new though and he will improve in time. Carlito isn't exactly a genius in the ring or on the mic yet, but he reminds me a lot of Rocky Maivia in his first year. Carlito WILL get better with time and will more than likely be in the Heavyweight Title contention a few years down the road. I think Carlito has a brighter future ahead of him than John Cena. Perhaps Cena will continue to improve in the ring and on the mic as well. I certainly hope so because WWE is shoving him down our throats right now and I am getting rather tired of it until he gets better.

There isn't much to say about the statement of Orton getting booed as a face. There is no arguing that as it is true. However, you should perhaps pick up a copy of Summerslam 2005 and listen to the crowd in the Cena/Jericho match. "Let's go Cena/Let's go jericho!" for a rather long portion. In other words, he isn't as "over" as he should be either. He was getting booed when he got to the ropes from the walls of Jericho too.

I am not even going to comment more than a sentence or two on the next paragraph. The 5-knuckle shuffle is another attempt at copying the rock's people's elbow and he does pin with it from time to time. The FU is a fine finishing move, I have no problems with it at all. But to say "it really does hurt and I know because I am a WRESTLER" doesn't strengthen your statement. In fact it weakens your argument because you sound like you are trying to qualify yourself instead of putting out your opinion.
I agree that JBL is not that strong of a wrestler either. He gets carried a lot. However, we are talking about John Cena, who gets carried by his opponents even more. I also agree with your point that his outside life shouldn't matter when we are talking about his wrestling career. The beauty of wrestling is being able to watch Kayfabe, and pretend that the character is the character. I just don't see anything that exciting about John Cena.

Now, having said that I will tell you the main reason I don't like John Cena. You know how many matches he has lost this year" Including Raw, Smackdown, Pay Per Views, and house shows" Four. The first match he "lost" was the Royal Rumble. He got second place and still got a title shot at wrestlemania, so did he even really lose this" Not sure. This second time was March 1, he lost the U.S. Title to Shelton Benjamin. Not sure this one should even count either, since the only reason he lost it was so he could win the more prestigious WWE Title. Then we go all the way to September where he lost to Kurt Angle via DQ and keeps his belt. And then Monday on Raw his team lost the tables match, but really only because Shawn Michaels went through the table. He gets beat up by everyone he faces then "miraculously" does the FU and pulls out the victoy. If anything Cena is like Hogan in that way, and if you haven't noticed, Hulk Hogan isn't exactly the most popular guy for internet fans either.

Maybe Cena doesn't deserve all the bashing he gets. But I believe he does deserve some of it. He just isn't that exciting as a WWE champion except to little kids and teenage girls for the most part. Your statement that he will carry the company for the next 10 years minimum made me laugh pretty damn hard. Well done. You realize that Stone Cold didn't do that" Nor the Rock" nor HHH" I guarantee you he will not carry the company for the next 10 years, if he even sticks around that long. At best he will stay around the world title chase, but certainly will not "carry the company".

SMRich0001 wrote:
"In case nobody watched SmackDown throughout 2004, all of JBL's matches were piss-poor."

In case Matt Kopp didn't watch SmackDown throughout 2004, most of Cena's matches were piss-poor too.

Anyway... I don't see how comparing the gimmicks of Angle and Hogan has anything to do with Cena. While Hogan, the babyface, truly represented the "hero" kind of character, Kurt Angle is an obnoxious, over-bearing egotist who we are meant to despise for rubbing his acheivements in our face. The two don't compare. Similarly The Rock and Cena don't compare - The Rock was a grandiose, larger-than-life figure. He was revered. Cena is "one of the people," the leader of the Chain Gang as they like to be known.

"Also, Cena's charisma is one of the highest in the WWE, no matter what you say,"

That's an incredible statement to make, instantly dismissing any reader's rebuttal, rendering posting your opinions on Cena pointless. After all, I could post a message stating the following -

"Matt Morgan is the finest technical wrestler of his or any generation, no matter what you say."

But I digress...

"and one of the best things about him is that he works best as a face or a heel. "

He works BEST as a face or a heel" Well which one is it"

Anyway.. charisma" Sure, Cena has bags of that. But once the bell rings, it's a different matter. His matches seem to meander along and go nowhere unless he is being pointed in the right direction by Angle or a comparable talent, Cena's matches suffer from no convincing near falls and he invariably hits the F.U. out of completely nowhere. I don't begrudge Cena his success, especially due to his popularity possibly being the catalyst for a WWE revival, but it's still hard to believe he holds the same championship that Hogan, Hart et al all won at this point in his career. But then, he only had to beat the Acolyte to get it.

