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Originally Posted by The One
deadlyheaven you answered your own question. They shoved him down our throats. They had him mega over, and then once they put the title on him they took away his edge and had him become ubber babyface. They had him in so many handicap matches that it became boring. His raps were written by the writers and they were boring. Having the odds stacked angainst you all the time is boring. It worked with Austin and McMahon because Austin drank beer, gave the finger, and totally acted like a heel bad ass fighting a heel in power. With Cena he was a heel bad ass until he got the title and started doing EXACTLY what Rocky Miavia (you mentioned respect for The Rock, yet he had similar thing happen and was boo'd like crazy) did which was the wide smile shinny white teeth babyface.
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I agree here, and with what was mentioned by Kane Knight. Cena also went along with the PB&J, but then again... what's he supposed to do? Buck it and get buried or fired?
The ascension of Cena to the top face is a formula that has been used with every major babyface in the past few years that started heel. With guys like Austin it wasn't as obvious, but the stuff with Cena really looks like the way The Rock was in 2000, after he won the title at King of The Ring (remember that PPV?). A lot of people that liked The Rock, really liked him when he was heel. When he was heel, he did all kinds of mean, yet funny things that eventually got him over the crowd (see: John Cena as a heel). However, as Rock was pushed to the top babyface role, that mean streak started to diminish. By mid-to-late 2000, Rock had mostly become a comedy act who happened to hold enough charisma to keep the crowd interested. But he was very much watered down in what he said, and did (maybe he ran out of things to turn sideways and shove up someone's ass) -- much like Cena. Whether this was a conscious move by The Rock or not, the same moves are painfully becoming apparent in Cena. From a technical perspective, I'd even argue Rock's moves were less sloppily executed in the years 1998 and 1999 than they were since.
It seems Cena has less pull over his character than The Rock and others did, despite being the largest merchandise seller of the current crop. All I know is that Cena wasn't the only one who gets this treatment. In some respects, Kurt Angle gets it worse. I hate that, after they spent months making Angle the kind of heel Bret Hart was in 1997 (and really, during that era, as far as heels go, Bret was the best there was)...then they make him jump to SmackDown, and all of a sudden, shed all the things that made him edgy. No more outrageous lines, kicking out Daivari as his manager, and so forth. Seeing that people wouldn't boo him, they change his character again to get cheered. Something tells me that he's gonna end up getting booed like Cena is soon. Whatever comes of this Undertaker feud is going to be interesting as far as how Flip-flop Angle will be portrayed.
Is it me, or in retrospect, did the "Biker-taker" seem more in place with today's WWE? (I only disliked that Undertaker cut his hair and started to look more like Mean Mark Callous than the Undertaker. When he first appeared in that persona at Judgement Day 2000...Tombstoning HHH, with the trenchcoat and bandanna. That was awesome, and the way he should have stayed IMO.)