WWE WrestleMania 28: CM Punk, Jeremy Lin and the Need for a Grown-Man Cena

Remember that ambulance WWE brought in for the Cena/Kane match at Elimination Chamber? Maybe they should keep it around for the soon-coming WrestleMania 28 Pay-Per-View.

In case you’ve missed half the WrestleMania promos thus far, there is a lot of talk of death.

Dying breed, they say, the last of a dying breed.

Triple H began it; the Undertaker continued.

I thought it was a message meant specifically for their match—a way to raise the stakes between two men whose legacies now outshine their ability to perform.

Until I heard these same words uttered by Chris Jericho.

On the 2/27/2012 edition of RAW, Jericho said, “I never had to call myself the best in the world, other people said it for me. I never had to write it on the back of a T-shirt; they would write it on signs and bring it to the arena. And the reason is this—I am part of a special breed of performers. I am one of a literal dying breed…”

There it is. The language used by Triple H and the Undertaker and embodied by the Rock, now perpetuated by Chris Jericho.

The Man in the Leather Pants is not just talking about being better than CM Punk. He is saying his generation (his era) is better than Punk’s. He is saying he came from a group that worked their way up and had fans who were actually fans and brought signs to the arena.

Strange thing: for all those viewers out there who are cheering Punk and the Rock, I wonder if they realize it is actually CM Punk and John Cena who are now a team.

I wonder if they realize Punk and Cena are fighting to represent this generation of wrestling and, in doing so, are representing this generation of wrestling fans.

Never was the Punk-Cena connection more evident than this same promo between Jericho and Punk where Punk borrowed the John Cena argument (used against the Rock) and turned it on Chris Jericho.

Punk said, “See, you say you’re the best in the world at what you do, and I say that I’m the best wrestler in the world. The distinction to me is very simple…while you choose to leave and write books, and have a radio show, and be on game shows, and you choose to be a rock star and all the while I’m here, on top, swimming with sharks, while you’re dancing with stars…”

Ladies and Gentlemen: That is the exact John Cena argument against the Rock. (All you have to do is substitute book, radio, game show, and rock star for movie star, movie star, movie star, and…movie star.)

It makes me wonder if WrestleMania 28 is not becoming the event that could possibly cement CM Punk and John Cena into new and changing roles.

Currently, Chris Jericho is busy putting Punk over as the best in the world and doing a damn fine job.

A friend and fellow writer nailed it when he said it was genius of Jericho to work the crowd for the first few weeks when he returned. He argued that if Jericho had not done so, the crowds would be 50/50 between Jericho and Punk.

Had it not been for the heat Jericho garnered, some more nostalgic fans would no doubt cheer the trip down memory lane. Instead of coming off as a hero, however, Jericho comes off as a man stuck in a different day.

Jericho is begging you to ask the question, “If he was the best of another day, who is the best today?” And he wishes nothing more than for you to look across the ring at the man carrying the WWE title and identify him as WWE’s top wrestler.

But if CM Punk is moving more fully into the top-star role occupied by John Cena, what does that mean for Cena?

This is where we bring in Jeremy Lin.

CM Punk is currently WWE’s Jeremy Lin. He is the man who has the ball, dictates the pace, and chooses who to dish it to.

When Jeremy Lin took off (with the more established star Carmelo Anthony out of action) people first wondered what it would mean for Jeremy Lin when Carmelo came back. Carmelo was used to having the ball; Carmelo was used to dictating the pace; Carmelo was used to dominating the spotlight.

But when Lin continued to win, people began to wonder what would happen with Carmelo when he rejoined Lin’s team!

It is time for John Cena to adjust to CM Punk’s WWE.

It is time for Cena to adjust to the fact that there are younger, faster stars in the WWE lineup. It is time for Cena to adjust to the fact that some of these guys are more serious in their mannerisms than Cena was at the dawn of the WWE PG era.

It is time for Cena to see that what the Rock is laying down on him may not be insults, but, rather, may be enlightenment.

It may be a pathway to adulthood for the John Cena character.

In fact, WrestleMania 28 may be John Cena’s last chance to grow up before the WWE Universe passes him by.

Consider the tale of two John Cena’s, both seen in the last two weeks.

The first Cena appeared in an interview with Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg. He was asked about, of all things, Jeremy Lin.

Cena balked on Jeremy Lin and the hot streak and Peter Rosenberg rebuked him with Cena’s own tired catchphrase!

“Rise above hate,” he told Cena.

And, watching, I wondered: Is there anywhere John Cena goes that he doesn’t get rebuked? He gets it in every arena, from every crowd, and from many wrestlers, as well. He gets it in interviews now, too, it seems.

The elephant in the room (or the arena) is the John Cena character. The noose around his neck is whichever T-shirt he happens to be wearing.

The fact that his character is often no more than whatever slogan is currently written across his chest is enough to turn off adult fans who are, themselves, far more complex than bumper-sticker slogans and morals.

The only real problem with John Cena is people don’t believe he is real. They don’t expect him to tell them the truth because his first goal is to represent a hero, whether it’s his honest emotion or not.

That is why Rosenberg rebuked him. John Cena, the man, was trying to give an honest opinion about the Knicks run, but Rosenberg pointed out what John Cena, Elephant-sized hero, is bound by T-shirt slogans to say.

What the Rock is offering John Cena is a chance to outgrow these T-shirts and their slogans.

But, remember, Cena has been given many chances to grow up.

With the visitation of Roddy Piper in 2010, with the Nexus, with the re-visitation of Roddy Piper in 2011, John Cena has been stubborn in his stance that he will forever stay the same.

He does it for the kids, he says.

But I would remind John Cena that even children get older by the day.

Lately, in the past two weeks, we have seen a different side of Cena.

We have seen a Grown-Man Cena.

Two weeks ago in what Jim Ross called Cena’s best promo, he didn’t just come out and torch the Rock with rhetoric. He torched him with Truth.

John Cena came out angry and pissed and, yes, a little nasty and the reception for him grew the longer he was out there. Adult fans were able to say, he’s telling it like it is. They were able to connect with him because when they get angry they get pissed and, yes, a little nasty, too.

And all this makes me wonder—has the Rock come back to help John Cena grow up?

In the same way that Jericho is emphasizing wrestling in order to put Punk over as the best wrestler, is the Rock emphasizing characteristics because he is trying to bring out a new John Cena character?

Whether it is fruity pebbles or saying Cena has no balls, the Rock has called Cena out on his manhood.

Or lack thereof.

John Cena first played the hero because that is what WWE wanted from him. It is what the company needed to establish their PG Era.

But WWE no longer needs a hero.

They need a General.

The dying breed is…dying. This may be the Undertaker’s last match, and Triple H will never again be the full-time wrestler he once was. More than likely, Jericho and the Rock will eventually be gone as well.

CM Punk is growing into “the man” on RAW.

And, hopefully, John Cena is just growing up.

WWE needs a guy, in John Cena, who can tell the dying breed to go ahead and die. They need someone who can stand across the ring from the best of the attitude era and reflect more than a Saturday-morning cartoon.

They need someone who can stand man-to-man, era-to-era, with the Great One.

They need a full-time ring vet who can be a boss in the locker room and the ring. They need a man with a reputation who can tell it like it is and carry the load without a world title.

They need John Cena, and they need him free of his Peter Pan syndrome.

They need him to step in where guys like Triple H and the Undertaker are stepping out.

WWE no longer needs Super-Cena in order to grow.

They need Grown-Man Cena, instead.