John Cena

He's always shown that he possesses all the tools. His ability has never
been in doubt. For months he has even claimed to be the untouchable one. And
yet at the beginning of the year I dismissed John Cena as a possible saviour
by pointing to his restrictive rapper gimmick as evidence of why his
sacrifice for us will never be enough to reach the masses. Yet now, as much
as it pains me to do so, I have to admit that I may have been wrong. Since
the original column, Cena's crowd reactions have gradually increased as his
all around ability as a wrestling character has improved, to the point where
he has now been turned face because he's so damn popular. It's got to the
point where I feel at times that there is no need for the search for a
saviour to continue. Many others held this belief a long time ago. In fact,
Oratory capo John C was so convinced that John Cena was to be the saviour of
the WWE that my column provoked him to bet me that within six months, Cena
would indeed be the franchise player of the promotion. And even though that
hasn't even come close to happening, I now find myself edging closer to
reluctantly joining him in viewing Cena as the future. Our saviour. Perhaps
it's only a matter of time.

I first began to reconsider my judgement whilst listening to thousands of
fans excitedly chant Cena's name at No Mercy against, ironically enough, the
reason I first wrote the 'saviour' column: Kurt Angle. Cena was the heel.
Angle was the face. Yet the crowd were split. Something wasn't right.or,
rather, perhaps the reason for the division was that something was right. It
seemed that arena fans were finally taking to the rapper with the kind of
enthusiasm that the internet community has harboured for months. Just as the
likes of Austin and the Rock before him had broken out as fan favourites
during their heel runs, Cena looked poised to make the ultimate statement to
Vince McMahon with a different type of F-U from that which he finishes
opponents off with, by showing that even as a heel, he was simply too good
to be held back. Too talented to be jeered. Of course, barely walking
embarrassments like Sid have also been cheered as heels, so it doesn't
necessarily mean anything - but it damn sure is a good sign in this case.
Because whilst heels sometimes become popular simply because they're not
capable of doing their jobs of attaining heel heat properly, Cena has never
been presented as an evil monster who commands jeers by his very presence.
On the contrary, his heel run more closely resembles an experiment to gauge
how fans would react to his unique character, before ultimately pushing him
in the face persona which seems natural for a character which appeals to the
WWE's target demographic so well. The cheers clearly dictate that the
results of the experiment show an overwhelming success.

The fact that he has become popular is hardly surprising. It's always been
obvious that he has almost unrivalled potential. As a young Prototype plying
his trade in OVW, the rumblings began. The kid has mic skills, intensity
that will make Goldberg cringe, and has charisma oozing out of every pore of
his impressively chiselled body. The messiah is coming, we were warned. Some
listened. The rest of us waited doubtfully, eagerly awaiting his arrival on
a grander stage. It came on the June 27 2002 edition of Smackdown when he
was immediately thrust into a match against the best in the business, Kurt
Angle. The contest was standout quality. By the end of it, Cena had proven
that not only did he have all the skills expected of a messiah, but he was
hungry enough to spread his message to all that would listen. And even
though his push would soon be scaled down as part of the usual 'de-push the
newcomer and see how he takes it' routine the WWE seems to love, Cena had
made his mark, and would continue to state his case at every possible
opportunity. The messiah was ready to speak. The people were ready to
listen. The only question was when he would be allowed to be heard.

Since that time, John Cena has been enthusiastically shouting his message.
Masses of people have listened intently to him. But there has remained the
problem that his message hasn't always been amplified loudly enough in the
WWE machine, thus it has never reached as many people as it otherwise could.
Cena can threaten Brock Lesnar that he will 'whack him more times than a
masturbation tournament' all he likes, but until he actually does so, the
threat is essentially meaningless. Cena can rap about Big Show needing a bra
all he likes, but until he gets a few clean wins under his belt, it won't
mean a damn. Cena can preach Thuganomics all he likes, but until it has the
full support of the WWE machine, it will ultimately be in vain. For all Cena
's efforts, his rap will only truly be heard when it is turned up to full
volume by the WWE. Perhaps then the saviour can work his magic.

Thankfully, Cena's face turn on last week's Smackdown proved beyond doubt
that he is now being allowed to be heard. Far from stagnating in a
futureless midcard rapper gimmick who has already faced, and lost to, all
the main Smackdown babyfaces (Taker, Angle, Guerrero etc), all it took was a
couple of chair shots to Nathan Jones and Matt Morgan to prove that progress
is still being made, and Cena continues to roar forward as an interesting
character who now has a vast array of fresh opponents from the heel roster
to face off against. Now is his true test, for the experiment is over. His
advantage of being an edgy heel who fans aren't supposed to like is gone. It
's time for Cena to prove that he can enthral fans in his new role of
babyface, by becoming the type of money drawing sensation who makes you want
to pay to see kick ass, whilst also maintaining the cool aura which made him
so likeable in the first place. That's where the real money is to be made.
As the likes of Hogan, Sting and Austin have undeniably illustrated, the
most money is usually produced when fans are asked to pay to see the
babyface prevail, not just to see the heel defeated. This is where Cena's
challenge lies.

.and it is also where I regain my confidence that I never was wrong, because
Cena is simply not the saviour.

