Why won't WWE turn John Cena heel?
by Geno Mrosko on Nov 25, 2011 12:43 PM EST
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That question, asked so relentlessly and full of false hope, can be answered quite simply. So simple, in fact, that it's a marvel more dissenters haven't just realized it, accepted it and moved forward.
WWE won't turn John Cena heel because the fans have already done so.
That's not an all encompassing statement, of course. Not everyone hates this man. Quite the opposite, in fact. There's a rather large segment of the fanbase that adores him, so much so, they purchase his merchandise more than any other superstar on the entire WWE roster.
And therein lies the rub.
Heels, with the exception of super-groups like the nWo, don't sell merchandise. And why would they? If the characterization for wrestler being a heel is that he plays on the fact that fans hate his stinkin' guts, naturally, fans won't buy the gear said heel wears to the ring.
But what if WWE could have the best of both worlds? A monster heel who half the fans despise and the other half adores, who will tune in to see his matches, purchase tickets to his shows and drop some coin on his gear on the way out. That's who John Cena is and that's who he should be because, whether the dissenters and smarks want to admit it or not, it's the smartest way to go about booking his character.
Dave Meltzer breaks it down in his latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
There are a lot of issues with turning Cena, including fear of alienating that fan base, his merchandise and all of his charity work. They've learned the lesson of the failed 2001 Steve Austin turn where business went down hard and fast and never recovered, with the idea that because Austin had brought so many people to the table, that his being a heel made them check out. Even though Cena is no Austin, he also has brought a lot of people to the table. In the past, while Cena being turned has at times been open for discussion, the talks usually end based on his merchandise sales. C.M. Punk may have passed him (Punk claims he has and I'm sure he did in August which was the big month but then September was down from the prior year), but it was noted that Cena is a proven long term merchandise seller while Punk had one big month and fell greatly. In addition, reportedly just this last week Vince noted that when you look at the people who move ratings, that Cena is far and away the biggest (except for Rock who is part-time) and the only person on the roster you can count on to move numbers. There is no guarantee with a heel turn that will still be the case. There have been babyfaces who were big ratings draws that were turned heel and their ratings drawing power went way down.
If I remember correctly, the 2001 Austin heel turn occurred at WrestleMania 17 against, wait for it ... The Rock. And it went over like a lead balloon. Austin turned and won the match through nefarious means with the help of Vince McMahon and the crowd still popped just as big as they would have had he won without turning. Stone Cold has gone on record since then stating he thought it was a terrible idea to turn him heel because the fans weren't ready for it, and he was right.
Some of those same fans are now clamoring for Cena to turn heel against The Rock, possibly even at WrestleMania 28. If we're just looking at this through the storyline lens, then that would make a great deal of sense. After all, Cena has been here for the fans since day one, still wrestling while shooting his movies, as opposed to Rock, who bailed for seven years to become a full on movie star. Even if the angle is tired, it works better than most storylines because it mixes shoot with work.
However, as stated, turning Cena can only happen if there is a big enough babyface to replace him, both at the top of the card in the main event of major pay-per-views, at the box office and in stores across the globe. Does WWE have that guy on the roster? Right now, the answer is no. CM Punk, as great as his 2011 campaign has been, still isn't on the level of a major superstar who can maintain his spot at the top.
So, no matter how much a large segment of the fanbase dislikes it, Cena is not turning heel any time soon. And that's the right decision to make.
Because hey -- if you don't like him, boo him. You will anyway.
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Your last line sums it up very well
A large part of the crowd is going to treat him as a heel anyway so why alienate his young fans by making him a true bad guy? Fully turning him heel is booking for the impossible to please “smarks”(a term I HATE).
has any one checked
Out the grantland article on cena it went up this week, talks about a heel turn in a lot of the same tone as this one
He knows the guy with the bandage on his ass is going no were. Were you going fucking no were
by Elstriko on Nov 25, 2011 1:08 PM EST via mobile reply actions
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7272973/ce-na-sucks
He knows the guy with the bandage on his ass is going no were. Were you going fucking no were
by Elstriko on Nov 25, 2011 1:11 PM EST via mobile reply actions
I hadn't seen that.
Great stuff from the Masked Man. He does great work.
Forget it Donny, you're out of your element.
no problem
Just glad I did not over step by posting the link
He knows the guy with the bandage on his ass is going no were. Were you going fucking no were
by Elstriko on Nov 25, 2011 2:19 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Heel Cena is impossible
The last line of the Grantland article is so true, “But I wonder if it’s not something more like a plea: Please make Cena a bad guy so we can finally cheer for him.”
I don’t think it is possible for Cena to have a true heel turn. The moment he does anything unsavory, his haters would then cheer for him immediately. He would just be an anti-hero and not a true heel.
by Manolo Has Pizzazz on Nov 25, 2011 4:36 PM EST up reply actions
So, Austin what?
If you are comparing Austin and Cena, I don’t think the situations are comparable. I wasn’t watching wrestling when Austin made his heel turn, but I assume fans weren’t sick of him and constantly voicing their desire for a character evolution like they do with Cena.
by Manolo Has Pizzazz on Nov 25, 2011 7:54 PM EST up reply actions
If Austin would have never turned...
