Risk v Reward, so lets talk a Cena Heel Turn

DM_7

Ratings are sliding, only guys like Rock, Brock, Taker returning are getting people excited.

So is it time to take a risk?

Potential Rewards:
It looks to me like the perfect time to turn Cena Heel could be approaching. Initially it would energise the whole product, grab peoples interest and could actually stop the ratings slide.

Imagine Rock v Cena II, but this time with a clear heel doing dirty heel actions against the Great One.

Imagine Brock v Cena II but this time Cena is the Heel.

Or Best of all Taker v Heel Cena in what could be the biggest feud in a decade.

Lots of other new things could be done in between his big matches - We could see a new Power Trip with Punk and Cena. Cena v Ryback, Cena v Face Sheamus, Cena V Ryback - so many options.

Daniel Bryan is really popular right now. What a great feud that could be and a set of matches that could push Bryan over like no other.

In people like Bryan and Sheamus they have good role models already to take over from Cena's current role in the eyes of the paying public and have already proved they can get people on their side.


The Risk:
So why would you not turn Cena? Obviously he is a merch machine. He has a real profile and is literally the face of WWE.

While bringing out a green Sheamus T-Shirt would probably appease the kiddies and keep up the T-Shirt sales he is Irish. He could do a lot of the media work Cena does but in reality the Americans will never warm to an Irish Man like they would a collegiate, clean cut, American Hero.

The Ultimate risk element is what happens if a heel turn didn't work long term? When Hulk went Hollywood WCW was trying to do something risky and in reality were messing with someone else's Hero. I can't see things ever getting so bad that WWE would want to mess with a man they made at a time when they are the only relevant show in Town - Unless they had a ready made replacement. That guy doesn't seem to exist right now.

Is the reward ever going to be worth the risk, what do you think?






PS: How could they ever turn that^^^ into a baddie?

Sirsok

Your right a heel turn would greatly freshen him up and the product in general. Great for us hardcore fans but jesus think of the children! Kids literally cry if Cena loses, fricken cry! Of course a heel turn leaves room for the next hero to emerge and lead the cenation against that dastardly john cena but thats a massive gamble WWE cant afford to take, what with the senate run, ratings down and thq thing their profit margin must suck at the moment.

We would all love it as adults and dare i say jump on the cena bandwagon once again (loved the vanila ice gimmick, started to dislike him when my hero angle was pitted against him) but it wont happen unfortunately.

Would be pretty awesome though

Ando's Saggy Bottom

Would love to see it but doubt it'll ever happen for a long long time.

gnfnrhead

The most you'll get would be the same as Michaels vs Hogan. Heel it up for one feud then back to babyface as soon as it ends. So long as Cena makes money, he wont be turning heel.

Mr.Nice Guy

I used to be for it, now I'm agin it.

He is clearly idolised by his young audience and that was very evident when he won the Superstar of the Year award. The stuff he does for charity is unbelievable and he is a perfect face for a company, forgive the pun.

If you turn him heel you take the character in a fresher direction but not necessarily a better one. He is so established now that the 'smart' part of the audience will cheer for him and it will be the ones who used to love him that will boo him. As soon as the novelty of the exciting heel turn passes you will be left with a Cena that I think will be far less significant in the industry.

I think Lance Storm also made the point that a heel Cena means a Cena working most matches as heels tend to do, and the fact he is so used to working babyface matches so long - and gets flak for them - could see the audience really put off his heel stuff.

You also have to factor in the fact that the guy is in his mid thirties and might just have the rest of this decade left wrestling in the industry. Michaels retired at forty I think? Hunter has slowed down his schedule. From the WWE's point of view they may as well get the most out of him while the going is good.

I also have a feeling that the man personally probably takes a great deal of pride in being able to do the Make-A-Wish stuff and put smiles on faces and that he'd probably be reluctant to do the heel turn unless it was absolutely necessary, i.e. if even the younger audience grew tired of him.

The way I look at it is if the young fanbase and women regard him as the best around then it is worth keeping him as a face until someone else comes along and surpasses him for popularity. I thought maybe Jeff Hardy might do that but it wasn't to be and he wasn't reliable enough. Sheamus might be reliable enough but I'm not sure he'll surpass the Batista level of popularity. Daniel Bryan could become over enough but he needs a good main event run to prove it. CM Punk never quite managed it and didn't seem to want the babyface spot. Of the younger crop perhaps a guy like Bo Dallas could be the babyface of the future but that's a long way off.

