The John Cena Appreciation thread

by DemonicTruthSpeaker Tue 12 Jul 2011, 9:54 am

So, in my time on this board and others, I've written the odd very controversial topic. From my assertions that Bret Hart and Chris Jericho are hugely over-rated, to my noted loathing of TNA... however, this one could be the most spectacular of all.

We can all sit here and list the things that Cena does poorly. The man has no idea how to sell. Or to bump. Or to wrestle. Or to apply his own submission move effectively. He can, however, do some things very well indeed.

From the evidence of last night's Raw, when he does serious promos, he does them very, very well.

He has the occasional good-to-excellent match - I've mentioned the match with Lashley before, his series with Edge was excellent.

He can take some punishment. His TLC match with Edge had some huge bumps, the beating Orton and Miz gave him with kendo sticks, he's bladed back in the days when this was allowed...

He never takes himself too seriously. The match at One Night Stand with Rob Van Dam and his reaction to the incredibly hostile crowd was perfect. he played his heel role with wit and clearly enjoyed it, as opposed to the almighty sulk that one D. Batista threw when faced with the same situation a few weeks after. That match alone has given me a very grudging respect for John Cena. And I cannot wait for the Miami reaction when he faces the Rock.

So over to the rest of the board: what do you like about John Cena?

by TopoftheChops Tue 12 Jul 2011, 10:33 am

I like Cena because he is the only one keeping WWE alive

by HitmanOwl Tue 12 Jul 2011, 10:46 am

Cena's is the no.1 guy in the company. But when goes on and on about he busts his balls for the company,it makes me feel sick.

Anyone could be cena,he hasn't got one stand out quality. Every single wrestler busts there balls,if they had cena's spot they would work just has hard.

Cena is painted out to be god when he ain't.

by whatwindturbine Tue 12 Jul 2011, 10:54 am

HitmanOwl wrote:Cena's is the no.1 guy in the company. But when goes on and on about he busts his balls for the company,it makes me feel sick.

Anyone could be cena,he hasn't got one stand out quality. Every single wrestler busts there balls,if they had cena's spot they would work just has hard.

Cena is painted out to be god when he ain't.

Summed up perfectly IMO.

by Shot 21 LCFC Tue 12 Jul 2011, 10:55 am

John Cena has always been one of my favourite wrestlers starting with right back when he first came out rapping each week as a heel. The guy has got amazing strength British Bulldog style (remember when he got Big Show and Edge in the FU - sorry Attitude Adjustment). He is very good on the mic and I have always loved how he has handled negative crowd reactions without throwing a sulk. You cant question the guys commitment and loyalty to WWE. Also, I have his album and he is very underated as a rapper. Some really good songs on there with really good topics. Anyway this is a wrestling forum so I will get back on track: when he first started getting heat from the crowd as a face, I thought it would end the guys career. But really when you think about it, this is the reason why he is the top guy in the company. I hate to sound like a WWE commentator but nobody gets a crowd reaction like John Cena does. His matches always have the most chanting (albeit because Cena haters and Cena lovers are trying to outdo each other). Thoughts anyone?

by HitmanOwl Tue 12 Jul 2011, 11:03 am

Haha John cena gets a very average reaction.

Orton gets a bigger POP,

The fact that the rock,scsa gets bigger pops than cena 10 later tells you all you need to know.

Found it funny he got booed in his home town,punk is well on his way.

by talkingpoint Tue 12 Jul 2011, 11:10 am

Cena is hard to like period. He's shoved down our throats, is the most blatent cash cow in the WWE currently and is a X10 world champ despite being a mediocre wrestler at best. His main event with Miz at this year's Mania is the perfect example of a corporate poster boy being forced onto the fans. The match was terrible. Cena, with his main event experience should be able to do better than that!

by HitmanOwl Tue 12 Jul 2011, 11:17 am

All the marks excuse 'that's how he's booked'

Pathetic,have u seen his dropkicks? Don't tell they booked him to do them like that.

