Win or Lose, John Cena Will Always Be Hated

Last month, John Cena won the 2013 Royal Rumble match, thus earning the right to headline WrestleMania 29. 

This marked the second time that Cena has won the Rumble (the first being 2008), sending the majority of WWE fans into a frenzy.

Cena just might be the most polarizing figure that the WWE Universe has ever seen. He is adored by women and children, yet hated by the majority of men in the 18-35 demographic. The hate that Cena garners from fans seems to lie in the belief that all the WWE does is put Cena over.

There are, of course, other reasons he is hated—his "good guy" character, his five moves of doom and the "super Cena-esque" situations the writers put him in.

However, at the end of the day, the overall consensus is that WWE forces Cena down the throats of the fans and puts him in the top spot over many other deserving wrestlers.

This simply isn't the case.

WWE Championship

John Cena has not been WWE champion since October 2, 2011 (for everyone keeping track, that's 490 days).

In the last 33 months of WWE programming, Cena was WWE champion for just under four of those months.

During this time span, Sheamus, Randy Orton, The Miz, Rey Mysterio, Alberto Del Rio, CM Punk, and now, The Rock have each also held the belt. Their reigns added up to the other twenty-nine months.

In his time without the belt, Cena's highlights include the events on the following slides.

Nexus

The success of Nexus is directly linked to the fact that the man they first encountered, subsequently destroyed, continued to feud with, made join their stable, got 'fired' and eventually fell to was none other then John Cena.

The night that Nexus took over Raw was one of the most talked about angles of that year. Add in the fact that they took out Cena in the process and it just made the moment that much bigger.

Sure, Nexus could have come in and done the same routine with someone else. I just don't think it would have had the same feel if Cena were to have been replaced with say an Orton, The Big Show, Kane, etc.

WrestleMania 27

John Cena and The Miz were the main event at WrestleMania 27.

Up until this point, The Miz really didn't have a stand-out win during his reign as WWE champion.

On this night, though, and with an assist from The Rock, The Miz defeated Cena to retain his WWE Championship.

Obviously, this match was the real springboard for The Rock and John Cena's feud. However, that doesn't change the fact that on this night, Cena did not win at WrestleMania or walk out as WWE champion.

CM Punk/Albert Del Rio Feud

Over a six-month span, John Cena chased the WWE Championship. This chase had its ups and downs before Cena finally relinquished the belt for the final time.

Money in the Bank

Cena lost WWE Championship to CM Punk.

Raw

Cena beats newly crowned WWE champion Rey Mysterio to win the belt for the ninth time in his career.

Summer Slam 

Cena loses a WWE Championship unification match to CM Punk. (Punk in turn loses the belt moments later to Money in the Bank holder Alberto Del Rio).

Night of Champions 

Cena defeats Del Rio for the WWE Championship, marking the 10th time he has held the belt.

Hell in a Cell

Cena loses the belt to Del Rio in a triple-threat match that also involved CM Punk. This night was the last time we have seen Cena as WWE champion.

Vengeance 

Cena loses his rematch against Del Rio for the WWE Championship. This was the fourth WWE Championship match lost by Cena over a six-month span.

The Rock

Following his WWE Championship losses, John Cena would then head to Survivor Series to team with The Rock.

The team of The Rock and John Cena defeated The Miz and R-Truth, in what some thought to be a horrible match and main event.

Cena's Survivor Series win left him with an undefeated mark at that pay-per-view event and gave him some momentum.

In preparation for The Rock, Cena went on to have a two-month program with Kane. Cena came out of that program on top, looking strong.

Cena then went on to main-event WrestleMania 28 with The Rock. This match was built for a year and coined as being "once in a lifetime."

Cena would lose this match, making it his second consecutive main-event loss at WrestleMania.

Brock Lesnar

The night after his loss to The Rock, John Cena was given the F-5 by the returning Brock Lesnar.

This would then set up a short Cena/Lesnar feud, that would lead to a match at Extreme Rules.

The hype around the return of Lesnar was huge, especially coming on the heels of what The Rock had done.

In what turned out to be somewhat of a bloodbath, Cena defeated Lesnar at Extreme Rules.

Money in the Bank

In June 2012, John Cena came out on Monday night Raw and declared that he was going to enter the Money in the Bank Ladder match for the first time ever and win.

Cena then went on to proclaim that he would cash in that briefcase and become WWE champion.

Later that month, Cena did indeed win the Money in the Bank match.

However, Cena would then become the first man ever to cash in and lose when he was defeated by CM Punk on the 1,000th episode of Raw.

CM Punk

John Cena's loss to Punk on the 1,000th episode of Raw was his third consecutive loss in WWE Championship matches.

Cena would continue to feud with CM Punk. Cena would go on to lose to Punk (and The Big Show) at SummerSlam, fight to a draw with Punk at Night of Champions and lose to Punk (and Ryback) at Survivor Series.

Cena's loss at Survivor Series tarnished his previous perfect record at the event.

The loss also marked the sixth consecutive time (in the last 15 months) that Cena had a WWE Championship match but did not win the belt.

AJ Lee/Dolph Ziggler

John Cena's last feud, prior to winning the Rumble, was with Dolph Ziggler.

There was also a horrible AJ Lee love story mixed in with this, but there really is no need to discuss that.

Cena and Ziggler's feud came to a head at TLC where they faced off in a ladder match for Dolph's briefcase.

Cena would lose that match. However, I believe that Cena came out on top in this feud because I am fairly certain that he won every other match they had together.

Conclusion

I am personally not the biggest Cena fan, but I do respect and appreciate what he beings to the product. John Cena does a lot of good for the WWE both inside and outside of the ring.

Cena is easily coming off the least productive year of his career in regards to wins and losses, but fans still think that he is always on top.

There also seems to be this collective disdain for the times when he does win a match or a feud.

John Cena is more or less the face of WWE, he is going to win matches and championships at some point.

Cena has reached a level of hate where fans cannot appreciate him putting over another wrestler, creating great story lines, having once in a lifetime matches or simply showing up every night, wanting to entertain.

Win, lose or draw, for many, John Cena will always be hated.

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