WWE's Biggest Problem: John Cena....And What They Can Do to Fix It

Ok let's be realistic.  John Cena isn't the WWE's  biggest problem.  (And neither is its PG-rating).  The real issue is how the WWE VIEWS its "situation" regarding Cena.  Cena is the biggest star in the company for one reason.  Not  because he is the hardest-working man in the company (although he is).  But many other stars would step up if given the opportunity to work as hard as Cena and reap the benefits he's reaped.  The reason Cena is the biggest star is because Vince wants him to be .  Why does Vince want him to be?  Because Cena is a money-maker, the biggest cash cow since Mr. Austin 3:16 himself. 

Nothing wrong with that, right?  After all, this is a business, and you have to put your company in the best position to profit and right now, Cena does that.  But that's never been the discussion.  Fans that complain about Cena aren't complaining about his ability to increase the WWE's quarterly profit margin.  Just like the smart fans that don't like what the WWE has become don't actually blame the PG era itself.  What are we actually talking about?

We're talking about the ideas.  The creativity (or lack thereof).  We're talking about the level of entertainment.  Of all the critical fans I've talked to over the years, none have complained about Cena being a regular main-eventer (although it wouldn't kill them to give us a little rotation).  The issue is what he DOES when he's in the Main Event.  The issue is what he DOES when given the major storylines and plots week to week.  The issue is what he DOES when paired with young or up and coming stars. 

The PG era itself is fine.  I can remember when I first became a fan as a childhood.  Back then the product was PG.  I grew up on Earthquake and Typhoon, Papa Shango, the Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, the Macho Man, the real Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase, and others.  Those "characters" attracted me to the product as a child, but the evolving storylines KEPT me as I got older.  Anyone that thinks PG can't be ridiculously entertaining, I would ask you to take a look back at some of the old WWE Primetime episodes with the late, great Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby The Brain Heenan.  PG was great back then, and it could be great now.  Similarly, and more on point, John Cena was great when he came to the WWE, and can still be great now.  

But WWE is focused on the wrong thing.  Although many complain about Cena's "SuperCena" indestructible persona, Cena is far from a hero by todays standard.  A hero has obstacles, has enemies, and is an underdog that overcomes.  Cena hasn't been the underdog in recent years, and that's whats killing his persona.  Even going into SummerSlam with a weak, uncohesive team, Cena was still the favorite to win, or turn heel, because it was just unfathomable to everyone that he would lose fairly.  Why?  Because the WWE hasn't let Cena lose a legitimate match since....well....I can't remember.  They got out of hand with trying to make Cena larger than life, and now he's become completely uninteresting.  It's not just that he can't lose...its that he can't even be hurt.  No injuries, no pain, nothing affects him longer than 20 seconds. 

Think back to this summer, when the Nexus was first introduced.  How much more powerful would it have been for them if Cena had stayed home the next week, and let the announcers spin that he's in awful shape, and the Nexus actually hurt him, not just made him angry by bothering him.  I always thought the most realistic, believable feuds were the ones where one superstar appeared to legitimately hurt another.  Remember when the old Big Boss Man character was attacked out of nowhere by a man in a prison suit with a pair of handcuffs and nightsticks.  I was a child at the time, and I was legitimately scared for Boss Man's life.  The company played it brilliantly.  Big Boss Man didn't show up for weeks.  Instead they showed footage of him at the hospital, showed pictures of his badly bruised face and body.  They even had him call in during a taping and interviewed him from "the hospital".  They built up his injuries to the point that my sister and I were wrought with anticipation for his return.  We knew that when he finally came back weeks later, he was really going to do a number on Nailz.  

I know that Vince doesn't want to go a month without Cena on a live show...but one week?  He couldn't  have played hurt for one week?  He couldn't have come back with bandages and not fought for a few weeks, just talked?  Or appeared via satellite from "the hospital"?  No, he comes back the very next week without a scratch, bump, bruise, or limp, and is in tip-top shape.  What good is an ambush and beatdown if it doesn't generate the bad guy as a real threat, and the good guy as truly injured and in danger?  

Come on EIGHT GUYS?  He's fine?  That move alone signaled to me that Nexus would never be as big as they could have.  

Okay I'm not going to simply  bash the product.  I'm going to give suggestions.  What can they do to fix the problem they've created.

1)  Make Cena Destructible - Even in his heyday, Stone Cold Steve Austin could be beat.  He had to deal with Kane, Undertaker, The Rock, Triple H, and Vince McMahon himself.  If Stone Cold had been booked to win every single match against these guys, and if he had never even been  hurt, then he would have  been the only legitimate star to come out of the Attitude Era.  Instead, the WWE let the fans love him, while still letting him struggle through the ranks with the other future stars.  If Stone Cold's matches were booked the way Cena's are, The Rock would have never been as big a star as he was.  