His execution of wrestling moves is very sad sight to see,the 5 knuckle shuffle must be the worst move to ever grace the wrestling business.You could argue the cobra is but the difference is santino is a comedy wrestler not that you would know the actual difference.

by Guest Tue 12 Jul 2011, 11:20 am

Personally, I don't hate Cena but I'm not 12 years old so I don't subscribe to the endless BS that is thrown from the pro-cena bandwagon. On the other hand I don't care about the poster boy image and all of that either.

Someone has to be the poster boy, that's fine - What really winds me up is the never ending matches where he's beaten down for 20 minutes only to proceed in winning the match inside 3 minutes.

It's completely doable for someone to be the big face and still put over a beating once in a while. He managed to do it when Truth put him through the table just before Punks 'outburst' a couple of weeks ago.

What would be really awesome is if the storyline about Punk being the best wrestler in the world came full circle and made Cena put more moves into his matches. That way, if the WWE still insist on making Cena superman after every beating, at least he could perform more than his 5 move match finish that he usually does.

by **ADMIN** Tue 12 Jul 2011, 11:22 am

Is the 5 knuckle shuffle any worse than the People’s Elbow?

by HitmanOwl Tue 12 Jul 2011, 11:24 am

In his selling,o tool and mcgillishitty double teamed him. One closed lined in the buckle then straight after the other missed then he pinned him,wtf?

Grinds my gears!

by Ché Guerrero Tue 12 Jul 2011, 11:27 am

Hero wrote:Is the 5 knuckle shuffle any worse than the People’s Elbow?

I've always thought the People's Elbow would hurt if it connected because he drops his bodyweight behind it- honestly would you like a 300 pound samoan to fall on you.

by HitmanOwl Tue 12 Jul 2011, 11:27 am

Hero.

A elbow drop is a legitimate move!

Explained what the 5 knuckle is and how it would hurt a opponent that much they stand up?

No comparison I'm afraid for me.

by Mr H Tue 12 Jul 2011, 11:32 am

Cena is the first one to admit he isnt the greatest wrestler, but i admire his dedication and enthusiasm to the business. He's a 'decent' talker on the mic and i dont read too much into the cringeworthy PG 'poopy'-esque comments as he is told to go out there and say those things. His target audience are children, so he has to say things that children are familar with. Cena has it in his locker to deliver an intense, passionate promo and i can imagine he'd be dynamite on the stick if he ever did turn heel, it would give him alot more license to impress the older viewers and cut out the child friendly vocab.

Perhaps not a popular choice, but i think my favourite Cena match was against Batista at Wrestlemania 26, i was pleasantly suprised by it. But generally he couldnt sell free money, is pretty wooden and i'd imagine pretty hard to work with in ring.

Overall i'm not exactly Cena's number 1 fan, he has limited ability but i cant fault the guy for his commitment to the company and i tip my hat to him for making his way to the top.

by **ADMIN** Tue 12 Jul 2011, 11:35 am

But if you go into the lines of what is or is not believable then you can discredit most spot monkey move sets.
For me though yes the 5 knuckle shuffle is a stupid move, but only as much as any other 'fun' move like the Cobra, people's elbow, worm, stinkface etc, it's there purely to generate a pop of familiarity.

by HitmanOwl Tue 12 Jul 2011, 11:38 am

A elbow drop is a legitimate wrestling move.

by DemonicTruthSpeaker Tue 12 Jul 2011, 11:39 am

So how much of this is the way we watch wrestling, rather than Cena himself?

Is he any different from the amount of exposure Hogan got back in the day? I'm fairly sure that a lot of you would have been Hulkamaniacs back in the day, and he had equivalent talent levels to Cena. The main difference between the two in their prime that I can see is that Cena is a million times better at promos, and has shown himself to happily lose. Something Hogan never did.

Hogan beat everyone clean with a leg-drop. A gosh-darned LEG-DROP! At least the AA takes a bit of strength to execute properly.

The 5 knuckle shuffle is merely the People's Elbow for Cena. with the People's Elbow, it was sold as a devastating blow... when it's essentially the same as MVP's Ballin' Elbow, which wasn't as devastating.

by HitmanOwl Tue 12 Jul 2011, 12:12 pm

How would u describe the 5 knuckle shuffle in wrestling terminology?