Incidentally, the matches with Jesus and Carlito you are so fond of were booked in that manner because both were injured at the time of those matches.

"None of you bashers are going to change it just because you don't like it, it is none of your business, worry about your own lives, you probably have enough problems there."

That's positively awesome. I'm amazed that such a sweeping statement about a group of fans based on their particular disdain for one athlete, has made it onto this forum, home as it usually is to some very articulate and thought-provoking submissions. No pun intended.

mayur reve wrote:
Hey Matt.I read ur article & to be honest i strongly agree with you.i've been noticing that many people are bitching at Cena for not being a good wrestler.Well Cena is helluva athlete,he's got good fighting style,unbeatable charishma & oozing confidence,also people say that FU is not a good finisher,well i read what you wrote about it & i must say it's true.The FU can really send shock waves through your body & literally bruise ur spinal cord& as far as people's opinion go,i have no bitter feelings for it as every one have thier right to express their opinions,and cena truly will carry wwe for the next 10-15 years.just as u matt,cena has my back too.do keep writing articles cause ur article really impressed me.Keep up the good work.

Jon Prichard wrote:
I agree with all that... almost. ======== Just one thing, I think Cena is doing well on RAW. He is the WWE Champion, so now he's in the Big Leagues and finding things more difficult where as when he was the US Champion, he wasn't having too many big opponents! But that's my opinion...

Other then that, I agree with you totally. Cena is great.

People who hate him because he is something they are not and never will be... the WWE Champion. They are (as sad as it sounds) jealous of his success. This is sad but true! Get a life Cena-Haters!

Oh and one more thing... hating Cena doesn't automatically mean you know a lot about wrestling! Y'know, just cause everyone at TV/House shows cheers for him... they're just idiots who pay to watch something they love and respect!!! Bottom line: WWE is pushing Cena as someone you can cheer... so why do what they say" Be a rebel and say he's shit! Oh, how laughable. John Cena is great and I'll cheer for him (even if the WWE do want me to!)

Bryan Hough wrote:
Many of us don't bash Cena for his gimmick, its simply his in-ring ability that garners the bashing. Cena has great character, he delivers very good (not great) promos, he has a great style, and most importantly, he is REAL. The John Cena that you see on TV is the same John Cena that exists out of the ring, just with the volume turned way up. And that formula has worked for so many stars past and present, its a successful formula. Just ask Steve Austin. Cena suffers in his inability to deliver in big matches. And here is the problem.

We have entered a new era in professional wrestling history. It is the era of WORKRATE. This is a time when over the top characters and shock TV no longer does the trick. Wrestling fans want to see good pro wrestling from bell to bell every time. John Cena is the anti-christ of workrate. AJ Styles is a workrate God. There was a time when fans didn't even know the meaning of the word workrate. It stems from the underground movement of ROH and the rising success of TNA. These brands are infiltrating our minds as wrestling fans. Everytime a newer wrestling fan watches a TNA PPV or an ROH DVD, wrestlers like John Cena and Batista are further exposed. I'm not calling John Cena a fraud or a fake, but he is simply rather limited in the ring. You never see him work through an exciting sequence or hit a big spot. He shows potential when he is led by stars such as Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho, but potential should NOT earn you the WWE Championship. You have to use potential to get to the next level and earn the strap. John Cena is all potential and hype for the time being, he needs to drop the belt and spend time in feuds where he can rub elbows with guys that exude workrate, guys that help push Cena to his own limits.

The proceeding was my reasoning for "bashing" John Cena, but now lets all face reality. John Cena steps through the curtain and 15,000 go totally bananas. 1,200 net smarks (like myself) all groan. Why should WWE appease the handful of us when they can sell 45 dollar "chain gang soldier" basketball jerseys and plastic spinning belts to everybody else in the audience. I hate John Cena, I hate his push, I hate his in ring work eithic (and unlike Batista, I dont feel that he works to get any better) BUT, John Cena is good for business, plain and simple.