For the time being, Cena is the safe option and I think should remain where he is currently.

DM_7

MNG- The Thread Killer!

Sirsok

DM-ICE wrote: »

MNG- The Thread Killer!

I shall reignite the Thread......

MNG no you are wrong.....

end of argument

Ridley

DM-ICE wrote: »

Or Best of all Taker v Heel Cena in what could be the biggest feud in a decade.

The bigger match is Undertaker vs unstoppable face Cena eye em oh.

I think the risk with a heel Cena is outside the actual shows. Suppose Sheamus (or Ryback ugh) could take the role as main uberpowered face and do most of the meet-and-greets but I don't know if I could sacrifice the good will from the Make-A-Wish stuff.

At least kayfabe-wise and creatively, if Cena went heel and there's no-one who can match up that's a story right there. Do Superman gone bad.

The Showstopper

DM-ICE wrote: »

Cena V Ryback

Oh please God don't let this happen.

I'm not bothered about a Cena heel turn really. I just think that he is a terrible wrestler and that is not going to change.

D.Q

The Showstopper wrote: »

Oh please God don't let this happen.

I'm not bothered about a Cena heel turn really. I just think that he is a terrible wrestler and that is not going to change.

andyman

The Showstopper wrote: »

Oh please God don't let this happen.

I'm not bothered about a Cena heel turn really. I just think that he is a terrible wrestler and that is not going to change.

You're wrong if you believe this, then.

Ridley

Feels like the Cena hate has gone up since the man dared to do a hurricanrana.

GTR63

gnfnrhead wrote: »

The most you'll get would be the same as Michaels vs Hogan. Heel it up for one feud then back to babyface as soon as it ends. So long as Cena makes money, he wont be turning heel.

THIS and wwe can't risk losing the large young fanbase who buy his merch and buy tickets to see him.

Ridley wrote: »

Feels like the Cena hate has gone up since the man dared to do a hurricanrana.

Kinda makes it worse when Tessmacher can do a better one.

starviewadams

Hope it never happens,might be interesting and fresh initially but once that wears off after a few months WWE is down it's only proper full time top face with nobody to replace him.The likes of Bryan,Sheamus or Ziggler will not be accepted in the way Cena has been and will never be able to fill his shoes.Ryback might be able to in time,but I have my doubts in WWE being able to book him consistently well enough to achieve that.

At least when Hogan turned in WCW their roster at the time had tremendous star power and depth in case the heel turn failed,plus they weren't solely reliant on Hogan shifting the majority of the merch and PPV's etc.

GTR63

Were WcW lucky that I imagine the nwo merch took over the Hulkamania void?
I imagine thats what it was like cause whenever you watch old wcw dvds or that its always fans in nwo shirts. I imagine there stuff flew off the shelves compared to a Sting or Flair.

A Rogue Hobo

As much as I would like to see it, it just doesn't make sense to do it until there is someone who can comfortably replace him as the "Face of WWE" which just doesn't exist at the moment.

SlickRic

Cena doesn't need a heel turn.

he needs to just take things a little more seriously.

don't belittle losing matches. don't belittle losing the title. don't make a joke out of everything as if nothing matters. don't let everything a heel does just slide off your back. if Cena's character doesn't care, why the fúck would we care? being a nice guy, doesn't mean you always ignore it when a bad guy does you wrong. fix that, and you're a long way to having a babyface all people can legit get behind.

he's actually likeable when he's not doing his comedy routine.

and the stupid thing is, if he dropped the comedy shíte, the young ones would still love him because he is superman, and he is a super nice guy. he just doesn't have to be super-jokey Cena to be nice.

WWE have a warped sense of what a "good guy" is. a nice guy isn't someone who doesn't give a shít.

gimmick

Cena is a heel. One of the best ones WWE has ever had. His fanbase is purely children and hipster wrestling fans who say they like him despite not.

Nobody has ever gotten the consistent boos that Cena has gotten over the years. They may not be vitriolic boos like HHH would have gotten 10-12 years ago, but they are loud audible boos all the same.

