Over the weekend, a friend sent an article to vavel.com editor Lovell Porter and text message about the top ten worst current wrestlers. On that list was John Cena. It is understandable that the fans will chant "You suck" or when his music plays they'll chant, "John Cena sucks" to the beat of his entrance music. When he first started, it's obvious that he wasn't going to be Bret Hart or Kurt Angle, but what he lacked in technical skill he made up for in pure physical strength, the desire to be great, and love for what he was doing. Now it's been over a decade since Cena has been wrestling and he still doesn't get the respect he deserves and it is completely unfair and here are three quick reasons why.
What makes a good wrestler:
Let's break down the components of what makes a wrestler bad or good. First, can a person actually perform without looking like a novice? Cena does that. Cena isn't known for botching moves or as a person they fear wrestling because he is going to intentionally hurt them. Cena is known as a person that while may not be well liked isn't someone people don't want to wrestle. Next, can he sell. For those of you who don't understand the term "sell", it basically means can a person make their opponent’s moves look like they hurt and make it look believable. Yes, Cena does that too. It's one of the reasons that when a person needs a boost or a match to make them look good, the WWE calls on Cena to make them look good. So you can't blame Cena for being called on as much as he has (Wade Barrett, Batista, various members of Nexus, The Miz, Alberto del Rio).
The CM Punks, Bret Harts, and Kurt Angles of professional wrestling are far and few in between so it's unfair to compare Cena to them. Let's compare him to the likes of The Rock, Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, and the British Bulldog. These are all Hall of Fame members or future hall of fame wrestlers who weren't going to break you down piece by piece. For the most part, they were brawlers, who had a few technical moves in their arsenal, but weren't mat technicians. They wore you down with their physical strength and then hit you with their finisher. Admittedly, Cena needs to make the STF look a lot better than it does just like The Rock desperately needed to make the Sharpshooter not so loose. But nobody is perfect...Well, Curt Henning is, but you get the idea.
Classic Matches:
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So Cena sucks? Let's check his track record. Let's ignore his WWE Championship titles because those are sometimes given out like candy on Halloween and lets look at the matches he's had. First off, his feud with Kurt Angle in the beginning of his career was amazing and Kurt Angle was the perfect person to get Cena's career going. Cena had one of the greatest modern feuds in WWE history with Edge. The two of them used to go out and beat the crap out of each other night in and night out and it would never get stale. Now, this isn't just the no DQ matches.
Cena and Edge used to fight what seemed like every Monday on Raw in some type of match and night in and night out, they would perform and leave the crowd. We all know that Angle and Edge could have matches with anyone and make them look like WrestleMania main eventers, so lets move on to someone who is NOT as good as them. Let's look at his feud with Batista where his neck was injured and he still finished the match. First off, Batista may be a great powerhouse, but when it comes to carrying a match, that's not going to end well. Cena still managed to go out there and make that match look better than anyone expected it to be.
Crowd Control:
One aspect that has become so important in toady's wrestle is being an entertainer when not wrestling. The ability to make the crowd love you or hate you. The best thing about Cena is that while over 60% of the crowd probably hates John Cena, when he gets on the microphone, everyone listens. Even the people who generally hate Cena can't help but laugh when he hits someone with a zinger or two. Beyond the men who hate him (it's mostly guys who are jealous of Cena who hate him), Cena is liked and respected by the fans of wrestling, women who think he's hot, and children who look up to him.
Cena is year 2005 wrestling as Hulk Hogan is to the 80's and 90's. The main difference is Cena doesn't mind losing matches to anyone and has never been known as a guy people generally don't like. Cena has a catchphrase or two like "You want some, come get some", "The Champ is here", and "Hustle, Loyalty, Respect", but he doesn't spout them off every promo like The Rock or Hogan does. Cena constantly brings new jokes and content and that keeps his promos fresher than most. You can tell when we are going to get "It doesn't matter..." or "I'm the best in the world at what I do" etc., but with Cena, his promos always tend to be a bit fresher than most.
Conclusion:
The Hatred of Cena is hilarious and unjustified. He's great in ring performer, he's magic with his promos, his merchandise sells, and as much as people hate him they still tune in to see him fight even if it's to lose. Saying that he is one of the worst is just absurd. Especially when there are tons of people who can barely hit the ropes without hurting their self. The absolute best part of the Cena hatred is that Cena absorbs it and uses it like it was fuel. He really doesn't seem to care and he shouldn't because he knows at the end of the day he is still going to make them ooh and awe every night.