I would describe peoples elbow has a elbow drop,ballin the same.

by John Cena's Speech writer Tue 12 Jul 2011, 12:23 pm

Ok, it's 6am, so I reserve the right to ramble a little.

From my name, you can probably guess I'm a bit of a mark for Cena - mostly because of his rap gimmick about 6/7 years ago.

But I'm still a fan. Yes, he's stale, and not got the best move-set in the company - but that is partly due to the WWE style, and partly due to his target audience. But on the mic, when he's allowed to be more himself (I guess) and less the superhero character, he can put on one hell of a promo.

He seems to be able to work well with the negative crowd reaction, and play up to it. I'm not surprised that The Rock and SCSA get bigger pops that he does, they're returning hero's who get a cheer from all the adults in the building, whereas Cena gets a pop mostly from women and children.

I'd love to see him take the breaks off on Sunday. I do think he's able to put on a decent to good match, and like Edge, I think Punk can get the best out of him. And I think that if he's allowed to step outside his regular moveset, he can put on a good match.

And by the way, the most ridiculous move in wrestling is, without doubt, the spinnerooney. The FU/AA is a pretty impressive finisher (especially when delivered to 'Taker, Kane , Rikishi, Big Show, etc. And I wonder if the STFU was introduced or forced on him due to a back injury or to give his back a rest?

Nb. When I wake up again, I may edit to help It make sense

by **Crimey** Tue 12 Jul 2011, 2:20 pm

HitmanOwl wrote:A elbow drop is a legitimate wrestling move.

I don't understand what this even means? Do you mean in amateur wrestling people are doing the People's Elbow? I don't understand what a "legitamate wrestling move" is? It's all fake, it doesn't have to hurt in real life. You could most likely discredit a lot of moves if you don't believe they are "legitimate wrestling moves".

by Mr H Tue 12 Jul 2011, 2:33 pm

The 5 knuckle shuffle is no different to the move The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase used to use - a falling fist from a vertical position. Difference is, he made it look good!

by talkingpoint Tue 12 Jul 2011, 3:27 pm

Hero wrote:But if you go into the lines of what is or is not believable then you can discredit most spot monkey move sets.
For me though yes the 5 knuckle shuffle is a stupid move, but only as much as any other 'fun' move like the Cobra, people's elbow, worm, stinkface etc, it's there purely to generate a pop of familiarity.

I agree. This is the reality of wrestling - pretty much all of Sin Cara's moveset would have to be discarded if 'realism' was the criteria of wrestling moves. However, I think why so many people cringe at the 5 knuckle shuffle is not because it's unrealistic (which it is) but rather that Cena is such a poor executioner of his moveset. Rock connected 9/10 with his Peoples' Elbow, which due to the nature of the move would hurt, whereas Cena usually is wildly off the mark. At the end of the day if someone was already KO'd lying flat on their backs on the matt, an undefended punch to the head would cause a serious amount of damage. That's why refs have to physically intervene when stopping MMA fights that end with ground and pound strikes. If a person is defenceless it's dangerous to let someone keep punching them in the head! But Cena doesn't sell the move like a legitimate ground and pound. It looks ridiculous to see him wave his hand infront of his face, run off the ropes and then camply (yes it looks so weak) pretend to hit someone over the head - from which they then get up from! I think that's the real difference.

by Kay Fabe Tue 12 Jul 2011, 4:16 pm

To say Hogan had "equivalent talent levels to Cena" is just either unbelievably misguided or blatant lies, due to how Hogan would take a match home he gets treated harshly, fact of the matter is Hogan was far superior at every aspect of Pro Wrestling than Cena, from Ring Psychology to actual Wrestling, Hogan could tell a story throughout a 25 minute match, Cena could do 25 minutes but wouldn't have a clue how to unfurl a story, to suggest they have similar levels of talent is so untrue its not even close.