DM_7

Interesting that Gimmick says Cena is a heel and its been mentioned on thread that he could play the heel role in certain feuds like HBK did v Hogan.

he already did it at One Night Stand and Money in the Bank. Nobody in the last 10 years got close to that level of hate or heat thrown at them. During those matches he embraced the chaos, used it to make the matches more important and more enjoyable for all. Yet he could go the next show/city and get cheers.

gimmick

Difference being HBK heeled it up while Cena went about his business as normal. He was the hated away team as such.

That is why I think he is a heel.

A Primal Nut

From a ratings/PPV sales point of view, a Cena heel turn would definitely boost it in the short term I think. Particularly if his heel turn happened the same night he won the title back.

But from a financials/shareholders point of view, they would lose money, especially in the longer term from lower merchandise sales and so on.

Me_Grapes

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I used to be for it, now I'm agin it.

He is clearly idolised by his young audience and that was very evident when he won the Superstar of the Year award. The stuff he does for charity is unbelievable and he is a perfect face for a company, forgive the pun.

Absoloutly yes, and it would be a massive risk to turn him because of how good he is for business, but as you say he is the perfect face of the company, and IMHO, the company has gone completely stale, and nobody epitomises this staleness more than John Cena himself. To be honest with you, I really don't care for this face Cena at all, and will tune in in spite of him. The only time I pay any attention to anything Cena does is if it involves someone like Punk or Ziggler.

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

If you turn him heel you take the character in a fresher direction but not necessarily a better one. He is so established now that the 'smart' part of the audience will cheer for him and it will be the ones who used to love him that will boo him. As soon as the novelty of the exciting heel turn passes you will be left with a Cena that I think will be far less significant in the industry.

This is is where I completely disagree with you. John Cena as a character, for me at least, is at rock bottom, he could not be any less interesting to me. It's not that I hate him, it's that I don't care about him at all. His avenues as a smiling face have been completely exhausted at this stage. His character has been stale for literally years now, and I remember he first awknowledged the booing his charater was recieving as far back as the Elimination Chamber 2006. Turning him will not only reinvigorate the character, it will reinvigorate the entire WWE, because as you said he is the face of the company, and this can only be a good thing. Yes, it's a venture into the reletave unknown, but surely it has to be better than what is on offer now. Personally, I can see a heel John Cena generating masses of hate from the kids who used to cheer for him, and I don't believe that all the adults will suddenly start cheering him either.

And sure you could always turn him face a year or two down the line, it'd hardly be Big Show proportions of switching.

Mr. Nice Guy wrote: »

I think Lance Storm also made the point that a heel Cena means a Cena working most matches as heels tend to do, and the fact he is so used to working babyface matches so long - and gets flak for them - could see the audience really put off his heel stuff.

I don't buy this, and can't believe Lance Storm would have this opinion. Cena has been heel before, he is a damn fine wrestler and one of the hardest working people in the history of the company, he knows damn well how to work any kind of match, heel or face. I really think people use Cena's ringwork as a stick to beat him with, which is completely unfair, so I would completely disregard the flack. For someone like Cena, working in a heel style is like riding a bike, you never forget it. Look how The Rock main evented Wrestlemania after 9 years without a one-on-one match.

Mr. Nice Guy wrote: »

You also have to factor in the fact that the guy is in his mid thirties and might just have the rest of this decade left wrestling in the industry. Michaels retired at forty I think? Hunter has slowed down his schedule. From the WWE's point of view they may as well get the most out of him while the going is good.

Yes, from a business perspective turning him heel would be madness, but why would I or you or anyone here care about that, unless you had some stock in the WWE? As a fan, I don't want the WWE to take the 'safe' option, I know what I'm getting with that. The thought of another decade of smiling Cena doesn't fill me with excitement. I'd rather WWE went bust trying something interesting (not that I think that would ever happen if you did turn Cena) than prospered financially for the next 100 years with the same old same old.

Mr. Nice Guy wrote: »

I also have a feeling that the man personally probably takes a great deal of pride in being able to do the Make-A-Wish stuff and put smiles on faces and that he'd probably be reluctant to do the heel turn unless it was absolutely necessary, i.e. if even the younger audience grew tired of him.

