Paid Members Ron Simmons Posted May 18, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted May 18, 2011 Does anyone else think Cena must turn heel before Wrestlemania? Â He will be a heel at Mania whether they turn him or not so it doesn't really matter. Â Like fudge it doesn't matter. You or I think they need to turn Cena because artistically it makes sense and its annoying watching him act like a baby yet get booed like crazy. However, it won't come to pass. Â Super Cena must continue to (be booked to) behave like a goodie, because small children buy lots of his merchandise because he's their hero. We have had this discussion for years, and they will not turn Cena heel as long as they don't have a better "goodie" to replace him. That cash cow is more important now than ever. With ratings falling, and the flagship TV show stagnant at best I think they'll resort to a Cena turn at some point this year. They need a big angle to get everyone talking, and right now this is about as big as they can possibly go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Freebird Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Congratulations, I fell for the old journo's bait and switch trick. I honestly thought there might have been some huge news! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted May 18, 2011 Author Share Posted May 18, 2011 With ratings falling, and the flagship TV show stagnant at best I think they'll resort to a Cena turn at some point this year. They need a big angle to get everyone talking, and right now this is about as big as they can possibly go. Unless someone like Kofi Kingston or John Morrison sorts themselves out, heel Cena has one fresh main event opponent: Rey Mysterio. And even that depends on how long he sticks around. Undertaker as well, if he's ever healthy enough. But none of those four can replace John Cena. The thing that led to the downward spiral of the WWF in the first place was turning Austin heel for the sake of it and then having no interesting, credible opposition for him. I liked evil Austin far more than I liked him for the previous three years, but it was a shitty decision to make, business wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty Eddie Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 With ratings falling, and the flagship TV show stagnant at best I think they'll resort to a Cena turn at some point this year. They need a big angle to get everyone talking, and right now this is about as big as they can possibly go. Unless someone like Kofi Kingston or John Morrison sorts themselves out, heel Cena has one fresh main event opponent: Rey Mysterio. And even that depends on how long he sticks around. Undertaker as well, if he's ever healthy enough. But none of those four can replace John Cena. The thing that led to the downward spiral of the WWF in the first place was turning Austin heel for the sake of it and then having no interesting, credible opposition for him. I liked evil Austin far more than I liked him for the previous three years, but it was a shitty decision to make, business wise. Â I think I'd put more blame on the butchering of the Invasion storyline (which alienated loads of ex-WCW fans) and the general decline in strong writing after Chris Kreski left the company and Steph took over, than just putting it on the Austin turn. If they had played the WCW card correctly they'd have a number of new Faces for Austin to go against. Plus, he got to turn on The Rock. If Cena had a counterpart like that at the moment, then WWE would be far more likely to turn him. Austin kept churning out the new T-Shirts and merch all the time as a heel anyway, and people still bought it. it's not like turning Heel means you instantly stop selling all your merch. nWo , DX, Heel Rock, Hollywood Hogan, they all sold shit-loads of merch while working Heel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted May 18, 2011 Author Share Posted May 18, 2011 Austin turned before the invasion started. There was about three months where he was just wrestling Undertaker for the millionth time or babyfaces that weren't at his level like Jericho or Benoit. The invasion should've been the thing that brought the WWF out of that slump, but being shit, it didn't (well, it did get the Raw ratings back to over 5.0 until mid-August, but that was it). As you've noted, a Cena heel turn is even less likely because he hasn't got a Rock equivalent to feud with... Except Orton, and they should've learnt their lesson on Cena vs Orton by now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty Eddie Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Austin turned before the invasion started. There was about three months where he was just wrestling Undertaker for the millionth time or babyfaces that weren't at his level like Jericho or Benoit. The invasion should've been the thing that brought the WWF out of that slump, but being shit, it didn't (well, it did get the Raw ratings back to over 5.0 until mid-August, but that was it). As you've noted, a Cena heel turn is even less likely because he hasn't got a Rock equivalent to feud with... Except Orton, and they should've learnt their lesson on Cena vs Orton by now. Â Yeah, you are right (looking at the RAW figures) that it took a small dip after Austin turned and before the Invasion started. Wasn't one of the complaints at the time that WWE failed to push Benoit and Jericho up to the "Two man Power Trip's" level, and instead went with the easy Taker/Kane stuff instead? By the time they tried the Jericho/Benoit push, Trips tore his quad and it turned into a