However much I want to be able to put my faith in Cena as the WWE's messiah
and convince myself that my earlier doubts were nothing but the product of
my typical British cynicism, I can't. I just can't. I know that most of you
reading this will recoil in horror at the mere suggestion that Cena's
incapable of revolutionising the WWE if given the chance, but the more I
ponder his potential, the more I convince myself that he's not a potential
saviour. At least not as a rapper.

I harbour no doubt that Cena will achieve great things in the wrestling
industry. I harbour no doubt that he is capable of becoming the franchise
player of any promotion. I harbour no doubt that he could be 'the one'. But
no matter how hard I try, I can't shake the feeling that I've been right all
along, because he'll never be able to fulfil his potential in this rapping
gimmick.

It's not that the gimmick isn't entertaining. It is. In fact, it's downright
hilarious, yet whilst that is its appeal, it is also its downfall. Because
when searching for a saviour, hilarity is not the solution. A lot of people
like to make a big fuss wondering what it will take for somebody new and
exciting to break out and capture the everyday man's imagination so that
wrestling can once again become a popular mainstream attraction. The truth
is that it's really not that hard to understand. The concept is as straight
forward as it gets - it's just the execution which is difficult. You see,
everything in wrestling ultimately boils down to money, just as this search
for a saviour must ultimately boil down not to which wrestler is the best or
the most entertaining, but which will draw the most money. And right now,
you could argue that Cena is the most entertaining wrestler, BUT is he
really the one who you're going to pay money to see?

The overwhelming money maker in wrestling today is PPV. House shows, TV,
merchandise and the rest all play their part, but PPV is where the big
business lies. Therefore it stands to reason that the best way to make money
in wrestling is to create a character geared to encourage fans to pay money
to see them compete at the big events. Fans paid to see Hogan because they
wanted to see their hero prevail against all the evil forces at work in the
world, who he would typically only square off against one on one at the big
shows. Fans paid to see Austin because they wanted to see him kick ass and
defeat the odds in the impossible situations he was put in on PPV, which
were always more severe than his TV dilemmas. Why will fans pay to see Cena?
What possible appeal does he have on PPV that he does not have on TV? Are
millions of fans really going to part with their hard earned cash to see an
entertaining rapper perform on PPV, when they can see him rap and fight for
free on Smackdown every week?

The problem with Cena at the moment is that his character is that of a
rapper first, fighter second. Think about what you associate with Cena more:
his hilarious raps, or the desire to see him kick some ass in the ring?
Because whilst Cena's rapping remains the essence of his character, he will
help ratings by encouraging fans to tune in to watch his entertaining
antics, and in the process he might help make money for the WWE if those
viewers decide to pay for the monthly PPVs, but he won't be 'the one' who
can drag the WWE to prosperity himself. He won't be the saviour.

Luckily, there is a solution, and a way that Cena can put his fantastic
talent to use and become the franchise player of the WWE. He just needs to
become a fighter first, rapper second. That simple.

Steve Austin's comments on the No Holds Barred radio show were delectably
telling when he recently berated the amount of comedic entertainment
currently in the WWE for being allowed to overshadow the serious action
which has traditionally made the most money. That is Cena's problem in a
nutshell. The entertainment side of his character (i.e. his rapper gimmick)
overshadows the serious fighting side to him which every big draw needs. As
a result, he'll never make as much money as he otherwise could. He'll never
be the saviour. But all that needs to happen in order to change that is for
his rapper gimmick to be portrayed as more of a background for Cena's
character, rather than constituting his entire personality. As soon as that
is accomplished, and Cena becomes a serious wrestler who just happens to rap
on the side, then fans might finally treat him as seriously as he deserves
and actually consider paying to see him whip his opponent's ass on PPV.

Ron Killings used to suffer from the same problem. Upon his debut in
NWA-TNA, he was commonly viewed as nothing more than a rapping, dancing fool
who used to 'get rowdy' with Road Dogg. Within a few shows he had managed to
shake that image. Because whilst he did still rap and he did still dance, he
also let the aggressive side of his personality take over. The side that
fought against the oppression of blacks. The side that was thoroughly pissed
off after years of never receiving a fair shot. The side that would make
people pay money to watch him take out his frustrations. And within a few
shows he had become the world champion. There is hope for John Cena yet.

As a face, Cena now has the world at his feet, and it's time for him to make
a choice. Either he can continue to rap his way into the Thursday night
schedules of wrestling fans by effortlessly playing to the WWE's target
demographic, without necessarily making them spend money, or he can fight
his way into their hearts with a ferocity that screams money. This face turn
is his chance to put the focus back where it should be. His chance to save
himself. In the process of saving himself then maybe, just maybe, John Cena
might just manage to save the WWE as well.

.or maybe the WWE is still beyond saving. Maybe 'the one' never even
existed. Maybe it will take a complete overhaul of the WWE mentality for
anything to change. Or maybe one individual can successfully inspire that
much needed change in mentality. Maybe. So many maybe's.

My only surety is that the search for a saviour lies in John Cena's hands.
It's up to him to prove whether or not I was wrong.

Let's hope I was.

JT
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
AOLIM: jtgunnerfan