I don't know maybe he would have a problem with it, but it wouldn't be down to him at the end of the day, or at least it shouldn't be.

Mr. Nice Guy wrote: »

The way I look at it is if the young fanbase and women regard him as the best around then it is worth keeping him as a face until someone else comes along and surpasses him for popularity. I thought maybe Jeff Hardy might do that but it wasn't to be and he wasn't reliable enough. Sheamus might be reliable enough but I'm not sure he'll surpass the Batista level of popularity. Daniel Bryan could become over enough but he needs a good main event run to prove it. CM Punk never quite managed it and didn't seem to want the babyface spot. Of the younger crop perhaps a guy like Bo Dallas could be the babyface of the future but that's a long way off.

I don't believe that turning Cena heel will lead to the Armageddon of the WWE like some people believe. What if, god forbid, something happens Cena, like a career threatning injury like what happened Edge (and he does have a history of neck injuries), and he was gone from the business, then what? If you don't have a ready made replacement for your one star, what would happen if for some reason your star couldn't compete? Turning Cena heel would give the perfect chance for somebody to fill his void and feed off him as a heel, like a Sheamus or a Ryback or a Daniel Bryan, or a younger developmental guy and for one of them to become a star to rival what Cena is now. And let's not forget that Cena will still be there; he will just have a different, more interesting role to play in the company as a heel rather then as a face.

Anywho.....that's my tuppance worth on the subject.

lebowskilite

I think one of the biggest obstacles to this is that Cena himself wouldn't do it. From afar it seems to me that he's in control of his own destiny at WWE as long as he makes so much money for them. This gives him more liberty on the mic then most would have (Punk seems to take this liberty as well, mind), and occasionally in moments when Cena says things that no one else could say I see someone who bullies others - I mean really puts them down unfairly - to make sure he comes across better to his young fanbase and his position isn't challenged. He isn't going to want to put his position at the top of the company and the payscale in jeopardy by alienating this fanbase - who would switch without much friction to whoever Cena's first top face rival is I think.

If Vince went to Cena and suggested he turn heel I think Cena would just say no, or if needs be bring a solicitor into negotiate remaining face. Cena can do things his way because he's still WWE's ultimate draw for the kids who can con their parents into spending much more money on WWE events and merch than any of us cynical, iwc, heel-loving, cena-hating, attitude era craving fans do.

That's from Cena's side. From the other side, WWE would have to find another top face. Sheamus is the obvious choice but there're a few problems there. I can't think of anyone else with the physique, skill and charisma of Cena (I don't think he's very charismatic, but someone must do). Any top face would also have to sell both to children and their parents. As a child I could easily guilt my parents into buying an oasis CD, but not so much an Eminem CD, and my dad bought me grand theft auto and then abruptly hid it when he saw what it was. SO... the merchandise needs to be worried-parent friendly as well.

Stereomaniac

Ah yes, the memories of when Grand Theft Auto was released and my godmother asked the guy in the shop what it was. I wasn't so interested but then she insisted on buying it for me so she could get me to play it and she could see just how rough it was. It was a different time. Anyway, I do think performers should have control.

bobby_says_hi

how many wishes has Cena granted for the Make A Wish Foundation? He is a real hero for so many young kids. And they make up the majority of WWE's audience. Us older folks, we're the minority. The kids are the ones going to all the tapings, watching all the shows on TV and buying all the merchandise. Remember Hell In A Cell 2010? Kids and their families were literally walking out of the arena right after Cena lost. What's the betting WWE gets millions of angry messages from parents if they turn Cena heel?

But at the same time, kids probably could find another hero. The one who feuds with heel Cena could end up becoming his successor. Miz and Sheamus are the ones who are being groomed to take his spot. Who's to say the kids won't rally behind them or someone else? It's not as if Cena is the only one making money for the company. Plus Cena himself wants to turn heel. He's wanted to since 2006 so it's bound to happen sooner or later.

brianregan09

Also i think this could become more likely in the future with WWE slowly making Ryback into the big face , but he's a long way off yet, Alot of people have mentioned Sheamus i don't think he'll ever be the face of the company though he'll always hover around the main event though