Anthony from V.S wrote:
Hey Matt nice column. I have a few comments. One I was never a John Cena fan. But now as I watch him on raw I'm starting to like him. I don't hate him, I don't love him , He's ok. I do agree on you with your comment on the bashers and how they only bash champs. The reason I do is because it's 5694% true. My next point and all the Cena haters in the world will agree with me on this one, and that is that his title reign should end very very soon. I can name 7 guys who deserve the title more than him. Kurt Angel , HBK, Kane, Hassan,Edge,HHH, and RVD. My point is he's a great Superstar but he has his weakness and has a lot to learn.

LanceCrucifix wrote:
YOU NEED YOU'RE FACTS STRAIGHT! Cena is a horrible worker, all around Cena is not WWE Championship material, let's address a couple things you've said, The F-U beikng a decent move, I call BS. I have taken the F-U on bare ground, and I am two hundred and thirty Six pounds, and I personally can tell you, the move, while alittle uncomfortable, is more fun then painfull. The F-U just isn't a good finisher when it's a modified version of a move that's so much better, The Death Valley Driver. Which I have taken on then ground and let me tell you it hurts more. Cena on the Mic has gotten way too stale, his promo's are the same thing every week. "Green Bay, THE CHAMP IS HERE. I'm here because this is my title, Kurt angle's head looks like a Penis! You Want some, come get some! I'm ready to Fight". Everything I've said John Cena has said repeatedly since winning the United States Championship over on smackdown!. The Kurt angle crack was just an example, at Cena's lame attempts to get cheap heat with gay jokes and what not. You also said John Cena's charisma is un matched, again you are wrong, Look at Raven, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Randy Savage, the list goes on. And the Rock wasn't a Hero, he played a Heel that could be a face. He was a wise ass, who got cheap heat from the crowd by saying what the fans wanna hear, I personnally hate The Rock, and Cena both. Neither are Deserving of their Title runs, but I'd love to see The Rock as Champion again before Cena being Champ right now, The Rock was able to be stomached, John Cena gets lamer and lamer, and he ain't no Thug, let me tell you, the guy has probly been to the Ghetto once, got robed and never went back, I happen to live in Detroit where it don';t get much more Ghetto. So in all, F-U gay move, Repetitive promo's, and the fact he's trying to be the Rock and failing, make a horrible WWE Champion, and he doesn't even have good in-ring work to make up for it, so all in all Cena has been Bashed Rightfully.

John Asplund wrote:
Here's a little something I took from my previous comments to the column Calling all hypocrites:

Let me tell you what is wrong with John Cena. First of all, his gimmick: A nearly 30 year old rapper acting like 15 year old. Come on, does that make much sense" Ever since he started those rapping things I haven't liked him anymore. Compared to the REAL rappers such as Snoop Dogg, Dr.Dre and Ice Cube, Cena ain't got s**t.

When he was a rookie he had good matches, even his debut match against Kurt Angle was good.

But after Wrestlemania 2004, he hasn't improved anymore. He became the US-Champ and what does he do" Turned the title into a freaking spinning toy!! Is that suppoused to be funny or something" When he finally lost the US-title to Orlando Jordan, I was happy because using that toy as a belt obviusly dropped it's image. But then what happened" He beats JBL in a sloppy and boring match at WM 21 and turns the WWE title into a toy...Way to go Cena. I'd call him the belt rapist.

And what about his moves" The 5-knuckle shuffle is like the peoples elbow, compared to the Rock. And what's the FU" A firemans carry to a slam, nothing more. That FU just was formed when he had the feud against Brock Lesnar in 2003 and started calling the "restricted Death Valley Driver" that.

So the bottom line is, Cena should have been developed more before putting him to the Main Event. Cena still needs to improve, not only ith his mic skills but also in the ring. He has time, he's not that old yet. Then MAYBE someday he may become a great entertainer, not a halfassed one like he is now.

