John Cena: Getting Inside the Mind of the Most Controversial WWE Superstar Ever

John Cena; the name and face of World Wrestling Entertainment.

As the most recognizable professional wrestler of this millennium, he is on the cover of magazines, on countless commercials and advertising campaigns,  is on pace to shatter Ric Flair's record of 16 world title reigns, was handed the torch from 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, and is an absolute lock for the Hall of Fame barring a fallout with Vince McMahon of epic proportions.

He has granted the most wishes for the Make A Wish Foundation of any athlete in sports today.

To be cliche, John Cena is the smiling face on your television. He is the man that has no life outside the business of professional wrestling, working tirelessly to better his passion and the world itself.

With a closer look, however, John Cena is easily the most controversial WWE Superstar today, possibly in history.

When he emerges from the curtains at every house show, Monday Night Raw, or pay-per-view event, mixed emotions from the WWE Universe galore.

It is often said that women and children roar for the man that can do no wrong, and men over the age of 18 (more like 15) boo the man who does far too much right.

Today, I give you an inside look at the gimmick, the man and the legend otherwise known as John Cena.

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The Original Intent of Cena's Character

Fresh off the heels of attitude and aggression, the WWE was forced to clean themselves up from the PR nightmare that was the steroid scandal and the horrid deaths of Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit.

They needed a clean-cut face to usher in a new era.

So after trial runs with numerous wrestlers, a man named John Cena walked up to Vince McMahon and said "I'm your guy."

Vince appreciated a man who apparently had grapefruits comparable to the size of his, walking up to the chairman of a multi-million dollar company and telling him that you are the guy to carry his company for the next five-to-10 years.

The transformation began.

Cena, once a rapper with a degree in thuganomics, beloved by hardcore fans around the world became the Hulk Hogan of the 2000s.

Cena began shaving off anything even slightly edgy about his character, becoming a picture-perfect role model for the kids-heavy demographic the WWE was appealing to more and more.

Vince McMahon had created a cash cow to represent his company. Cena rarely lost matches and came out to enormous pops.

All of a sudden, the enormous pops had small groups of boos. Those small groups of boos became more noticeable over the coming months. Eventually, those boos overtook the cheers.

Why was this?

Allow me to explain in the next slide.

From the Small-Budget Underdog to the New York Yankees

John Cena was an imperfect man. He won some, he lost some. People could relate to a guy just trying to live his dream, and people living in the inner-cities especially understood and compared him to the rapper guy just trying to have fun.

But when Vince McMahon decided to create a face in the mold of Hulk Hogan, he didn't realize that he was living in far different times.

People want a hero they can relate to, and no one can relate to a guy who simply doesn't do any wrong.

The imperfect man became perfect. The Boston Red Sox became the New York Yankees.

The Internet fans turned on John Cena because he was like a piece of stale bubble gum; all the favor had been sucked out him.

Head-scratching tactics such as joking around the night after losing the WWE Championship came more to the forefront.

Fans lost the human side in the robot-like gimmick.

He just was no longer realistic, a thing lost on children. Those children, along with their mothers, were the only fans Cena had remaining.  

John Cena the Person

John Cena has showed what a great heart he has again and again.

At the age of just 34 years old, he understands what giving back to his loyal fans does. He understands that goodwill towards kids will give skeptics a better outlook at wrestling, and be a bright spot in an innocent life that has suffered through illness.  

You see, many view wrestling as a three-ring circus with steroided jocks who care nothing about anything other than the check going in their bank account.

While there is truth to that statement, as there is in all mediums of life, there are also some genuinely nice people involved in the industry.

WIkipedia currently states that Cena has granted over 200 Make A Wishes, which could easily have gone up astronomically since updated. In 2009,  he received the Chris Greicius Celebrity Award.

Cena has also been a big supporter of the Armed Forces. He salutes the crowd every time he makes his entrance, explaining “It’s a salute of loyalty to those that stand by me, that have been doing it for years,” to WWE.com in an interview from Dec. 16.

He added; “Every night when I do that salute, it’s also a sign of respect to the men and women that don the uniform of the Armed Forces.”

While I have compared the gimmick of John Cena to Hulk Hogan, Cena is quite honestly a much better person.

Hogan was known for backstage politics and being one of those jocks just awaiting his paycheck, essentially playing a phony on TV for those Hulkamaniacs.

Cena though, has done all of these things for sick kids and the armed forces, as well as going to bat for Evan Bourne, Zack Ryder and multiple others.

To read the entire touching exclusive done by WWE.com, click here.

CeNation is truly what John Cena stands for; Hulkamania was nothing but a fraud.

The Five Moves of Doom Theory: He Can't Wrestle?

We have all seen it. We have all held our head in shame after yet another John Cena comeback victory.

Even I, one of his staunchest supporters, can attest to this.

He hits the shoulder block, followed by the spinning side slam, next comes the Five Knuckle Shuffle after his signature taunt, an Attitude Adjustment and occasionally the STF submission maneuver.

This is the result of being watered down to save his body and help marketing. Despite this, Cena has put on more five-star matches than anyone in the WWE today.

He has had classics with Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Brock Lesnar, JBL, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, Edge, Christian, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Sheamus, Rey Mysterio, CM Punk and many more.

Look no further than his bout with CM Punk at Money In The Bank, easily the best match of 2011 according to most.

He displayed the ability to fly, the ability to be one of the best technicians in the ring today, and most importantly the ability to tell a story when wrestling.

John Cena may get flack for not being a good wrestler, but in reality, he's a pretty damn good one.

Is the Heel Turn Finally Upon Us?

In recent weeks, the mental state of John Cena has been tested.

He was slapped by Roddy Piper as the guest on the Piper's Pit talk show. Obviously angered and provoked, John Cena gave thought to laying out the legend before walking off.

Most recently, Kane attacked John Cena for no apparent reason.

When Kane finally explained his actions, he told Cena that he didn't need to Rise Above Hate, that movement was fake.

Cena needed to let hate consume him, becoming a part of the hate. As in Kane's twisted mind, it is human nature to hate.

Cena's facial expressions told the story, almost as if he was considering joining the dark side as Raw went off the air.

There have been rumors about the Doctor of Thuganomics returning at the very least, a breath of fresh air Cena's character greatly needs.

John Cena could finally go back to his original incarnation. You know, the incarnation that was loved by all? Or perhaps, he'll join Kane in hell and make the heel turn that Internet fans have widely anticipated for years now.

Regardless, John Cena is no longer a stale piece of bubble gum, he's more of the mystery flavor that can only be figured out once you chew it.