WWE: Why Kane Versus John Cena Is a Bad Idea

John Cena is currently in a rivalry with Kane. Well, kinda sorta. 

Cena doesn’t really seem to be feuding with The Big Red Monster as much as he seems to be feuding with himself. For the first time in his WWE career, it appears as if “The Champ” is battling his inner demons. 

Since around 2006, Cena has been the face of the WWE—its poster child. Yet, somewhere along the way, his character became stale and the fans started to boo him rather than cheer him. 

Cena has done nothing inherently wrong—he’s just doing what Vince McMahon wants him to do—but he has gotten himself a huge legion of haters, and that fact is finally being brought up in WWE storylines. He is getting booed out of the building, he is actually acknowledging those boos and Kane is trying to get him to embrace them. 

At least on the surface, it seems like a good idea. You have Kane come back as a monster heel, attack Cena and then gradually convince Cena how good it feels to snap and turn on the fans. 

I’m just not feeling it. 

The WWE already did something similar a few weeks back when “Rowdy” Roddy Piper hosted Cena on “Piper’s Pit.” Piper was attempting to get Cena to finally admit that the boos get to him, that they bother him, that they tear him up on the inside. 

But, in true Cena fashion, he pretended like nothing was wrong. He acted as if the boos do no bother him and basically said that he will not change just because some fans do not like him. 

Without flat-out calling Cena a liar here, it seems as if he’s at least bending the truth. 

Week in and week out, this guy busts his butt for the WWE—he works with the Make-A-Wish foundation, he wrestles multiple times in one night, etc.—yet he enters an arena and thousands of fans chant, “Cena Sucks! Cena Sucks! Cena Sucks!” 

It’s only human for someone to be affected by that—no matter how minimal that effect may be—and unless Cena is inhuman (insert Super Cena jokes here), then the boos are getting to him on some level. 

Like Piper, Kane is trying to get Cena to admit that, but at least so far, all we’ve seen Cena do is deny that that is the case. He shakes his head, he says no or he leaves the ring when Piper brings it up.

This will all be fine if Cena does slowly start to acknowledge that the boos are “hurting his feelings,” perhaps saying on Raw one week that he doesn’t understand why he gets booed and the next week saying that he works his tail off for the company but that the fans don’t appreciate it. 

That doesn’t mean that Cena has to turn heel (although it could). It just means that he’s listening to what Kane is saying and is realizing that he doesn’t get the respect from the fans that he deserves. This would, in turn, give Cena some much-needed depth to his character and actually make him look a little human for a change. 

That’s the absolutely ideal situation, though. 

In reality, there is probably little to no chance that Cena’s current feud with Kane is leading to any character change or the unthinkable heel turn. In fact, a recent report by F4Wonline.com (via SESccops.com) indicates that Cena isn’t turning heel anytime soon:

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John Cena was booked to appear in the 10pm and 11pm segments of Monday’s RAW Supershow, because WWE is still not comfortable with CM Punk’s ability to draw ratings. While WWE appears to be teasing a potential heel turn for Cena, there are no plans for a full turn any time soon. 

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Well, if there are “no plans” for a full-fledged heel turn or a major change to Cena’s character, then I have no problem with saying that his current feud with Kane will wind up being completely pointless. 

And, in all honestly, I think that’s the likeliest scenario.

As much as we want to be optimistic and say that Cena is going to benefit from this feud with Kane, we’ve all expected big things out of storylines involving Cena in the past—like when we thought he’d turn heel when joining the Nexus—and literally nothing came out of it.

At the end of the day, Cena was what he is always going to be: Super Cena. 

He overcomes odds, he destroys the bad guys and he gives his all whether he’s being booed or cheered. That’s not really a catastrophic problem—that’s just who he is. 

But Cena’s feud with Kane will always be a bad idea for those reasons. Cena is going to get the push here, not Kane. 

Cena will, as he likes to say, “Rise above hate” and, in this case, that hate is The Big Red Monster.