poorly booked 2 on 1 situation in favour of the Faces, which did no-one any favours. Â That same period was also the time that Rock left to make The Scorpion King, returning in July (just as the ratings rose again), so I'd say that his leaving to film a movie was as likely to have lowered the RAW audience for a few months as Austin's heel turn was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted May 18, 2011 Author Share Posted May 18, 2011 The complaint was that they chose Undertaker/Kane over the Hardy Boys, I think. They were the ones programmed with Austin and Triple H at first (to some great crowd response), and then they got squashed and had to be saved by the Brothers of Destruction. Â The problem with the Benoit and Jericho thing was down to trying to cover for Benoit's weaknesses and the outnumbering thing by booking long, and sometimes punishing, matches. None of which did any good for the free TV ratings, let alone buyrates for the pay-per-view with the triple threat. It was a messy scenario as well, as neither Jericho nor Benoit were as popular as Stone Cold and they outnumbered him, but they were meant to be the babyfaces. The writing (and execution) led to Benoit and Jericho ending up looking less like main eventers than ever, and Benoit being injured for a year. Â I couldn't see things being much different now. If Cena turned heel this year, I imagine it would be the same as Austin -- just killing time until Rock comes back to face him. Although at least with Cena, they'd actually do the match with The Rock. The idea to elevate Kurt Angle and Booker T in half-arsed fashion instead of just doing the Rock-Austin rematch was one of the biggest mistakes of the invasion period, looking back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty Eddie Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Ah that's right, I forgot about the stuff with the Hardys. Yeah, that was great TV. I remember Austin ruining Lita with about 20 chair shots while she was on the floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Ron Simmons Posted May 19, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted May 19, 2011 With ratings falling, and the flagship TV show stagnant at best I think they'll resort to a Cena turn at some point this year. They need a big angle to get everyone talking, and right now this is about as big as they can possibly go. Unless someone like Kofi Kingston or John Morrison sorts themselves out, heel Cena has one fresh main event opponent: Rey Mysterio. And even that depends on how long he sticks around. Undertaker as well, if he's ever healthy enough. But none of those four can replace John Cena. The thing that led to the downward spiral of the WWF in the first place was turning Austin heel for the sake of it and then having no interesting, credible opposition for him. I liked evil Austin far more than I liked him for the previous three years, but it was a shitty decision to make, business wise. It's something they could remedy by turning CM Punk and having Triple H make a comeback. At that stage they'll have as many credible faces for him to take on as they do heels. I might be way off on this one, but partky because of The Rock, partly because of falling ratings, I could definitely see them turning Cena at some point this year, even if it's later rather than sooner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted May 19, 2011 Author Share Posted May 19, 2011 It's something they could remedy by turning CM Punk and having Triple H make a comeback. At that stage they'll have as many credible faces for him to take on as they do heels. Triple H vs Cena = Austin vs Undertaker. Even worse, in fact, because at least Undertaker changed quite a bit between his 1998-1999 and 2001 feuds with Stone Cold. Triple H is the same character now as in his last million matches with Cena. And Cena was the heel in all of them anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted May 19, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted May 19, 2011 I don't know if I'm alone but I'm desperate to see Cena vs. R-Truth right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The King of Old School Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 I don't know if I'm alone but I'm desperate to see Cena vs. R-Truth right now. Â Me too. Â I'm hoping he beats Rey Mysterio on Sunday and then moves on to be Cena's next challenger at the next PPV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted May 19, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted May 19, 2011 I don't know if I'm alone but I'm desperate to see Cena vs. R-Truth right now. Oh, definitely. I'd go as far as to say that, given what a revelation he's been since his heel turn, I'd rather see R-Truth against Cena in the Summerslam main event than Alberto Del Rio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 I'd go a bit further and say I want him as the heel champion to dominate this summer. That's the truth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted May 19, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted May 19, 2011 The problem with R-Truth though is that in-ring he's below average and his finisher sucks. Whatever happened to slowly building a guy up over a year and then putting them in the main event? Â Alberto Del Rio has gotta' be the Champ. The guy is money. He looks like Champion, he acts like one and he wrestles like one. If I was Vince I would be building the whole company behind him as heel Champion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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