John Cena seems to invoke a lot of divisive feelings among the Internet. And by "divisive", the camps are disproportionate as all hell in numbers. The people drinking the Cena haterade seem to outnumber the people, such as myself, who appreciate what he means to the WWE, sometimes by numbers in the hundreds to one. How could one guy inspire so much hate, especially when he's not only one of the best interviews in the business, one of the best workers in America and a seemingly genuine nice guy about whom no one but certain brown-nosed assfucks who botched their way out of the WWE and into Orlando have a cross word to say? Christ, the guy even makes it a point to revel in his haters!I remarked on Twitter yesterday that I found all the hate Cena gets from the typical smark crowd "ridiculous", sort of implying that I didn't understand where it came from. That was a partial lie. I do understand where it comes from. It's the same reason why people hated on The Rock and Hulk Hogan despite them each having more redeeming qualities than not. People have a tendency to hate what is extremely popular. It's the same in many other media, most notably in music. Especially now, it's extremely hip, or "punk rock" if you will, to hate on acts such as Nickelback or Justin Bieber because of their immense popularity. The thing is, there's a reason why they're popular. In the case of Nickelback, I loathe them, but honestly, they're popular for a reason; they can write catchy hooks that people identify with. I hate them because the hooks are overly simplistic and they're musically unsatisfying to me.
However, here's my biggest beef with the Cena haters. It's not that I'd be denying them their right to hate on Cena. Of course, it's their right to an opinion. I'm saying their opinion is pretty ill-informed or based on an viewpoint of wrestling that is way, way far out of line what what mine is. To me, John Cena isn't Nickelback. He's more like a Led Zeppelin or a Foo Fighters, or to use a modern example, a Shinedown. He's a popular wrestler who happens to be good. It's not all that uncommon to find talent in the mainstream, but with music and with wrestling, what's in the mainstream is easy to overlook.
I've been over it a million times on here referring to John Cena and his work in the ring, but it's worth repeating. Yeah, he has a relatively cruddy finisher (that actually looked AWESOME Monday when he did it to Sheamus). Yeah he does the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Yeah, he has five moves of doom (like EVERY OTHER WWE WRESTLER, mind you) But yeah, he has a better grasp at selling, pacing and making face comebacks than many wrestlers on any roster. These are things that people overlook when looking at a good match or a wrestler. Everyone has to do MOVEZ~! A million kickouts! False finishes! Reversals! JOHN CENA DOES NONE OF THIS!
Yeah, well, again, I point to Cena's match with Batista at WrestleMania. Or his match with Punk at the Ventura RAW. Or against Miz the night after the Bash. Or Jericho on 4/20 RAW. Or with HBK at WM XIII. Yeah, about that, HBK. He's regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time, and did he do a ton of moves? No, five moves of doom for the most part, just like Bret Hart (the guy the phrase was originated for), just like The Rock, just like He Who Shall Not Be Named (who definitely fell into the groove when getting into the WWE). He was also a master of pacing, comebacks and selling. Actually, HBK sold so much that it was considered overdoing it, but hey, it's better than some of the no-selling bullshit that passes for good wrestling nowadays. But yeah, everyone jizzes over HBK, and he was a similar wrestler to Cena, only with fewer muscles and with more high-flying. It's crazy.
Look, if you don't like John Cena, you don't like John Cena. Everyone's entitled to their opinion. What you're not entitled to are making up your own facts, and that's my biggest problem with the criticisms. People who make up facts like Cena's the only guy who has a lame WWE-ized fake move like the 5KS or that he's the only one with a bad finisher or that he's the only one with a limited moveset. People who make these incredulous claims qualifying the statement with "durrr i dont watch teh wwe cuz itz teh lamez0rz hurrr".
Anyway, you don't have to like Cena, but you do need to be honest with your criticisms of him. Look, he's not even my favorite wrestler, but it's just so mind-blowing how much ignorance there is when it comes to talking about him. Is Cena universally enjoyable? Probably not, and I won't argue you for not liking him. However, Cena can wrestle, and to me, that point isn't debateable. Don't even try to claim otherwise on my watch.
Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!