It's almost as if WWE believes that the kids will stop buying Cena merchandise if he loses a match.  This couldn't be farther from the truth.  If Cena had just one real "Big Boss Man" moment, he would have LEGIT sympathy by all, draw real heat on his attacker, and anticipation would be sky-high for the PPV where he finally would get his revenge.  Think about how much more impactful SummerSlam would have been if Nexus had legitimately hurt Cena and he was in real danger of losing, or worse? When I saw that Cena took a ten minute ambush from seven guys, then showed up the next week ready to go, I knew that if it was a fair fight, he'd be booked to crush them.  That's the point. Cena's fair fights have to be toss-ups.  It has to be at least possible that he could lose legitimately.  That's what's so intriguing about the rumored Cena vs. Taker matchup at WM27 - Undertaker and The Streak may be the only entities powerful enough to legitimately defeat Cena.  But even then, I'm sure WWE will book it so that Taker is a heel and has to cheat to win....

WWE simply needs to restart this Nexus feud with Cena and make them a legitimate danger to Cena's health and well-being.  Or give Cena a personal feud with Edge or Kofi Kingston or the Miz, where Cena actually loses a match or two along the way.  The fans will still love him, and actually will relate to him more.  The other superstars will become bigger threats and ultimately bigger stars, just like The Rock and Triple H did with Stone Cold.  And more importantly, the "know it all" IWC will finally be happy.  

2) Make Cena a Heel - This has been discussed for months, and although it's not a bad idea, it's not the best idea either.  I suppose Cena could turn heel, but what is his motivation?  The biggest heel turn in history was Hogan's NWO turn, because he was tired of trying to please the fans who didn't appreciate him.  Cena could easily use this same excuse, saying he was tired of being booed (which is true), and tired of being unappreciated for his hard work (also true), and tired of carrying Vince's company for him (also true).  But then what?  Does he build a stable?  And who are the faces he can compete with?  He and Orton are the only faces left, and Orton has no motivation for actually being a face (another "well-thought" plan WWE...), so where would Cena's heel turn go? Honestly, WWE missed its one opportunity to turn him  heel, at SummerSlam 2010.  We all saw it coming.  I actually watched, just waiting for him to double cross Jericho or Daniel Bryan (by the way, WHY IS DANIEL BRYAN NOT WITH NEXUS?!?!).  But it never happened.  As soon as I saw his new purple merchandise (Go Lakers), I knew that he wasn't turning any time soon, because WWE wants to use him to sell more....

Now, he has a match against Barrett at HITC.  I don't see how there's any possibility the current Cena character could lose a one-on-one match against the green-in-the-ring Barrett, especially when he's already beat Barrett and six other guys at the same time.  But now they've introduced the stipulation that if he loses, Cena must join Nexus.  They can do this, but will he a genuine heel?  Or will he still be the babyface that resists?  Either way, it has the risk of being awkward and short-lived, unlike the surprise heel turn that everyone would rather see.

3)  Make Cena a Face with FLAWS - The highlight of Undertaker's storied career was his feud with Kane.  At the time, Taker was the champion, and top dog, before the rise of Stone Cold and the Rock.  And instead of turning him heel, the WWE came up with the brilliant idea of keeping him babyface, but with flaws....with a secret past.  That secret ultimately was revealed to be the "accidental death" of his brother Kane.  But the story itself was riveting.  Week after week, we watched the Undertaker be tormented by Paul Bearer as he tried to keep his past a secret, then as he struggled to submit to Bearer's blackmail. STILL BABYFACE. We watched as he was brutally attacked  by his seemingly indestructible brother Kane and was finally overpowered. STILL BABYFACE.   Then we watched as he struggled with whether or not to face his own flesh and blood.  STILL BABYFACE.   This was the most intriguing feud of that year, by a large margin.  

The WWE could learn from its own past, and give Cena a similar "flaw" or "secret past".  Maybe he once made a secret deal with Vince to get all of these title shots and this air time, and he thought it would never come to light.  Maybe he did something, or wronged someone, or he's overheard saying something about someone....anything!  Just something that allows him to be the top babyface, but with a weakness, a vise, something that another superstar can at least temporarily capitalize on, to keep things interesting for the fans.

If you think about the Undertaker and Wrestlemania 26, the reason that match against Shawn Michaels worked is that it was believable.  By now, the streak has gone for so long that we just assume anyone he faces will be jobbing.  But when they added the stipulation that Michaels would retire if he lost, we had to re-think "is this the year that the streak ends?"  Although the streak continued, we all bought into the idea that it might actually happen.  That's the only way people would care about the Undertaker's Wrestlemania feud - there had to be at least a CHANCE that he would be booked to lose.  The WWE has to take that same approach with Cena - there has to at least be a CHANCE that he might not win.  Right now, he's indestructible, predictable, and its just boring.  But the difference is, we don't mind him winning, we just mind KNOWING that he's going to win....