Is Cena.... popular?

Whilst watching last week's Raw (only a week late, I know), I suddenly thought how different the crowd reactions to him are. Thinking back to Mania 22 and 23, when he was about as popular as Osama Bin Laden, he was getting booed out of the building on a regular basis.

And now, especially in this angle with Bret, Vince and Batista, he seems to be getting louder and louder pops. A couple of weeks ago, the crowd was chanting for him to make the save when Batista and Vince laid out Bret. He got a cheer in the Rumble, and the crowd reactions to him are getting better and better.

Why? He still can't throw a realistic punch, he still has the 5 Moves of Doom moveset, his character hasn't evolved over the past couple of years, his promos still consist of him shouting FOR NO REASON to get his point across, his actual promo material is still cringeworthy...

I appreciate that the WWE now being aimed at kids might have something to do with it, along with him not being booked like Superman anymore. But he's still in and around the title scene.

Can anyone actually explain this? Or have we all just mellowed to John now?

i just think it depends what part of the country he is in tbh, some weeks he is being boo'd and other weeks he is being cheerd like hell, ie like you said 2 weeks ago. Also depends the fued he is in, atm he is sideing with Bret = cheer. When it's a 1 vs 1 fued and he was against Orton a portion of the crowd would favour Orton.

Like Hodge said it does depend on the city, for example he would get boo'd to hell in New York and Chicago because the fanbase in those cities are more hardcore older WWE fans.

At Sundays house show (I forget where it was) Cena was apparently super-over (like Austin level over)

I fully expect him to be boo'd to the heavens at Mania, regardless of (and perhaps due to) his involvement in the Hitman storyline (where to be honest, from a historical stand-point he has no place - it should be between Bret, Vince, HBK, and the man who's idea the screwjob actually was - HHH)

Is it just me or did anyone else think that Batista completely owned Cena on the mic last niht, I was just listening to the two and Batista sounded a lot more convincing and believable while Cena sounded like a childish moron.

I don't think he is that popular to be honest, thats why they always have him sticking up for the local hero or helping a legend, they are doing it to get him cheers where he wouldn't get any without, or at least nowhere near enough.

When Hart was getting his beatdown from Batista, I'm almost certain that the *Cena* *Cena* chants were being played into the arena.

Usual biggest pops of the show.

1) Cena
2) Hornswoggle

Says it all really.

I don't think the were being played into the arena at all.

I think it just had something to do with the fact that pretty much everyone knew that the fued was almost certainly going to be Cena Vs Batista so when Batista made the attack on Hart it was fairly obvious. Plus it was Cena who was going on about Vince Mcmahon and how he should invite Bret back so again it was obvious that, if anybody was going to come and amke the save that it was going to be John Cena.

As for the actual Thread point. It's too hard to say wether or not Cena is actually 'Popular' but I don't think the heat that he was getting last year is anywhere near as bad now. It's probably down to as Hodge said, the location, but also the fact that he's not winning every single match now, starting with the surprise defeat to Sheamus. From a personal opinion I DO like Cena, admittedly i did get tired of him wining absolutely everytime last year but i still liked him, now with the loss to Sheamus and the new 'Focused' John, I can see a big difference in the aura he carries.

By almost everyone you mean the IWC, which makes up what? 5-10% of any crowd?. go back an have a look, you can see that there are nowhere near as many people chanting it as what the sound indicated, do you really think that WWE doesn't play in sounds?

it always sounds like they pipe crowd noise in 4 Smackdown, cos the crowd always sounds the same.

But I think Cena is more popular because he isn't as cheesy as before and isn't coming out 4 times a show every week as "the champ" being the centre of attention, and besides, everyone hates sheamus.

Isn't as cheesy as before? check out his promo on Monday with Batista, the definition of cheese!

Gaffer.

Yeah I know that they do input the sounds to make it sound more, but you can still imagine that if they WERE all chanting it, that it would be genuine as it was pretty obvious that if anybody WAS going to make the save, it would be him.

But i did look at it again, and yeah not many people are actually doing it, but there was still some, which does show that he's not completely hated lol.

When I went to a RAW last year at the o2 the crowd was mocking Cena prior to the event but when it came to just before he made a save nearly the whole crowd were chanting for him.

Just shows that a lot of the hate is just because it's the cool thing to do. Shows your a 'grown up - real wwe fan'

Yeah, i agree that it's sorta like the cool thing.

I remember Me and My friend were talking about John Cena at the Royal Rumble and we were trying to explain to my other friend who doesn't really watch Wrestling anymore about the Cena situation. I mean, I couldn't blame him for liking Cena because really all he does is good things, with him being a face.

I think that, John Cena, to somebody who doesn't know a lot about WWE is somebody that you'd cheer for. It's just the majority of people who want to be cool and boo Cena.

I just hate the way he is so patriotic and loves the Army.

MaryseRKO wrote:

I just hate the way he is so patriotic and loves the Army.

Yeah, the bastard!

cena is supposedly the new american hero.