WWE: Seven reasons why adult fans hate John Cena
Professional wrestling is a scripted sport. The match results are pre-decided and wrestlers undergo extensive training to ensure they do not injure their opponents in the ring. Over-the-top theatrics, entrance music, unique personas are all part of a wrestler's personality, which is carefully decided upon by the promoters and creative department.
Pro wrestling is also a soap opera in the sense that wrestlers are either identified as heroes (faces) or as villians (heels). Faces play to the crowd, wrestle within legal boundaries and come from behind to win matches. Heels insult the crowd and cheat to win matches. This has been the standard fare in professional wrestling for decades, and WWE is no different.
Mostly, every pro wrestling company has a top guy who is the face of the company, who it invests into heavily and promotes with equal enthusiasm. As fans we are supposed to cheer the most for this person. Hulk Hogan is perhaps the biggest example of a heroic figure. Indeed, he is the most recognised wrestler in the world.
Other mega superstars in WWE history are The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin and now John Cena. While Hogan, Rock and Austin have all been cheered heavily as the top faces, John Cena has been booed by half the fans for at least the last half a decade. Just watch the video below:
Adult male fans in particular have a strong hatred of John Cena. Let's examine the reasons why.
1) John Cena is too good a character: Cena's character is way too honest and good hearted. Cena never gets angry enough to attack his opponents other than in matches, he never abuses on the mike and never insults without being provoked. He also plays absolutely fair and by the rules in every match, even if his opponent uses the vilest tactics to win. For children Cena is a great role model, but for adults who prefer realistic, grey characters, he is a big let down.
2) His attire is corny and flashy, and his persona is of a superhero: Adults are not very fond of superheroes. They are even less fond of corny-looking, bright attire which is obviously used to please the kids. Cena does not look like a tough guy's wrestler even though he is built like a tank.
3) He almost never loses without being cheated: John Cena is the ultimate superhero. He rarely loses a match without some kind of interference or unfair tactics being used by his opponent. Notably, Cena has lost cleanly a few times in the recent past - to Daniel Bryan at Summerslam 2013, to Brock Lesnar at Summerslam 2014 and to the Rock at Wrestlemania 28. However, by and large Cena does not lose unless he is robbed of a victory. This makes his character unbelievable for adult fans.
4) Cena is average in the ring: Cena does not possess great in-ring skill. Though he has put on great matches with the likes of CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, it's always the other guy who brings out a plethora of moves to make the match look good. Cena is infamous for his "five moves of doom" in that he only has a few moves which he uses again and again to win.
5) He refuses to turn heel (villain), and his character is very stale: John Cena refuses to become a bad guy despite playing the same character for a decade now. He is the same corny superhero he was a decade ago, and he has even dropped his rapper gimmick to become even tamer than before. Despite being booed out of arenas almost every week, the WWE is reluctant to turn Cena into a bad guy, because they would lose a lot of revenue. Cena sells the most merchandise and makes the most money for the company, so this reluctance is understandable, but his character is stale and unappealing to adult fans.
6) WWE cannot build other superstars because of him: Because Cena is the top guy and almost always wins in the end, the company cannot build new superstars. While Batista, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan have all had their time in the sun, they have always played second fiddle to Cena. This is because the company refuses to push another wrestler as the top face even after a decade. At best the other wrestlers get a big win over Cena and then subside into playing the No 2 role.
7) He is nothing like The Rock or Steve Austin: Adult WWE fans are very nostalgic about the Attitude Era, which spanned the late 90s and early 2000s. This was the time during which The Rock and Steve Austin became extremely popular, selling out arenas and garnering mainstream popularity. Professional wrestling was at its peak then, and the storylines were far edgier, more violent and a treat for adult fans. However, after Austin and the Rock left, WWE transitioned into having John Cena as the top face, and he is basically too meek and too cartoonish for Attitude Era fans.
There will come a time when WWE will have to alter the John Cena character and turn him into a villain. As of now the company is milking his profitability as much as it can. Cena also does a lot of Make-A-Wish Foundation work, and has already granted over 400 wishes to terminally ill children. But Cena has been suffering from injuries with increasing frequency and cannot continue for ever. He is 37 now, yet he appears (and fights) almost every week on WWE TV and headlines almost every monthly Pay Per View event. It only remains to be seen if the company can build another superstar before Cena burns out.