John Cena, the Worker

For those of you who don't know, I frequent a wrestling message board called A1 Wrestling, which started off as a place for those banned from and/or dissatisfied by Bob Ryder's 1Wrestling boards congregated. While the boards have become more valuable for their non-wrestling conversation, it still has a vibrant wrestling forum filled with a lot of bright posters. One of them, by the handle BOOGIE, posted this gem this morning:

Who doesn't look good against Cena? At this point in time I'm convinced Cena could have a good match with anyone, and make them look good in the process.

It got me thinking. When has John Cena ever had a consistent stretch of bad matches?

I'm well aware of the knocks against him, mind you. He has a limited moveset, his finishers don't look like they should be finishers, his character is stale. Yadda yadda yadda. Regardless of all those knocks, many of them which aren't true (the only one I'll even come close to agreeing with is the one about his finishers), I don't think there's anyone better at putting on a main event match in the WWE right now, and that's with a roster that includes Chris Jericho, Edge, Jeff Hardy, The Big Show, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker.

Why does Cena deserve such praise? For one, he knows how to give and take. Much like the guy whose career his most resembles, Hulk Hogan, Cena knows how to build drama in a match by selling in a way that the opponent's offense look credible, even against a guy of his size for smaller opponents. His motions are always fluid. He can get a good match out of a bad opponent (Batista, Great Khali) and great matches out of capable opponents (Umaga, Michaels, Jericho, Edge, Show). In fact, the Michaels/Cena match from WMXXIII remains one of the best main events I've seen in the last few years, and probably ranks at least in the top 10 of WM matches ever for me.

Another thing is that Cena actually pays attention to the crowd and adjusts his match strategy accordingly. If Cena senses that the crowd is turning against him, he'll start to work a more heelish strategy and let the other guy work the babyface style against him. He also seems to relish the boos he gets, which is amazing for a guy who is pushed as the über-face that he is.

In contrast, let's look at Triple H, a guy who's been reputed to be a great worker in the past. I'll admit, he's had his share of great matches. Every time he was in the ring with Mick Foley, you could count on it being a classic. His series with The Rock was good at times. Orton, Michaels and Austin have also had good matches with him in the past. However, there is a disturbing tendency for him to really sandbag other guys, especially if they happen to pose a threat to him. For example, in 2001, before Trip tore his quad and still had the capability to be great night-in and night-out, he was the only guy in the company who couldn't have a great match with Kurt Angle or Chris Benoit. While The Rock would make guys like Jericho and Hurricane Helms look like a million bucks, Trips would borderline squash them.

In my opinion, if John Cena actually had a real Death Valley Driver for an impact finisher instead of the lame FU Attitude Adjustment (although I admit the STF is a great submission finish) and didn't salute before every match, I think he'd be loved by the Internet more than he is. I mean, there isn't a better worker in the WWE right now, and that's saying a lot given how stacked the roster is right now. I'll have to say that aside from Batista, no one that they give substantial TV time to right now can't work. Before it's all said and done, Cena will be considered an all-timer in the ring, and he'll have deserved it.