WWE: Turning John Cena May Save the Soul of Wrestling

Picture if you will, a pay-per-view main event between the two mightiest forces currently in the WWE as they clash for the WWE title, which is currently in the hands of the comedic jock from Boston.  John Cena and CM Punk brawl whether in the ring or outside of it, giving each other the best they have to offer, but the other will not stay down.

After a brutal series of moves, a pattern of debilitating holds and gross (yet effective) punches, Cena begins to gain the upper hand.  However, for whatever reason, through simple force of will or drawing upon the energy of a hot crowd in front of 14,000-plus fans, Punk does not lay down for three seconds. Attitude Adjustment after Attitude Adjustment simply will not put Punk away.

Cena, in his ultimate frustration, is unable to pin or submit the Second City Saint.  The fans, including a fair number of kids, are chanting "CM Punk!  CM Punk!  CM Punk!"  

Ultimately, whether in the heat of the moment or through a long, drawn out process, the man who stands for "Hustle. Loyalty. Respect" turns to the Dark Side.

He grabs a chair, the folding steel machination of doom, and crushes it across the back of the man who has been his nemesis for months.  The fans, in the heat of the moment and for the ultimate betrayal of his principals, turn on him.  They don't call his name any more.  They, instead, jeer him and boo him. 

"Your winner by Disqualification.  CM Punk!"   But Cena still holds the title.  Sound like a good main event?  To me, it does. 

Stephen Sonneveld laid out a strong case that turning John Cena would devastate the WWE, but I disagree.  With ratings in a slump and against the twin juggernauts of the NFL and a depleted roster without overall name recognition, the WWE is in the midst of a series of reverses it hasn't seen in almost 15 years.  

They need something to regain the initiative, something to recapture the lost mojo—maybe turning Cena could do that.

The Falling Empire

The Roman Empire stood for almost a thousand years before falling.  The Third Reich stood for nearly ten years before succumbing to a world united against them, including the future cold warriors of the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.   Nothing is forever.  Things do change.  The WWE is not excluded from this.  They aren't the dominant empire they were only ten short years before.

The WWE has always survived and thrived by recognizing emerging trends amongst its audiences and adapting their programming to suit viewers' wants.   In the mid 1980s, this was served by being one of the first promotions to jump on the emerging trend of Cable TV and PPVs, and wrapping itself tightly around pop culture.  This held firm until the product needed a refresh in the late 1990s, when the new juggernaut of Ted Turner's WCW began to pick away at its fanbase and erode its talent base, they answered with the "Attitude Era" and brought forward talent like Triple H, Steve Austin and The Rock.

After WCW went the way of ECW and the old territory system, the WWE stood alone, the victor amongst a field of broken promotions and old talent and ideals that finally fell.  Seeking to adapt to the new reality, they began to shift again, trying to find a center to hold on.  More or less, a current shift to the "PG Era" started, albeit subtly, with less edgy storylines and an eventual settling into the current holding pattern.

However, there is a new crisis emerging.  Traditionally strong demographics for the WWE, namely the teenage and male adult viewers, are starting to turn away.  The overall core target demographics seem to be losing their zest for the product.  

With alternatives like the NFL (which is a traditional draw anyway), the UFC and slight dings from TNA and a rebuilding ROH (whom has the backing of a thriving media company), the issue must be addressed.  If the issue is not, then the WWE will fall by the wayside like so many empires before, finding itself more relevant to history books and Wikipedia then to TV networks and social media websites.

No empire, no matter how strong, can stand if the foundation is corroded.

The Reality Era

John Cena is the 100 percent embodiment of the "PG Era."  Where words such as "poop" and "pee" are enough to make a kindergartener chuckle, it's not enough now.  For all of the arguments that Cena is a direct connection to the kids, the problem is those kids are getting older now.  "Poop" gets replaced with "crap" and other other less subtle words that I won't repeat here. 

TV turns from simple cartoons and stories of heroes and villains to things like melodramas, violent contests in an octagon cage, gaming consoles with cutting edge graphics and other such things. Ultimately, kids turn away from the heroes they worshiped, looking for new heroes and new things for their time and emerging pocketbooks.