This comes from someone who had no time for Hogan

by DemonicTruthSpeaker Tue 12 Jul 2011, 4:34 pm

I would submit that Hogan and Cena are very similar - they're the golden boys of their respective generations, both would take beatings for the majority of their matches before busting out their respective Moves of Doom, and both tend(ed) to work better with an established worker of an opponent.

Hogan, for me, was limited in-ring. Cena is very limited in-ring. So I could concede that Hogan is maybe less awful than Cena.

by HitmanOwl Tue 12 Jul 2011, 4:52 pm

Amazing how many people are not appreciating cena?

by **Crimey** Tue 12 Jul 2011, 4:54 pm

HitmanOwl wrote:Amazing how many people are not appreciating cena?

Most of them are over on your thread tearing your argument apart...

by HitmanOwl Tue 12 Jul 2011, 4:56 pm

Haha don't bother me,I think that. Simple. Don't wrong or right,I just say what I see and feel.

No biggy!

by Gregers Tue 12 Jul 2011, 4:59 pm

Can we have that in English please?

I appreciate Cena

by Kay Fabe Tue 12 Jul 2011, 5:14 pm

Hogan worked well with bigger guys as well, Andre, Bundy, Bossman and Earthquake, I'd also hugely disagree that Hogan would take a beating for the majority of the match in his matches, he would from time to time but mainly it would be even, just because he'd make the big comeback doesn't mean he'd spend most of the match on the back foot, still all that is moot as I was reacting to the statement that the are of similar talent, being booked similarly is entirely different to having similar talent, Hogan was sought after in Japan frequently and could hold his own, no mean feat, Cena with his lack of Ring Pressence, Ring Psychology and Wrestling ability would get laughed out the arena, Hogan was light years ahead of Cena

by Ent Tue 12 Jul 2011, 5:33 pm

RE the 5 knuckle shuffle,

I presume this had meaning when cena started using the move, but now it's just part of the 5 moves of doom.

If you look back the Rock would often deliver the people's elbow passionately (and aide the story), I feel this is what is missing from the 5KS, cena really just goes through the motions at times with it.

by BigPhil Tue 12 Jul 2011, 10:09 pm

Well I believe that with John Cena he's either absolutely terrible and when he's on screen you don't laugh at when he makes jokes and you don't believe a word when he talks about his heartfelt feelings. But then again every once in a while you get a good couple of months where he is excellent. However in the times of him being excellent to watch its usually down to the fact that someone else is making him look excellent.

I give him credit for the fact that he's on every week on television shows and does a lot of work but his moveset is really safe and he's not given much freedom to wrestle much at all. He takes a 'beatdown' for 20 minutes then wins a match in 5 minutes. It's a great way to preserve his body because all he does is roll around, put on a face of anguish, do his successive moves and head to the next days show. WWE are terrified of him getting injured and these days seem to act as if he has glass bones.

Storylines have to be conjured up just because he must be on Raw every week, so it must be relatively difficult for him to get decent stories half the time. So really I think it would just benefit the WWE if they gave him more time to rest, and more time for us to see him off screen for a while so that when he does return he feels fresh to the viewer.

So overall, he's good but we don't need to have him in our faces all the time.

by Miz NG Wed 13 Jul 2011, 1:21 pm

I agree with BigPhil, if Cena wasn't pushed down our throats all the time, then maybe we would appreciate him more. On the flip side, who (apart from Punk) would be able to generate the viewing figures? I know who should be able to, but in reality, who can?

The one thing I like about Cena, is that he is fully aware of his fan base. I loved that during his "leaving" speech he got the crowd to do the duel chants.

by talkingpoint Wed 13 Jul 2011, 1:37 pm

BigPhil wrote:
I give him credit for the fact that he's on every week on television shows and does a lot of work but his moveset is really safe and he's not given much freedom to wrestle much at all. He takes a 'beatdown' for 20 minutes then wins a match in 5 minutes. It's a great way to preserve his body because all he does is roll around, put on a face of anguish, do his successive moves and head to the next days show. WWE are terrified of him getting injured and these days seem to act as if he has glass bones.

