Bret Hart had an interview with Rob McNichol for The Sun's podcast One Sided Ring. He gave his predictions on the top four matches of Wrestlemania and had some interesting thoughts on Cena vs Rock, including him saying he wouldn't be surprised if Cena turned heel.
We've talked about Cena turning heel since 2007. If Cena was going to turn heel, this would be the best place to do so. The Rock being screwed in his hometown would start a possible riot. It would be nearly as crazy as when Hulk Hogan turned heel.
The WWE has been foreshadowing his heel turn a bit with his more edgy character and him sounding like Stone Cold Steve Austin's when he was telling the Rock "I will do ANYTHING to win" Lastly, it would explain why they're trying to make the match 50-50 and that is so Cena has fans to turn on.
If Cena turned heel, the product would become more interesting. The most complained about thing about the WWE is its by-the-book shows, and since Cena has been the top-dog of the company, he takes a good brunt of the frustration because of it. In other words, Cena as heel would make the product seem to the fans less cookie-cutter and more fresh.
On the other hand, a John Cena heel turn chances are would hurt WWE's merchandising sales. John Cena has been the cash cow of the WWE for about 7 years. They've had wrestlers that came close, but nobody has surpassed him. Plus, with the new "Cena sucks shirts", it's almost like he's heel already.
And with all due respect to CM Punk, he's not ready to be the cash cow of the WWE because he's not yet over enough and neither is Randy Orton. Thus, there's nobody right now who I could think of that could become the cash cow of the WWE, but that doesn't mean Cena cannot elevate a babyface to cash cow status After all, a great heel can always make a babyface more popular.
Whether it will work or not, mostly comes down to how well or poorly the turn's executed and then booked, though he's somewhat tweener right now so I personally don't see them turning him because they're getting money from the people who like him and dislike him. .
Thoughts?
I don't know, you think kids would boo him if he went heel or would he get the same mixed reaction he gets now? I don't know if kids care about face/heel status the same way our generation did, but if they have superhero complexes like many of the 80s kids, they could be killing the golden goose. The thing about the Hogan heel turn was that he was getting booed everywhere by mid 1996 -- in Horsemen country, in Detroit, in Florida -- by those that were once the staunchest Hulkamaniacs. Cena's audience seems more divided -- the kids and the ladies love him, the adult males hate him.
ReplyDeleteSo I guess it comes down to market research -- what audience can you afford to lose and what audience do you stand to gain to make up with it?
The WWE obviously stands to lose the kids who follow "Cena" more than they follow wrestling and could gain back some of the hardcores that have stopped watching due to his perceived blandness -- but how many of those hardcores believe they could maintain any sort of momentum and not totally screw the whole thing up in short order?
In a worst case scenario, you kill the long term viability of the kids and get only a short term boost with the hardcore fans and it ends up having a negative effect. Best case says you've already hooked the kids anyway and they'll watch no matter what and continue to buy PPVs and merchandise and you stand only to gain fans.
Definitely a risky situation, but I don't know that I believe that this company is into taking risks anymore.
Cena is not turning heel. Period, end of story.
ReplyDeleteYou know why? HE IS ALREADY A HEEL! When 85% of the people in the arena boo you...and pay money to boo you....you are a heel.
Why in the world would the WWE do anything with Cena when they get to make $$$ off of kids who love and $$$ off of wrestling fanboys who hate him?
This is an interesting way of looking at it and if you think of it that way -- the WWE already has the perfect situation with him, and they're making money on both sides.
ReplyDeleteHe's NOT A HEEL. People keep trying to push this (especially Seth Mates, who I love but think is dead wrong here). "getting booed" does not make you a heel. What does Cena do? He plays a Hulk Hogan circa 80s character who beats up everyone, no sells matches, always gets the upper hand in the end, tells kids to eat their vitamins (essentially), and fights heels all the time. How does that make him a heel? Because a few people boo him?