…we wouldn’t have gotten the “WHAT?!?!” chants at the end of every heel promo for the next 5+ years.
WWE could be doing us a similar favor.
Austin's turn would've worked if WWE actually gave him a proper babyface foil.
First it looked like that guy would be Triple H, but they kept him heel, and then Hunter hurt himself. Then it looked like the guy would be Chris Benoit, and then he got injured. Then for awhile it looked like that guy would be Kurt Angle, but then WWE went and turned Angle heel at the last minute.
Not to mention that Austin was getting unanimous babyface pops across the country, and virtually every crowd Cena plays to nowadays has half the audience boo the shit out of him. This doesn’t even get into the fact that ratings never changed when Cena was out on injury leave, and Cena’s the only guy I can think of who’s responsible for second hours getting lower ratings than the first hours. It’s time, and if Cena had any guts whatsoever, this would’ve happened back in 2006.
If Cena had any guts?
That is kind of harsh. I guess trying to please adult fans who are rarely pleased anyway should be more important than crushing the dreams of little kids and making them cry.
by Manolo Has Pizzazz on Nov 25, 2011 4:47 PM EST up reply actions
I never thought I'd say this about a wrestler, but Cena has no guts because he doesn't politic enough.
There was no reason that Cena should’ve gone along with some of the absurd booking decisions that WWE has made with his character considering the power he wields, in particular the horrific finish to Wrestlemania 27, but Cena never changes anything even though he’s one of the few guys in the company with the power to do so. It’s why everyone hates him.
The kiddies will get along just fine when their hero turns heel. Every other kiddie in history had their hearts broken before when their favorite babyface turned heel, they get over it. Today’s kids are no different.
I think you hit the major point Geno
You need someone to replace him at the top of the card and become the face of the company, and so far Punk is not that guy. He has the potential, the most potential of all the possible babyface candidates to take over, but with the way he has been booked since Summerslam, his character is so off the rails that few will buy into him like kids have bought into Cena.
They do have the other pieces in place, particularly someone as over as the Rock to put him over as a heel. If there is someone to do that, it would be him. The set-up is also nice. If there was a time to do it, almost all the pieces are there, minus the big babyface to replace him.
Let’s see if Punk has it in him. A year-long build program of monster heel Cena disposing of all comers as heel champion (Evil Super Cena, if you will) and eventually surpassed by CM Punk would be epic. But right now, it seems very far away.
Fish Stripes, a Florida Marlins blog
Author, Baseball Prospectus Fantasy
they dont want there young viewers
to not have a role model type. Parents will be pissed if the face is cm punk with his piercings and tattoos. Not me personally because i have plenty of thoes myself but WWE seems to be playing towards a certain audience, that being young kids. Thats where the money is.
And the WWE has never done anything to fix this problem, nor they ever will. Watching WWE is so frustrating to the point where I just channel off, even with the Rock working part-time. The obvious solution’s there all along but it’s like Vince is being moronic on purpose. I get that he’s old but is he an idiot or a troll?
I’m not going to repeat the solution because we all know what WWE must do. The answer’s all there…
turn him Bret Hart style.
Someone mentioned doing it like Bret. Saying that he is the good guy, hardest working, always been there for the company and audience, moral center of WWE. But half the crowd still boos him. He could be the same exact character, just addressing the half of the audience that cheers as proper moral people, and the other half as ungrateful for him carrying this company on his back 24/7 for the last 5 years or so. It would keep him positive for the kiddos, while also addressing the smarks directly. Plus Cena with a little edge will sell more merch. People LOVE to take sides and show it. And the best part is that it’s true. He has been the hardest worker. And they already planted the seeds with his father coming out and calling out the boo birds. I don’t even really like the guy, but this may sway me.
by 8bitDan on Nov 25, 2011 3:02 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions
Wasn’t it Austin’s idea to turn heel?
As for a adversary for Cena it’s already been done before but in opposite roles & now they are on opposite shows but what about Orton? Orton gets one of if not the biggest pops out of any regular superstar on the current roster. Maybe it could be Sheamus or a popular heel they turn face before Cena makes his turn? Don’t know just throwing ideas against the wall now
Orton is so interesting as a foil to Cena as a natural heel who gets enormous cheers
LeBron James - 0 Charles Barkley - 0 Karl Malone/John Stockton - 0 Sun Yue -1
Personally, I don't see what making Cena a bad guy would accomplish
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!" Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 458 posts (08/24/11)
3rd Place- 2011 AAOP Contest
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Nov 25, 2011 3:49 PM EST reply actions
It would make it so all the faces on the roster get routienly buried instead of the heels.
by The so-called Beautiful on Nov 25, 2011 3:55 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Lol
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!" Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
AA Gamethread Embiggening Record Holder- 458 posts (08/24/11)
3rd Place- 2011 AAOP Contest
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Nov 25, 2011 11:11 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Charity work
I never thought about that before. Cena has a huge impact in real life with charity work and that trumps any reason to turn him heel.
by Manolo Has Pizzazz on Nov 25, 2011 4:30 PM EST reply actions
Once again, I think WWE needs to: 1) Create new stars and shift its focus onto this and 2) Focus and expand on tweeners. Heels and Faces doesn’t work anymore as I think that dynamic is getting to be too out-of-date. Tweneers adds another layer of character into each wrestler.