Absolutely true! Cena is wrapped in cotton wool by Vince, his matches are not physically taxing by any stretch of the imagination, other than when he's put through a table!

by sodhat Wed 13 Jul 2011, 2:23 pm

Perhaps not a popular choice, but i think my favourite Cena match was against Batista at Wrestlemania 26, i was pleasantly suprised by it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

That's my pick of Cena's matches too. It was roundly expected to stink the place out, but it absolutely didn't. His almost 1 hour long match vs. HBK on Raw in 2007 was also a good match to watch.

I like Cena for the most part -- a hard working guy, clearly loving his job. But he does make me cringe at points with some of his more childish promos.

When he needs to step it up, he can do; promos against the Rock before WM and now against Punk show that a serious Cena is worth watching.

His moveset is limited, but WWE seem to like it that way for everyone. A few familiar moves and some basic ones and you have yourself a match made for TV.

I give him credit for the way he gets a reaction from any crowd. It doesn't matter if it's good or bad, but people care when he comes down the ramp...whether they care because they like him or because they get a chance to boo him is irrelevant. If the day comes when he comes out to a dead reaction, then he has a problem.

by Shot 21 LCFC Wed 13 Jul 2011, 3:10 pm

"I give him credit for the way he gets a reaction from any crowd. It doesn't matter if it's good or bad, but people care when he comes down the ramp...whether they care because they like him or because they get a chance to boo him is irrelevant. If the day comes when he comes out to a dead reaction, then he has a problem.."

You hit the nail on the head right there...

by TopoftheChops Tue 19 Jul 2011, 10:30 am

He is the face of the WWE at the moment, without cena, WWE would be nothing. There would be no main event at WM 28 of cena vs rock.

by pauline1981 Tue 19 Jul 2011, 10:37 am

Cena should be champ all the time

by liverbnz Tue 19 Jul 2011, 12:00 pm

TopoftheChops wrote:He is the face of the WWE at the moment, without WWE, Cena would be nothing. There would be no CENA in the main event at WM 28.

Changed that for ya.

by Samo Tue 19 Jul 2011, 12:18 pm

Whys this thread had posts removed? Seems to me we're allowed to WUM to our hearts content but damn anyone who speaks out against it.

by Kay Fabe Tue 19 Jul 2011, 12:29 pm

Seems like censorship gone wild by the boy who loves to delete without explanation!

by Samo Tue 19 Jul 2011, 12:31 pm

They might want to be careful or this place will end up like the old 606.

by greggschickenbake Tue 19 Jul 2011, 12:35 pm

My post was deleted as well :/

by Kay Fabe Tue 19 Jul 2011, 12:44 pm

The thing is, most posts that get deleted do so on the opinion of one boy, its not reaction based, you can complain about posts but most are just deleted if the kid thinks they should be

by liverbnz Tue 19 Jul 2011, 12:47 pm

I think the sensible thing to do would be to delete the whole thread. There are already Cena threads that this could go into, yet he is allowed to start a thread that'll only create arguements and no proper debate.

PS: I'm not trying to tell the mods what to do, just giving my opinion.

by pauline1981 Tue 19 Jul 2011, 12:48 pm

Whats to moan about cena

by Kay Fabe Tue 19 Jul 2011, 12:54 pm

He's not got a yellow shirt and he couldnt make Punk say sorry thats what love

by pauline1981 Tue 19 Jul 2011, 1:06 pm

Cena has loads of fans

by **ADMIN** Tue 19 Jul 2011, 1:09 pm

Although we may not agree with the OP, he is entitled to put forth his view, it isn't though acceptable to then spam the thread with comments that do not add to it, that was why one of the mod team removed the following comments.

I agree though that the OP itself could have just been part of another Cena thread, it's more a comment rather than an article.

by Kay Fabe Tue 19 Jul 2011, 1:17 pm

I stand by my point that only an imbecile would think without Cena there would be no WrestleMania main event, agree/disagree ?

by **Crimey** Tue 19 Jul 2011, 1:18 pm

I removed the comments because they were all off-topic, although you might not agree with the OP then you debate against them rather than attacking the poster.

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