Richard Powell wrote:
Did it ever occur to you and all the Cena lovers that perhaps he was excellent as U.S. Champion but that he becoming WWE Champion was perhaps far too soon" Perhaps you and the other Cena lovers refuse or are not able to see that perhaps he was not ready to become WWE Champion just yet"

I don't hate John Cena, not at all. I simply do not believe that he was ready to become WWE Champion this soon into his career. His in-ring skills are far too substandard, like Hogan, to be WWE Champion. But unlike Hogan, Cena has not wrestled the many cadre of talented heels that can make him look better in a match. At least Hogan had Greg The Hammer Valentine, Andre The Giant, King Kong Bundy, Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorff, Iron Sheik, Cowboy Bob Orton, Roddy Piper, and of course the one and only Macho Man Randy Savage to make Hogan look good. Cena has only wrestled Kurt Angle in terms of high caliber opponents. And do you know why" Because Vinny Mac knows that Cena is a substandard WWE Champion so to make him look good he can only wrestle substandard opponents like Carlito, Jericho, Christian, Orlando Jordan and soon Eric Bischoff. Need I say more...............I don't think so...............

Katelyn Francis wrote:
"First off, Mr. Kopp, you contradicted yourself in your first few lines. "People hate them because they're champions." You then proceeded to say that when he was US Champion everyone loved him, but when he became WWE Champion" He was disliked instantly. To me, that is far from the truth, because he is still loved by his dedicated fans no matter what. Those cheers you hear every Monday Night that nearly blow off the roof, they are for Cena, they are from his fans. However. There are people (like myself, I'm not afraid to admit it and I, personally, do not care what anyone else thinks of it) who do dislike the man. I feel that, yes, Kurt Angle was screwed at Unforgiven 2005 and I feel his fans were as well. He got screwed over when he won, but at a price - DQ. I feel that people may prefer Kurt Angle (his gimmick, as of right now, is not that he is an American Hero.... rather that he is the toughest, most vicious, son of a bitch in sports entertainment today) over John Cena for many reasons. I think that as soon as you read this you will disagree, but this is just my opinion. I understand that you respect Kurt Angle and the other wrestlers completely.

Let me address his "raps" and the things he (constantly, day in day out) talks about. The raps, they suck. Plain and simple. I thank the Lord we haven't heard them since the Royal Rumble and I hope we don't, ever again. How many times can you make fun of Michael Cole and people for being homosexual before it gets old" It's gotten old and boring and repetitive and I weep everytime I see Cena with a microphone on television. Click. That's the sound of the mute button being pressed in every home in America.

"It's about real recognizing real!" I laugh everytime he says that, the poser. How can he say this when he doesn't even know what real is" He's so desperate for cheap pops (he actually wears the hometown jersey in each place he visits, how pathetic) that he has to resort to the stupidest things, the most annoying things. The fans were starting to wise up at Summerslam, they wanted Jericho to win. The only support Cena had was from the little marky kids and idiot girls who think Cena loves them back. We almost got what we wanted - Jericho as champ - but the WWE had to go and act like Cena is Superman (he overcame the odds!!!!!!!11111oneone!) and have Cena win, pissing us Cena haters off even further.

Cena has potential, especially when in the ring with such talents as Angle and Jericho. But potential isn't everything especially when it comes down to wrestling. Angle and Jericho, they freaking paid the price to get where they are today, they had to go through hell to become the people they have, whereas Cena walked in off the streets, went down to OVW and thought he could wrestle. Having a WWE Championship (which is actually supposed to be prestigious... I agreed and laughed when Jericho told Cena he was cheapening the legacy of the WWE title, because it's oh so true) meant you worked your ass off, you worked your way up there, after toiling, bleeding, busting yourself open, bruises and beatings, that's what a WWE Title used to be about. But that all changed when Cena became champion. Yeah, JBL sucked but at least he was a legitimate champion. Cena craps on the legacy of all those greats who had that title.

The FU. The Five Knuckle Shuffle. A clothesline here and there. And, apparently, we are supposed to call this a "moveset", that what he does is what we call "wrestling". That's crap. That's not wrestling. That's not what I pay to watch. What happened to the WWE that used to have something called talent""

