Spotlight On: John Cena
When people discussed Wrestling in the 80′s, Hulk Hogan was the name that immediately sprung to mind whether you were a wrestling fan or not.
In the early 90′s it was Bret Hart, from the late 90′s to the mid 00′s it was The Rock and Stone Cold, but now as we draw close to another decade, John Cena is undoubtedly the face of the WWE at the moment.
Early Days
John Cena Debuts in WWE
John Cena debuted in the WWE on June 27th, 2002, in a match against Kurt Angle.
Cena made a strong first impression; He got right up in Angle’s face, took everything Angle had and held his own in a very good match.
This kid also had a great look (he had been dubbed the “Prototype” in OVW) and had that certain “it” factor. Even though he lost that match, it was clear that he had the potential to be a big star in the WWE.
John Cena’s Early Days
After coming up short against Angle, Cena was put in a program with Chris Jericho. They had several good matches and it was against Jericho that Cena scored his first wins.
Cena would then flounder around in the mid-card for a while.
In the meantime he developed a rapping heel gimmick, where he would often tear down his opponents with clever, witty rhymes. The gimmick caught on and Cena quickly became one of the most popular personalities on Smackdown.
In April of 2003, Cena received his first big push when he won a #1 contender’s tournament defeating Eddie Guerrero, The Undertaker, and Chris Benoit. He went on to face WWE Champion Brock Lesnar at Backlash in what was an excellent bout, where Cena proved that he belonged on the big stage despite coming up short.
It was during his feud with Lesnar where he came up with the ‘FU’ as a finisher, a play on Lesnar’s F5 finisher.
From Strength to Strength
Cena Finally Wins Gold
In late 2003 and early 2004 Cena would have memorable feuds with the likes of Eddie Guerrero, Rhyno, and Kurt Angle.
As Wrestlemania XX approached, though, he was put in a program with the Big Show, who was the U.S. champ at the time. There couldn’t have been a bigger stage for Cena to win his first title than Wrestlemania XX at Madison Square Garden.
He picked up the win by hitting The Big Show with a chain, then in an impressive feat of strength, delivered an FU to the near 500 pounder.
Cena would have a lenghty reign before being stripped of the title. Booker T picked up the title and they went on to have a ”best of five” series, which Cena won to regain the title.
Cena would then lose, and later regain the title from newcomer Carlito Carribean Cool. By this point, though, it was clear that Cena was above the U.S. title and destined for bigger and better things.
Cena Wins The WWE Title And Moves To Raw
As the 2005 Royal Rumble approached, John Cena was one of the favourites and although he had a strong showing, he finished second to Batista.
Cena would bounce back to win another #1 contender’s tournament to challenge JBL at Wrestlemania. JBL dominated most of the match but Cena came out on top in the end, defeating JBL and ending his dominant 10 month reign as Champion.
On June 6th of that year, Cena was drafted to Raw.
It had been a long time coming as it had been evident for a while that Cena was made for Live TV and belonged on the A show.
Cena would renew his feud with Chris Jericho and eventually defeat him at SummerSlam in a very good match during which it became clear that many fans were turning on Cena as the crowd appeared to be 50-50.
For some reason, after Cena came to Raw he stopped rapping and lost some of his “edge,” becoming more of a bland babyface. Gradually more and more boos began echoing around arenas during Cena’s matches. This was also evident when he feuded with Kurt Angle later in the year but it would become even more pronounced in 2006.
The Fans Turn on Cena
2006 Began with Cena set to defend the title in an Elimination Chamber Match against five other guys.
Cena somehow survived with the title, only to have Edge cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase and make short work of him to win the title. However, it would only take Cena three weeks to regain the title at the Royal Rumble.
As Wrestlemania rolled around the marquee match-up would be John Cena vs. HHH for the WWE title. A lot was made of HHH’s privileged upbringing vs. Cena’s common man upbringing.