ReplyDeleteWhen I say I want Cena to turn heel, I'm saying I want to see an edgier Cena with a new character who fights the faces. I'm not saying "I want to see a John Cena who gets booed!". How does that matter?
I think he should but I don't think he will. I think this company badly needs something to shake it up. If we have to go another year of Cena making Miz/Del Rio/Ziggler/etc look like worthless pieces of garbage who are clearly beneath him, I don't know how much longer I'm going to be watching, especially when they inevitably take the title off Punk and put it on Cena.
ReplyDeleteM
ReplyDeleteThe more Cena stays the same guy and gets boo'ed (and his young fans aren't going to stay kiddies forever), the more he risks getting the worst kind of heat there is: X-Pac Heat.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's no comin' back from X-Pac Heat, brother.
There was one part of Cena's promo I found pretty funny. He said Rock left WWE when it was at a supreme high but countered that he himself was leading the company when things weren't so good.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm yelling at the TV, "things aren't so good because YOU, you stale dumbass!". 8 )
What makes me think it could be possible is that they've acknowledged that there's a large number of fans who hate Cena more than ever, and that Cena keeps talking about how he won't change, won't turn heel, and really pushing that he won't change because he loves the fans, the kids, the families, etc...could be building it up to make his heel turn more of a shock.
ReplyDeleteIt's still a long shot, as turning Cena heel completely changes the company and they haven't shown a whole lot of willingness to change as long as they can sell a ton of Cena t-shirts, hold Wrestlemania in stadiums and sell out over-seas tours.
He said that in an interview I read today and I thought the same thing. For one, he acts like he has all these other options he could be doing, and secondly, he acts like he's stuck around during 1996/1997-levels of company trouble. The company is doing well, it's stale as all hell, but it's profitable, even if it's not as popular or exciting as it used to be. They have two shows, one of which he isn't even on, it's not like he's carrying a struggling company on his back. And as you said, the people who have tuned out or lost interest, and the big complain people have is Cena himself.
ReplyDeleteKid's are easy - just have him act like a jerk and turn on them. As an adult I see nothing appealing about John Cena the character other than he's a good guy who does the right thing and beats up the bad guys. If kids will love him for that, they'll hate him for being jerk.
ReplyDeleteBut it's a fine line - they can't have him act like a badass, can't have him cutting funny rap promos. They just have to keep him basically like he is now, only amp up how much of a candyass he really is. I said it before but I think Corporate Cena is the way to go - not the suit and tie thing, but the "this guy makes us a lot of money so we're going to make sure he's the focus of the show whether you like it or not" thing.
And this was supposed to be a reply.
ReplyDeleteThat's the problem. If you don't like John Cena and you don't want him to be the focus of the show, stop buying tickets to go see him. If half the crowd if cheering and half the crowd is booing but they all paid to do it, they're still making money. If half the crowd stays home rather than sit through the John Cena Show, then they might take notice.
ReplyDeleteI've said it for years, all the writers have to do is make him exactly like Kurt Angle in 2000. H'e half way there, all he needs to do is start acting more condescending.
ReplyDeleteAgain, it's amazing how Eve turned heel in the eyes of all the fans by kissing Cena and not Ryder. Yet, Cena remain unscathed to the fans that support him, despite the fact that he basically cheated on his wife with his best friend's girl.
I don't know why they think that the sales of merch stop if he goes heel. If they do the angle they did with Diesel when he said I'll only shake hands with people with the black gloves like he wore, he can ackknowledge his fans and shit on non-Cena fans.
ReplyDeleteWell, I have no doubt that the kids would dislike him (most of them anyway) but my point is are they going to be as interested in following him if he's a 'bad guy'? They need a face to take his place that the kiddies love too and obviously that's not going to be The Rock.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think we need to distinguish between what wrestling fans want and what the WWE wants. Surely Cena as a heel would be good for wrestling fans, because it would be something different and fresh.
ReplyDeleteFor the WWE though, I think it's less appealing, because it's unclear how it will impact the way people spend their money on the product. Wrestling has a history of running with one idea, right into the ground before they'll budge on it. I'm gonna bet on history and not on the WWE doing something sensible.