DON SKYNER wrote:
I read with intrest the artical and comments about John Cena and I just had to inject my 2 cents worth. I have watched wrestling for years, (going back to the 1960's) and have seen alot of wrestlers come and go. john Cena is young and just gettin settled, yes he has been in the buisness for a few years, but you have to remember something, he and the WWE is (like many other wrestlers have to do or have done) still trying and searching for his "groove". This would be the reason as to wht you see him working on slight changes in his gimmick. I do agree that he needs to improve on his style. and moves

however, Something that any true wrestling fan should be aware of is this, The gimmicks and leads and styles of most wrestlers are directed or dictated or set to appeal to different types of audiences, now I ask you all , Could it be just psbl. that the gimmick is made to appeal to the young people out there who are into Rap, or a lifestyle that his Gimmick is formed around. Like other wrestlers in the past have done with other lifestyles" ( Just to name a few , remember Hillbily Jim & hillbilly family- to appeal to the ole hillbilly lifestyle, Sgt Slaughter & Corporal Kirschner- military lifestyle, etc. etc. ) After all John Cena was born in 1977 and grew up within the "age" of rap music and style that his gimmick portrays. So could it be psbl. that they are having him portray his gimmick to "relate" to the people his age or into that kind of lifestyle "

The way I look at it is this, I like john Cena, he has alot of ability and skill. it's just the problem just might be that he has to find a different gimmick, differnt finishing moves There are and have been worse wrestler gimmicks and finishing moves out there (can anyone remember Doink the clown(s) and the so called Whoopie Cushin finisher " talk about a bullcrap Gimmick and finishing moves, as bad as that was it took off like a rocket with mulitpul Doinks and even a midget Doink or what about Goldust" or for those of you who are old enough to remember the late "Adorable" Adrian Adonis gimmicks" they were all crappy gimmicks, but it didn't take away from the wrestlers ability

Give John Cena time to grow into the career before you complain, after all I can remember Hulk Hogan, Rick Flair, Chris Benoit and others when they first got into the buisness it took them several years and alot of dedication and hard work along with a few gimmick changes to find their grooves. And besides not everyone is going to like or care for different wrestlers style, gimmick or moves. It is all a matter of taste ( I am not talking about likeing them as a heel or a face) like myself, I personaly do not care for a couple of wrestlers gimmicks and style, but that dose not take away from their ability or their future abilities

A. Shina wrote:
Please telling me that you're joking, Cena is not the most charismatic wrestler in the WWE, and quite frankly he's not even close. You can't possibly say that John Cena is more charismatic then Triple H, Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, JBL Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero etc.

You said that Kurt angle copied his gimmick off Hulk Hogan, well that is very untrue. Kurt Angle NEVER, ever said that he is a real American. Kurt Angle says that he won an Olympic gold medal with a broken freakin' neck. And even though he is, Kurt Angle doesn't need to be charismatic in order to Mainevent Wrestlemania, because his wrestling skills make up for it. The same goes for Chris Benoit, now I admit that Benoit is not charismatic at all, but he is an amazing wrestler, and that's why he mainevented a half an hour Wrestlemania match. John Cena had a 5 minutes Wrestlemania match in which he totally humiliated JBL. After all JBL has proven that he could do when he was champion, beat Eddie Guerrero, The Undertaker, Booker T, The Big Show and KURT ANGLE. John Cena beats him in five minutes, and we all know how Cena wrestles. He basically throws some punches at the beginning of the match, and then gets the shit beat out of him for the rest of it. At the end, Cena somehow hits a clothesline, another one, a hip toss and then a back drop. The Cena hits a side walk slam or a delayed vertical suplex, 5 knuckle shuffle, FU, and 1...2....3.

I never minded him getting on the microphone when he was U.S. champion, because he would get on at the beginning of a pay per view, talk shit for 5 minutes, then have his opponent come out, 10 minute match and Cena wins. Now, he's WWE Champion, and he not only takes away opportunities of talented wrestlers like Kurt Angle, Edge, Chris Jericho... to become champions, but he takes up half of RAW talking shit, calling people gay and whatever. Well Vince, let me tell you something, NO ONE CARES! I would much rather see Chris Jericho vs. Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels at Summerslam then John Cena vs. Jericho and that 52 year old Hogan that can't take a hint and just retire.

Jess The LP Fan wrote:
I don't agree with your article. First of all, I'm not a Cena-hater. I've been a fan of his since he first started his rapper gimmick on WWE Smackdown! I used to enjoy his raps. They were funny and much different from the typical "I'm gonna kick your ass, bitch!" type promos. He had so much charisma and was hated so much by the audience it was unbelievable. And then, he turned face.

And everything went downhill from there.