CM Punk and Randy Orton makes great tweeners and so would Cena. I believe you can have tweeners that you mostly cheer or boo for.
I hate how WWE won't evolve a wresler(character) because of ratings.
If they turn Cena and then after a year have Face turn, Cena will have a renewed pop with new fans if they do it right.
I think alot of fans are unhappy with his character(i think he’s gotten really corny as of late) and a heel turn could breathe new life and see a different side of John Cena as a performer.
He doesn’t have to turn heel, he just has to do something, anything a little different. The Undertaker kept at the top all this time by constantly reinventing himself while keeping the core of his character(except the American bad ass phase though.) Go back and watch early Undertaker matches and see how much his style has changed over the years. UT still does the moves that fans love, but the matches around them are different.
Hell, Cena developing and changing up his in ring style would go a long way for a lot people. It’s not his character or promos that bother me, its his ring work. Also it would be nice if he stopped constantly grinning when he buries the heels. It comes off as kind of prickish.
Here is another problem with turning Cena heel
Like Hogan in the nWo, my guess is that Cena would be a super duper heel drawing major heat. Like Hogan, Cena can’t bump his ass off to get someone over. What failed the nWo long term, the lack of ability in the group to make any babyface look good in an important match, will crush Cena. In actuality, keeping Cena babyface is the best thing to protect his weaknesses. A major heel is only effective if he can make someone in a match and Cena doesn’t have the skill set to accomplish this. Austin, in his heel run, was able to elevate Angle, Jericho, Benoit, and RVD even though he failed to translate his turn into cold cash.
Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes...
It really goes back to the age old rule
heels don’t draw money. And you’re right but WWE books its heels and babyfaces so funny, people have forgotten the tried and true methods of pro wrestling.
Forget it Donny, you're out of your element.
I dunno I think it would be really easy to turn Cena heel. Like the article said half the fans already hate him and the half that like him don’t like him for the same reason the other half hate him. Just have him rip on the fans and have him act like a heel (against a face foil) and the half of the fans that like him would abandon him in droves. HHH has been able to switch pretty effectively over the years.
They won’t do it thou. He’s still a big seller and he’s still the face of the company. Until some face comes along that ellipses him in popularity or his merch stops selling the WWE won’t consider a full-blown heel turn. Which is a pity because opening themselves up to that possibility opens up so many more creative avenues, IMO the overall product suffers from this attitude. WWE has become a very risk-adverse company during the PG Era.
The problem isn't fully Cena.
I liked John Cena from around the time of his debut to just a year or two ago (or three, I forget when it started to turn). I heard stories about how great of a person he was (such as personally buying out the merchandise stand for a disabled child), he always seemed to try to give his best in all situations (even if that didn’t amount to much), and I respected how he’d always rush back to try and do what he could (such as the Royal Rumble that one year).
But that’s all changed. I can’t stand John Cena on WWE television. And 90% of that is how WWE books him. John Cena is Superman, Hulk Hogan, Jesus Christ, and Carrot Top all wrapped into one. He never loses clean or fair, He’s never made to look bad, He always gets top billing, He never treats anything as serious, He never puts over a feud or angle as meaning anything, and Even when heels cheat Cena just shrugs and smiles. And for years now instead of being the edgy Cena that became famous he’s been relegated to lame cheap comedy that, don’t kid yourself, Vince McMahon thinks is hilarious.
Somewhere in all that transition Cena lost part of his desire. You can see it in his wrestling. Where as before Cena would go all out trying to prove people wrong by having great matches (or try to…), Cena now simply goes through the motions. Why should he try? At this point no one that hates him will be convinced to like him, and his spot will never ever be in jeopardy. We see the WWE browbeaten effect on everyone in the company. Cena’s become a robot bent by WWE will.
The wrestling and never treating anything as serious is on John Cena. The rest isn’t. I still like John Cena the person. Everything I’ve ever heard still says he’s a legitimately great person. But holy balls do I hate John Cena the character.
Ironic
that Cena’s become a robotic, through the motions performer, considering that his first gimmick was ‘The Prototype’. At least that had a purpose.
Which is what Cena seems to be lacking now. Edge and purpose. We don’t need a full-on heel turn, he doesn’t really have to do anything different, but his character needs self-awareness. You can’t just ignore most of MSG booing you out of your match, you can’t just sheepishly accept what happened during the post-match “celebration” without recognizing it in some fashion- which is why I think the Bret Hart template is the best “heel turn” option. Appeal to the core fans and turn your back on those who have already done so to you.
Who wants to save the world? That's what misers do...
by theloupgaroukid on Nov 26, 2011 3:41 PM EST reply actions
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