Since Cena made his face turn so long ago, say 2004 for our intents and purposes, the 'E has undergone a subtle (then massive) shift in its storytelling to the current point where it's all cut and dry, good versus bad.  There is none of the grey area that was the hallmark of the "Attitude Era" storytelling.  The WWE is seeing a price for that now, where they no longer dominate the demographics that, for so long, have fueled the machine.

As fans continue to shift away from the product due to things such as burn out, boredom and loss of faith, a spark of lightning hit and crashed in the most unintentional of ways.

In June of this year, CM Punk spoke of things that were long held as sacred lines that were never crossed—talking of other promotions and of the perceived reality of the locker room and infamous backstage politicking that happens.  In the end, he set fire to the very foundations of the WWE's world.  He would burn these things, as it turns out, to save it.

And the old school fans, the ones like you and me, saw potential to turn the situation around.  Perhaps this was the spark that would allow the WWE to mold themselves into a new image, a new empire.  To their credit, the 'E has been experimenting with worked shoots, blurring kayfabe and reality and extending those stories to embrace the world of social media.

"To save the world, he must sacrifice himself.  To change the world, he must sacrifice his soul."

In the end run, as kids continue to grow up and outlets for entertainment continue to become more varied and exponential in their numbers, the old rules no longer apply.  In the 1980s, it was easy to tell a simple story of a superhero such as Hulk Hogan or "Stone Cold" Steve Austin overcoming the odds to beat down a giant, or defeat a tyrannical boss.  In the current era though, those old tales must be retold with more vigor.  To tell those tales, you have to expose yourself in realms traditionally viewed with disdain and be willing to make compromises on ideas that were held as sacred.

The old heroes, of which Cena's gimmick and booking is modeled (make no mistake about that) eventually need to reinvent themselves or else become irrelevant.  Going forward, as your target audience becomes jaded and turns away, you must lure them back with new variations of the tried and tested tales that captured imaginations the world over.

The new era, if we can call it that, is still in its infancy, with multiple storylines still being felt out and new talent beginning to hit their stride.  Ultimately, the promise of the CM Punk's opening salvo for the era is still being calculated and measured against the telltale signs of the past.  In the end run, it's time to reinforce the idea of change or lose whatever momentum could be gain from it due to the friction of complacency and simple entropy.

Would turning John Cena heel be a risk?  Yes.  However, risk is not something the WWE should shy away from.  For every XFL, there is Wrestlemania.  For every WBF, there is the "Attitude Era."  A calculated risk with huge payoffs for success are how the WWE went from NWA territory to the global empire it is now. 

If such an angle were done correctly (and this is actually done simply and through a lot of ways), the risk would be minimal.  What people forget is that Cena is not the only babyface capable of carrying the WWE.  You have other talents such as Randy Orton or CM Punk who can shoulder the load.  Brand extension can be ended in the blink of an eye if they must in order to reinforce the roster overall. 

Do they push Cena's merchandise?  No, probably not.  However, it is not like they are entirely bad in this area either.  In the end, all the WWE cares about is money. 

However, failing to carry through is a slow death, a long and horrible thing that will spell the end of the WWE as we know it.  It will also be a quiet death that the world may not long remember as entropy takes such a firm and dominant hold that there would be no turning back.

Suffice to say, that is not how Vince McMahon does business.  To save his business, he must be willing to take risks.  To save the swagger of the WWE, he must be willing to risk its soul.  Eric Bischoff, a long time nemesis of the WWE, was correct about one thing—controversy breeds cash. 

The latest proof is the recent 20 percent jump of the Money in the Bank PPV buyrate over last year, which featured the culmination of the first chapter of the Punk saga.   It reached out into new audiences as the edgy storyline that the 'E had such a hard time reaching itself.  

After that, the build to SummerSlam reverted to a more traditional mold of storytelling, and the product erosion continued, generating 50,000 less buys than last year.   In other words, the writing is on the wall.

Unless the WWE takes risks from here on out and attempts to reinvent itself, it will continue to suffer. 

Unless they shore up the storylines and generate new twists and turns, new personalities and new methods of outreach, it will die. 

Unless it turns against the old ideas, unless it turns John Cena heel, it will fall by the wayside like the Roman Empire.