His promos slowly became stale to the point he resorted to talking about feces, homosexuality, pimping, any of the nasty ass whore divas, and Michael Cole, an all time promo low for any wrestler. It's even worse now. His promos usually consist of this: "We's all down in (insert city name and state here) gettin' fired up widda Chain-Gang! You can't see us! You can't silence the street!" or something along those lines. And his matches, urrgh (I don't think there's any actual words that can describe what I think of his matches). They're more boring than my Physical Science class, and THAT is saying something! I haven't seen any good match since I was a little, sweet, naive seventh grader. (Which was about two years ago.) Maybe even longer. He sucks so bad now I don't even watch his promos anymore. And it's not just me. I know this guy at school who LOVES rap music and he was a hardcore John Cena fan, a bigger fan than me. (And I got nearly every magazine and poster of him.). But, ever since Cena's all time creative low this past summer, he now HATES him!

What I have to see is this: John Cena, start pissing off people and become a heel again, just to do something new! Please! If I had known John Cena would turn into a flippin' hoodlum wannabe, I would have ever become a fan of his.

SMRich0001 wrote:
"Hassan" --- Anthony, what are you smoking" That hideous racist angle was dropped at The Great American Bash. I won't even make comment on him deserving the ever-loving title, Jezzzzz...

Steve Slaughter wrote:
Hey Wasup Mat, my name is Steven and im from South Auckland New Zealand. first of all i would like to say is that your totally wrong. John Cena should not be holding that tittle. Theres are other superstars that deserve the tittle thats on the raw roster. and theres guys on smackdown that should go to raw to beat his ass up and take that tittle. from smackdown and raw, there are people like THE UNDERTAKER, BIG SHOW, KURT ANGLE, BOOKER T etc. that deserve that tittle more than he does. Man it would be nice to see all superstars from smackdown and raw beat him up..... THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!!!!................ that would probably boost the ratings.

Richard Chamberlain wrote:
Most of you are missing the point. I think the majority of cena fans are young. Why do I think this" Because those of us of a certain age (and I am but 26) remember when rap was a serious art form. Before everyone picked up a mic, made a few rhymes and became "hardcore". When it was a style done by those from poverty to speak about injustices and shock the world. A protesting art form. Now, it is a gimmick.

A white, baby-faced, Leo-Dicaprio guy like Jon Cena comes in and starts rapping. Puts spinners on titles. Talks about his thug life. Laughable at best, people, come on. It sounds so ridiculously fake that one cannot suspend disbelief enough to believe that this is possible. A chain and a lock, a "chain gang" of fans, are you kidding me" Anyone who remembers the 80's laughed hard the night Christian called Cena a Marky Mark wannabe. I can't think of a better response to the gimmick. It's old, antiquated, ignorant, and a pathetic attempt to cash in on this new found "hip hop culture" every business tries to engage itself in in ludicrous ways. They are behind the curve BIG TIME in what people, thier OLDer fans, want to see.

As for his wrestling, no doubt its standardized, no question he is carried through matches. But let's not undescore the fact that the WWE loves to have set matches, with TV time to account for, and have low injury factors. Ask RVD, Ken Shamrock, and others about such rules. Not to mention thier love for a handful of standard moves to "further character development". Even my boy HHH, a supposed student of the game, has those 10 moves that always appear. That is why, for fans who like wrestling, and not choreography, TNA is gaining strength and market share.

I actually agree that he has been profitable to the WWE, as young buyers of clothes and other materials love their Cena. It's just that anyone old enough to remember when rap wasn't a gimmick IN ITSELF, finds it ignorant and pathetic. You aren't a thug when you come from West Newberry, Mass. At least make up a hometown (like for taker and foley's cactus) that fits the character. Sheesh.

As for hatred of his finisher or 5-knuckle shuffle, PUH lease. Give it up. Are people really debating how much a wrestling move actually hurts" IT'S WRESTLING, people....if its a finisher, it "hurts". That is the way the business is set up. Between leg drops, people's elbows, tombstone pile drivers where the head doesn't hit the mat (happened even before the pile driver ban), why are you people arguing that point"""" If the announcers act like its a finishing move, it becomes a finisher. Then, when executed, people are pinned. Pretty easy logic to understand. You can bash the MOVE, but not "whether it hurts". Come on, people.

As for his on mic skills, all I have to say is LAME. Once again, a me against the world (between that and thug life, poor Tupac is rolling in his grave) attitude, a quick wit to stupid ass Bischoff (only in wrestling would the head of a bankrupt company get re-hired as leader of the one-time-competitor), its nothing to write home about.