Well, that's part of it. Mostly, it's Vince/Stephanie/HHH turning everyone into tools, especially anyone that gets over in a way other than what was planned for him. Another big reason is the stupid 'Even Steven' thing they've had going forever. Everyone beats everyone, making everyone the same.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just Cena's tired persona, it's one McMahon that has lost touch with reality and another that was never in it.
I don't know anymore. I assume they want to do it, they just want to surprise the fans. But that Rock/Cena documentary seemed like it was a giant one-hour "we're not turning Cena heel" special
ReplyDeleteI don't like the John Cena character but I still go to the show. Reason? I'M NOT THERE TO SEE HIM!!!! I don't know why I should have to sit at home when I'm there to see guys like CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler.
ReplyDeleteThe most basically( and simple) idea is to not the merch. I haven't any Cena merch since 2004.
I could easily see Punk stepping into that role.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if covering Cena in advertisements and sponsorships would cross the line back into cheering...
ReplyDeleteI tried to read this headline but I only got as far as "Cena Turning"...before I was so overcome with boredom that I fell asleep. Far and away the most interesting thing about Cena is the fact that he can actually deal with criticism, whereas once any other face in the history of wrestling gets a couple boos they have to grow a goatee and become weak and cowardly in the ring. Still I almost wish they would just turn him so we could finally be done with this incessant cycle of fantasy booking regarding the Cena heel turn that "just has to happen". It wouldn't help the product at all because things are still being run by the same creative team that botches every big angle, but at least I could go twenty seconds without hearing about how Cena sucks because his jokes are bad and he so totally isn't an edgy rapper anymore like he was when he was cool.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I was posting Bret Hart's interview where he said he thinks Cena is going to turn heel. Second of all, I was 50-50 and never once said that I wanted him to turn. In fact, I was leaning towards him not turning heel. Maybe you should read the article before you bash me instead of being so cynical and "fuck this shit" for nothing.
ReplyDeleteso you are essentially saying the Steve Austin in mid 1997 was not a face? because he surely didn't act like one.
ReplyDeleteright. to me, the Cena character is much more complex than most by-the-numbers bayfaces the WWE had over the years.
ReplyDeletecalm down. I am pretty sure was talking more about the typical discussion that always seems to start whenever the topic "John Cena" is brought up.
ReplyDeleteexcept "X-Pac heat" only exists to smarks.
ReplyDelete"the kids and the ladies love him, the adult males hate him." - to be precise, there are a lot of adult males that like Cena, too. who do you think at 42 year old father of two children cheers for?
ReplyDeleteI don't. and I even doubt that Punk would like to be the smiling babyfaces that is mainly catering to the kids.
ReplyDeleteThey were so close when they had Cena join the Nexus. All they had to do was show him "embracing the hate" then. Start him off being the reluctant member of the heel faction, then have him cut a promo about how much he is enjoying being a bad guy. I'm still not sure why the Wade Barrett-led Nexus ended as abruptly as it did. They could have done more with it and you still see fans wearing the shirtstoday.
ReplyDeleteHa ha, yeah. Like I said, I was just reacting to the headline. You do make some good points in the article, but this subject has been talked to death, reanimated, and killed again (like the bad guy in Dead Heat) so many times over that I can't see a phrase like "Cena Heel Turn?" without my eyes doing the roller coaster. By this point the hypothetical Cena heel turn has been pushed for such a long time in the message boards that I find it as boring and loathsome as most smarks find Cena's current character. I'm really hoping WWE can maintain and do something interesting with polarizing Cena rather than simply making him into a "people boo me so I'm a bad guy now" (a la Hollywood Hogan/Rocky Maivia) character, which would just turn him "face" anyway. I guess I had 200 words to spare on the subject.
ReplyDeleteNot all babyfaces have to be the typical smiling, catering to the Kids. And besides in terms of popularity and merch, Punk is right up there with Cena.
ReplyDelete