The Heel Turn: Will Cena finally turn heel?
The road to Wrestlemania 28 is
underway, and already fans are
looking towards what is considered
by some to be an epic match
between John Cena and The Rock.
The only undecided factor is who
will be the heel and who will be the
face in that bout?
Ever since The Rock returned to verbally feud with Cena, the fans' support has slowly but surely gone over to The Rock. More and more, Cena finds himself being booed by the WWE Universe whenever he enters the ring. He claims that it doesn't bother him and that the fans are free to feel however they want about him.
WWE Hall of Famer Rowdy Roddy Piper had a different opinion, and he has flat-out told Cena that he has to start giving some responses back to the audience, even it means telling them to shut up. He believes that if Cena doesn't address the issue of fans turning away from him then he will surely lose to The Rock at Wrestlemania.
For a long time, though, WWE management (perhaps Vince McMahon in particular) has been rather reluctant to turn Cena heel. He is their "golden boy" who sells t-shirts and other merchandise like hotcakes. Kids idolize him and I'm sure a lot of the female fans like him for other reasons.
The thing is, they already have Cena doing heel-type actions anyways. When he was feuding with the Nexus, he tracked them down one by one and ambushed them. He is constantly threatening to beat up other superstars. And Cena is no stranger to telling a few lies and playing head games with people. A prime example of this is how he's gotten R-Truth and The Miz to turn against each other by telling R-Truth that Miz was talking trash about him, and vice-versa.
Even though most of this behaviour is directed at heels, is it still the proper behaviour for a guy who is supposed to be the squeaky-clean babyface? It's not very role-model appropriate, which is the reason why McMahon needs to show some of that "testicular fortitude" he talked about back in the Ruthless Aggression era and turn Cena fully heel already.
Consider the career of Hulk Hogan: he started off as a heel in the late '70s and early '80s. He then had years as the biggest icon in professional wrestling before turning heel again in WCW. Hogan's heel turn did not hurt his career then, in fact, it breathed new life into his persona and gave rise to the NWO.
I don't see any real reason why a Cena heel turn shouldn't possibly work the same way. He more than likely can't go back exactly to how his rapper gimmick was, but his current persona has been stale for a few years now. A lot of the 18 to 35 demographic who rooted for Cena before may come back to him if he takes the plunge and displays that crude, ruthless attitude again. If Cena brings back the Thuganomics in 2012, I'll be one of the first fans on his side.
Ever since The Rock returned to verbally feud with Cena, the fans' support has slowly but surely gone over to The Rock. More and more, Cena finds himself being booed by the WWE Universe whenever he enters the ring. He claims that it doesn't bother him and that the fans are free to feel however they want about him.
WWE Hall of Famer Rowdy Roddy Piper had a different opinion, and he has flat-out told Cena that he has to start giving some responses back to the audience, even it means telling them to shut up. He believes that if Cena doesn't address the issue of fans turning away from him then he will surely lose to The Rock at Wrestlemania.
For a long time, though, WWE management (perhaps Vince McMahon in particular) has been rather reluctant to turn Cena heel. He is their "golden boy" who sells t-shirts and other merchandise like hotcakes. Kids idolize him and I'm sure a lot of the female fans like him for other reasons.
The thing is, they already have Cena doing heel-type actions anyways. When he was feuding with the Nexus, he tracked them down one by one and ambushed them. He is constantly threatening to beat up other superstars. And Cena is no stranger to telling a few lies and playing head games with people. A prime example of this is how he's gotten R-Truth and The Miz to turn against each other by telling R-Truth that Miz was talking trash about him, and vice-versa.
Even though most of this behaviour is directed at heels, is it still the proper behaviour for a guy who is supposed to be the squeaky-clean babyface? It's not very role-model appropriate, which is the reason why McMahon needs to show some of that "testicular fortitude" he talked about back in the Ruthless Aggression era and turn Cena fully heel already.
Consider the career of Hulk Hogan: he started off as a heel in the late '70s and early '80s. He then had years as the biggest icon in professional wrestling before turning heel again in WCW. Hogan's heel turn did not hurt his career then, in fact, it breathed new life into his persona and gave rise to the NWO.
I don't see any real reason why a Cena heel turn shouldn't possibly work the same way. He more than likely can't go back exactly to how his rapper gimmick was, but his current persona has been stale for a few years now. A lot of the 18 to 35 demographic who rooted for Cena before may come back to him if he takes the plunge and displays that crude, ruthless attitude again. If Cena brings back the Thuganomics in 2012, I'll be one of the first fans on his side.