In conclusion, I think what we are all missing her is the disparate in what is popular, overdone, or recycled via age gaps. People who are young see Cena rapping like they us older folks (lol) see jericho's 80's hair band. Just something he does and grew up with and likes. Those of us who remember rap before Eminem, rock before Linkin Park, and wrestling before stone cold and rock, Cena comes off as WWE shoving a young person's champion down our throat. And alot of us don't like it one damn bit. Everything else seems to be made for 15 year old's, did you young kids have to take our precious WWE title, and put spinners on it no less"""""""""

Erkka J�rvinen wrote:
i think people are overreacting and it looks pathetic. You ppl dont hate cena that much and he aint that bad. His match with Kurt Angle was ABOVE average and cena performed great in my opinion.

Mike Nowak wrote:
OK. I see everyone else has made their opinion here about the current WWE champ, so I'm going to break this down very logically.

1: John Cena is good in the ring.... Uhh....ummm... well hes got a move set of maybe a heat superstar....but the F-U is ...ummm... a modified death valley driver... ok....big badass move hes got there. But other wrestler have had the same sucess with just about five moves in their set....and look its the Big Boot! and there it is the Leg drop!!!! one two three!!!!! But that was a little less than twenty years ago John....find a new move set.

2: John Cena is good on the Mic. Now this is where i believe he succeeds at. He does bring a lot of comedy into wrestling where The Rock was so good at. Honestly were in the realm of "sports entertainment" jsut because we like them jumping off things doesnt mean we cant laugh at the TV every once in a while( although watching Guys like JBL and Orlando Jordan is quite comical) He also is somewhat witty on the mic, and yeah it is good riddance to the poo jokes and the other really and i mean really childish stuff. John, you got this down.

3:John Cena's gimmick is original. Normally i woulkdnt comment on something like this b/c honestly in the grand scheme of things so many gimmmicks have been reused over and over again. (except maybe Kamala, but even then there were two of them...) It doesnt matter if hes the dude from the streets, and he can rap, and he uses his fists of fury to kick anyones ass that comes near him. So What" the point isn't whether or not he ripped off the gimmick, its whether or not is is working. and from the little kids and the women, its working. John, you got them in the palm of your hands.

4: John Cena's Tittle looks good. Sorry i HAVE to say somethign about that tittle.... That belt is an ab soulte disrespect to anyone who has ever stepped inside a WWF/WWE ring. I didnt agree with it when Shawn Michaels did it,i didnt agree with it when Austin did it, and i didnt agree with it when he did the same thing to the U.S. Belt. That Must be changed and Really soon. Kurt...Please Take that belt away from him! It needs to go back to the old belt, if anyone remembers what it looks like.....

sorry about that i had to get that off my chest thanks for reading!

Laura Clarke wrote:
Ok, I think whoever does not like Cena's personality is not watching him properly, go take a look on his website on wwe.com and see his new five questions with the champ. He is a true champion, I have never known any wrestler who does that and if there was then I'm sorry but I was able to see Cena for who he really was. Most stars or people in the public eye do not want to do that. Cena apparently has his haters but he also has his fans. Yes, he is a combination of previous wrestler but can I ask what is wrong with that" He takes from the greats and that is something that all up and coming stars should do. Look at singers and dancers, meaning someone like Usher, that is what all good stars do, they look to the previous greats of their business and take from them and expand on it. Cena, not only has a sweet personality but he is oh so damn hot and interacts with the fans on a level that I don't think Stone cold or the Rock ever did. They interacted in a different way with the fans. The fans loved them, but they did not love the fans as much as their fans would like to believe or at least their actual personalities do not seem like they do. The fans have to realize a true lover of this business when they see one. I mean, you say that Cena copied the Rock, well the one thing you can bet that Cena will never do is leave the ring for his movie career but where is the Rock,who can tell me". You can watch Cena say he won't leave the ring on wwe.com. Cena does what he does not just for the money in my opinion but because he wants to. All wrestlers don't necessarily do that and Cena is one of them who does. I don't necessarily look at Cena's wrestling ablities so that part does not count for me, he is an okay wrestler, and yes his matches were better on Smackdown but Cena is someone in wrestling who seems to love everything about the business, especially the fans.

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