While this was meant to garner sympathy for Cena and get the ‘working man’ crowd behind him, it didn’t work.
The Chicago crowd seemed to be 90-10 for HHH. Surpsisingly though, Cena won clean when HHH tapped out in the STFU.
Cena held onto the title for a couple of months before losing it in a memorable match to RVD, with help from Edge at ECW One Night Stand.
Cena would get his revenge on Edge at Unforgiven, when he defeated him in an enjoyable TLC match to once again regain the Championship after RVD had relinquished it after being reprimanded for drug taking.
Still On Top
Cena’s Year-Long Title Reign
Cena would go on to feud with the likes of Umaga, Shawn Michaels, The Great Khali, Bobby Lashley, and Randy Orton over the next twelve months, always coming out on top, at least when the title was on the line. It seemed like the more the fans turned on him, the more the WWE was determined to push him.
His reign ended with him being stripped of the title because of a torn pectoral muscle which was expected to shelve him for over half a year.
Cena’s Surprising Return
Cena would return only three months later as the surprise #30 entrant in the Royal Rumble where he picked up the win, eliminating HHH last.
At Wrestlemania that year, HHH, Orton, and Cena met in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship.
For the first time at Wrestlemania Cena lost as he was pinned by Orton.
For the following few months Cena feuded with JBL, rekindling their old rivalry and putting on a few memorable bouts.
At Summer Slam, the marquee match was to be John Cena vs. Batista for the first time ever. Batista picked up the win in a decent match, but many including the Superstars themselves felt it had been rushed through and booked poorly.
Interestingly enough, Cena lost more matches in 2008 than he did in 2006 and 2007 combined.
Maybe the WWE was starting to figure out that the audience eventually gets tired of seeing the same guy win all the time.
Supposedly, Cena injured himself again in the match with Batista and would need surgery once again.
Cena Returns from Injury Once again
Cena made his triumphant return at the Survivor Series in his hometown of Boston where he faced then WWE champion Chris Jericho and defeated him in a good match.
Cena really dominated the feud, defeating Jericho in another solid match at Armaggedon the next month.
Eventually Cena lost the title to Edge in the Elimination Chamber at No Way Out, but won it back in a surpsisingly good match at Wrestlemania against Edge and the Big Show, where he showed yet another remarkable feat of strength by lifting both Big Show and Edge at the same time!
This reign was short-lived as he lost the title back to Edge at Backlash, due to Big Show’s interference.
Cena feuded with The Big Show for what seemed like an eternity before moving right back into the title picture by winning a Beat the Clock Sprint set by Shaquille O’ Neal who was guest hosting Raw.
Cena lost his first title shot at SummerSlam due to numerous underhanded tactics from Randy Orton, then took the title from him in an I Quit match just a month later at Breaking Point, before dropping it back a month later at Hell in a Cell.
Orton and Cena plan on meeting one last time at Bragging Rights, where Cena will put his future on Raw up against the WWE Championship in an attempt to reclaim the gold.
John Cena Is The Biggest Star In Wrestling Today
John Cena is clearly the WWE’s “Golden Boy.”
Perhaps, though he has been pushed too strongly, to the point of being force-fed down people’s throats and that has caused a backlash. In other eras, the fans may have accepted one dominant star and put up with guys having exceedingly long title reigns, but today fans have shorter attention spans and eventually get tired of seeing the same guy holding the strap all the time.
Yet, despite getting mixed crowd reactions and almost being booed out of certain arenas (something that is not an ideal situation for the WWE’s top babyface) the fact remains that John Cena is the single biggest star in Wrestling today.
No one can evoke as much emotion from the fans, whether it be positive or negative, like John Cena.
Some fans will pay to see him win, others will pay to see him lose, but fans will pay to see him and that’s what matters to the WWE.
Cena seems to have a real passion for the business that others do not and it doesn’t look like he is going anywhere anytime soon, so it looks like WWE fans will have to live with Cena being the WWE’s top star, whether they like it or not.
