Royal Rumble 2012 Predictions: John Cena Will Taste the Dark Side vs. Kane

You just get the sense that fans aren't crazy about the ongoing feud between John Cena and Kane.

And it's easy to see why. The "Rise Above Hate" versus "Embrace the Hate" thing that Cena and Kane have going on between them is not a bad spin on the part of the creative string-pullers, but it's a bit out of left field and more than a little forced if we're being totally honest.

But oh well. The Cena vs. Kane feud is going to come to a head at Royal Rumble this Sunday, which is presumably where the blasted thing has been heading all along. The only question is how Cena's and Kane's match is going to play out.

Take a stroll around the Internets, and you'll find all sorts of suggestions. Maybe this will be when we finally see Cena turn heel. Maybe we'll see The Rock show up. Maybe we'll see Zack Ryder come to Cena's aid in a body cast. Maybe we'll see a bunch of hellish minions burst through the floor to come to Kane's aid.

Come on, let's keep this simple. This is a feud with a very simple premise (hate vs. hate-isn't-cool-bro), and I for one expect it to come to a relatively simple end.

Cena's going to come out on top on Sunday. I can feel it in my bones. Kane has been getting the better of him for too long, and I just feel like this feud is meant to be temporary. It will end at the Royal Rumble.

It's going to be an interesting end, though. While I do see Cena defeating Kane when it's all said and done, I also think we're going to see Cena (gasp!) embrace the hate.

Let's face it. Cena doesn't need to completely turn heel, but his character needed a new wrinkle a long time ago. Him losing sight over his tired principles would do the trick. The best way for the creative team to play that out would be to have Cena's will snap mid-match, resulting in a dramatic acceptance of what Kane has been preaching to him.

Cena will then go bonkers just long enough to pound Kane into smithereens, and the whole affair will probably end with an Attitude Adjustment.

However, while Kane is lying helplessly on the ground, Cena will realize what the heck just happened to him and will immediately revert to his old persona. His mind-snap will have been temporary.

It's classic Hollywood 101. The best example I can think of is the end of Return of the Jedi, where Luke crosses over to the dark side just long enough to gain an edge on Darth Vader, but then realizes what he's done and goes back to being a Jedi again.

We're going to see something like that, albeit without lightsabers (a true pity).

At the end of it all, the evil Kane will be vanquished and Cena will be his same old "Rise Above Hate" self.

At the same time, we'll know that Cena does have hate somewhere in him, and that's a storyline that the creative team can have some fun with, especially seeing as how the creative team will likely look to rekindle Cena's feud with The Rock with WrestleMania XXVIII just a few weeks away.

If Cena is the same old Cena before, during and after his match with Kane, WWE will have wasted a major opportunity.