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**Batsu** · 07-30-2004, 09:20 PM

I only see three problems with Cena.

1) I like the "rapper" gimmick, but he needs to go back to pushing the envelope and acting like that guy in school you thought was an asshat. Basically, F the FCC; beep what you have to, but let Cena be that same guy he was when he was a heel...one of his edges was the fact that he was challenging people that the fans thought to be out of his league (Lesnar, Taker)...he's risen above that now, but it seems that in a way the character is kind of complacent. With the loss of his US title, things are starting to change.

2) His matches. Through the Bret/Flair arguments and any other popular wrestler that has a routine set of moves, it's been well established that matches tend to excite less when you know what's going to happen. Somehow, The Rock manages to make his People's Elbow the most hilarious part of any of his matches to this day... but on the other hand anyone who has seen a Rock match since 2000 knows what was going to happen in a Rock match. Punch x 3 + the Smack Down, Spinebuster...possible People's Elbow, several Rock Bottom attempts and perhaps the good ol' BOOT...DDT. Cena's matches are getting to be the same way. He has a "taunt" finisher (5 Knuckle Shuffle), several signature taunts ("Pumpin' Up", etc.), a strike combo, and recently he has added the BOOT...DDT to his repertoire. It's almost as if they're really trying to make him The Rock II. The difference between him and Rock though, is that Cena doesn't throw a "wrench" move....a move that will make close watchers of the matches say "WTF?" because the wrestler doesn't do that often. With Cena, it might as well be a vertical suplex. Stone Cold was throwing a lot of "wrenches" as a heel in WWE (but WCW Austin fans would laud it as a return to his roots). Rock had "wrenches" from time to time (Figure 4 Leglock, the "Takin' A Crap" Sharpshooter before he decided to put it in every match, the Fisherman Suplex, and his old finisher, the "Layin' The Smackdown" DDT)... but Cena really doesn't have too many of these.

3) His finisher. The F-U is a great name, highlighting his feud with Brock Lesnar (if Lesnar ever returns to WWE, I want to see him vs Cena). However, the finisher... really isn't all that great. In 1985, people would be hootin' and hollerin' to see this move, but in 2004...pro wrestling has moved on. In the ultra-safe world of WWE, there isn't much room for improvisation (wrestlers have taken to ripping off the finishers of other, more recent WWE wrestlers as a result)... though, why Marc Mero's TKO (as Bryan Fury delivered it in Tekken 4) hasn't been resurrected as a countermeasure to Brock's F5 is beyond me. John Cena should use this move, or a Samoan Driver (Fireman's Carry to Michinoku Driver II) as the new "F-U" or something. Cena has pulled this move off on Big Show and The Undertaker, showing it's versatility, but obviously Cena can't be doing a move like this everynight. Kurt Angle's Olympic/Angle Slam was like this in the beginning, but now it's become a move synonymous with Angle...it really fit his character (a whirling take on a routine, throwback wrestling move? Genius). The F-U only really goes with Cena's character in name. The Protoplex/Blue Thunder Bomb/whirling Ruby Frosion/whatever he uses is cool, too...but I see it used in the same way as Booker T's "Book End" secondary. Cena just needs more of a roughneck finisher, I feel...

07-30-2004, 09:20 PM	#30
Batsu Capcom's Corporate Champ Posts: 2,571	I only see three problems with Cena. 1) I like the "rapper" gimmick, but he needs to go back to pushing the envelope and acting like that guy in school you thought was an asshat. Basically, F the FCC; beep what you have to, but let Cena be that same guy he was when he was a heel...one of his edges was the fact that he was challenging people that the fans thought to be out of his league (Lesnar, Taker)...he's risen above that now, but it seems that in a way the character is kind of complacent. With the loss of his US title, things are starting to change. 2) His matches. Through the Bret/Flair arguments and any other popular wrestler that has a routine set of moves, it's been well established that matches tend to excite less when you know what's going to happen. Somehow, The Rock manages to make his People's Elbow the most hilarious part of any of his matches to this day... but on the other hand anyone who has seen a Rock match since 2000 knows what was going to happen in a Rock match. Punch x 3 + the Smack Down, Spinebuster...possible People's Elbow, several Rock Bottom attempts and perhaps the good ol' BOOT...DDT. Cena's matches are getting to be the same way. He has a "taunt" finisher (5 Knuckle Shuffle), several signature taunts ("Pumpin' Up", etc.), a strike combo, and recently he has added the BOOT...DDT to his repertoire. It's almost as if they're really trying to make him The Rock II. The difference between him and Rock though, is that Cena doesn't throw a "wrench" move....a move that will make close watchers of the matches say "WTF?" because the wrestler doesn't do that often. With Cena, it might as well be a vertical suplex. Stone Cold was throwing a lot of "wrenches" as a heel in WWE (but WCW Austin fans would laud it as a return to his roots). Rock had "wrenches" from time to time (Figure 4 Leglock, the "Takin' A Crap" Sharpshooter before he decided to put it in every match, the Fisherman Suplex, and his old finisher, the "Layin' The Smackdown" DDT)... but Cena really doesn't have too many of these. 3) His finisher. The F-U is a great name, highlighting his feud with Brock Lesnar (if Lesnar ever returns to WWE, I want to see him vs Cena). However, the finisher... really isn't all that great. In 1985, people would be hootin' and hollerin' to see this move, but in 2004...pro wrestling has moved on. In the ultra-safe world of WWE, there isn't much room for improvisation (wrestlers have taken to ripping off the finishers of other, more recent WWE wrestlers as a result)... though, why Marc Mero's TKO (as Bryan Fury delivered it in Tekken 4) hasn't been resurrected as a countermeasure to Brock's F5 is beyond me. John Cena should use this move, or a Samoan Driver (Fireman's Carry to Michinoku Driver II) as the new "F-U" or something. Cena has pulled this move off on Big Show and The Undertaker, showing it's versatility, but obviously Cena can't be doing a move like this everynight. Kurt Angle's Olympic/Angle Slam was like this in the beginning, but now it's become a move synonymous with Angle...it really fit his character (a whirling take on a routine, throwback wrestling move? Genius). The F-U only really goes with Cena's character in name. The Protoplex/Blue Thunder Bomb/whirling Ruby Frosion/whatever he uses is cool, too...but I see it used in the same way as Booker T's "Book End" secondary. Cena just needs more of a roughneck finisher, I feel...