I’ll Just Say It: John Cena Wasn’t the Right Choice
By Matt Perri
John Cena’s had a week that would make Emma envious.
Not only is he the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion, having knocked off seven other guys to do it, he was also named the cover model for the WWE 2K15 video game. despite the fact that there are dozen or so other Superstars that deserve to be on to cover more than he does.
I mean, I know Daniel Bryan was terribly injured to the point of major neck surgery and he’s not fit for any sort of action besides showing up to depress everyone with his deteriorating medical status, but the guy was one of the only good things worth watching in the last year.
In the last seven months, we’ve seen WWE prop up Randy Orton as “The Face of WWE”, the puzzling return of Batista who was supposed to be the Face That Would Challenge Orton only to turn heel because of all the heat he was getting from the fans who wanted Bryan instead, a terribly thin Divas roster, and some massive failures on the NXT-to-WWE front.
Bryan worked harder than any of WWE’s major talent, took some bumps that should have seen him end up in a coffin, carried Wrestlemania XXX all by himself, then ended up with the Championship after months of tribulation. He did this all while planning for a wedding with Brie Bella, surviving the death of his father, and getting surgery to repair all the damage done to his body.
I’m not seeing why Cena even deserves to be on the back of the box.
What’s more, I’ve seen blogs and other news sources all saying the same thing lately:
“John Cena as WWE Champion Is Best for Business with Daniel Bryan Injured”, declares David Bixenspan of Bleacher Report.
“WWE: Why John Cena Is The Best Choice To Win Money In The Bank, Fight Brock Lesnar At SummerSlam” says SciFighting.
“John Cena Is The Best Choice” was the headline at Wrestlezone.
I’m not naive to how the media works. I’m part of it in some way. Somebody creates a popular narrative and it’s picked up and used by everyone else. I’ve been guilty of doing it.
But, honestly, there’s no reason that Cena had to walk out of there as the new WWE Champion. It’s frustrating at worst and cynical at best.
It’s even more irritating when you look at the photo above. There’s Orton, there’s Kane, there’s Reigns and they all look intense and ready for battle…and then you see Cena, sticking out like a sore thumb with a smug, goofy look on his face with his trademark shirt, throwing everything off.
That very theme is why so many fans can’t stand him. The only thing he seems to do to stay fresh is change the color of shirt.
And what of the main event at Battleground?
It’s obvious that Orton and Kane aren’t winning the thing and Reigns isn’t gonna be champion right now.
Only one of two things can possibly happen:
- Cena retains or
- Cena retains and Rollins cashes in and wins the title after Cena attains a Pyrrhic Victory.
There’s no suspense here.
This is where we’re at.
The problem is that WWE is five years late to the party on every single front and doesn’t listen to anyone but themselves, thus digging themselves into a hole each time.
The truth of the matter is that any one of those guys could have been WWE Champion at the end of Money in the Bank, provided WWE was ready to tweak some things that could have made the reign and the story work.
Rollins, for instance, didn’t HAVE to win the case.
That would have opened it up for Cesaro or Wyatt to take the title. Everyone is behind Wyatt (if you haven’t been paying attention to the cell phone lights all over the arena) and Cesaro is more over than he’ll ever be.
So, when will WWE admit to themselves that they’ve come full circle and that John Cena is Hulk Hogan all over again?
Back in the day, it would have been unthinkable for Hogan to tweak his goody-goody image and do something different that appealed to more fans. But he re-invented himself and it was a hit.
It’s sad that WWE has lost their nerve. Especially when it comes to Cena because he seems to have an immediate impact on everything the company does.