Cena was much more entertaining when ...
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Nah, it doesn't make him any better really, but the product itself was much better then.
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Cena was at his best when he was on Smackdown. He was still okay on 2005, 2006 and for a part of 2007 but then as PG was introduced, they made him a joke and a shadow of his former self.
And the worst of the worst happened.
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Kane/Khali/Batista as a main event scene on SD over the same was tragic. Year was going great up until May. Then HBK went down and RVD left. Trips and Mysterio were already out. Everyone in the company pretty much got suspended after the big drug test after the Benoit situation. Such a bad year. :/
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yea but the feuds were way better back then
still 07 was much better than anything wwe puts right now on the screen
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Chain gang Cena was the best version of himself. I may be bias because thats when he had 5 questions, but the product as a whole was better. It was actually well written, was booked properly, and actually had continuity.
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I would disagree with that but to each his own.
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True. Cena was decent in his early RAW years, but him on SD was always best.
And yes, the worst of the worst is the worst moment in wrestling.
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That match at the Royal Rumble was one of my favourites ever. John Cena actually overcame the odds in an entertaining and believable way.
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John Cena is fine now. All that has really changed is the fans. He still puts on great Pay-Per-View matches on a pretty regular basis. Hell, he even gives us good TV matches every now & then. His match with The Big Show a couple weeks ago wasn't even bad.
I did like his feud with Umaga, for sure. I liked his feud with Batista & JBL & several other people too. He has a great résumé as far as matches go, really. He's been on top for a long time & he wins a lot, so that gets him backlash but he's still doing a good job because he still puts on entertaining matches. Hell his match from this year with Brock Lesnar will probably end up winning the Match of the Year award from the Wrestling Observer (for whatever that is worth)
I did like his feud with Umaga, for sure. I liked his feud with Batista & JBL & several other people too. He has a great résumé as far as matches go, really. He's been on top for a long time & he wins a lot, so that gets him backlash but he's still doing a good job because he still puts on entertaining matches. Hell his match from this year with Brock Lesnar will probably end up winning the Match of the Year award from the Wrestling Observer (for whatever that is worth)
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I can never understand how people think Cena is a bad wrestler, yet he pumps out some of the best matches literally every year.
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It's never been about his wrestling in the matches for me at least but what he does building up the match trying to make the viewer care what he does.
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the umaga feud owns and the RR match is a top 10(probably top 5 if i really thought about it) WWE match since 00.
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Because over the years, thanks in large part to the internet & a hive mind mentality, there's now a mutually agreed upon definition of "in-ring talent" which is more about technical ability & move execution (or even moves themselves, as if quantity equals quality). We're in an ADD era where people want instant gratification & if a match goes more than 15 minutes it's hitting the "boring" mark. In a world of streaming videos, downloadable shows, and DVR no one has any patience anymore, so you can't slow burn something because it makes people lose interest.
Things like psychology, which used to have a definition, have now just become a buzzword, which when pressed for an explanation you won't get one. Someone will either defend or detract a wrestler, throw around words like psychology or "overness" & think they sound smart without having a clue what they're talking about. Or to them, the whole of psychology is working over a limb & the other guy selling it. Pro-wrestling is a lost art but it's not lost by the performers, it's lost on the fans.
Guys like Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit & Rey Mysterio changed the game in the eyes of the fans...and they were (or still are in the case of Mysterio) great but if, as an example, you try to point out the flaws of a Shawn Michaels or Chris Jericho, the hivemind buzzes & you're flamed to high-hell because it's just engrained into the minds of internet fans what is or isn't good, with no one actually questioning anything or forming their own opinions anymore. So eventually, posters either "go with the flow" or leave until you're left with a scenario where the majority agree and the minority either speaks up a lot less or gets labeled a troll. You can't have any good discussion when every other reply is a gimmick poster, a troll, someone flaming you or someone bitching that you wrote too much. 95% of the people on the internet are stupid, just like 95% of the world and that doesn't change if you go to a wrestling forum.
There's a lot to being great. There's not just one way to be great, or one style to work that is great, or one way to be booked that is great. John Cena is great and by the time WWE is done, validity or not, history will be written that he is one of the best of all-time. I think people are aware of that & I think it ruffles feathers because a lot of wrestling fans don't want to put him into the top echelon with other greats from the past like Austin, Rock or Hogan. But how great were they & how much of it is just rose-colored nostalgic glasses from a fondly remembered childhood? WWE has already proven that their revisionist history works, look at all the misinformation spreading about WCW...and it will just get worse over time.
A lot of it also just comes down to general pro-wrestling knowledge & exposure. If you started watching WWE in the Attitude Era, grew up during Russo-era crash TV & have never watched anything outside of what was available on American basic cable packages, you're not going to have the same views & opinions of someone that has been watching since the 80's that has watched Puro, Lucha & everything else. People want to defend what they're familiar with and what they remember fondly. People from The Rock era will say that the Hogan era was better. People from the Cena era will say that The Rock era was better. And in fifteen years or so, the people from then will say that the Cena era was better.
There's seemingly an unwritten rule where if you're fat, tall or in the main event that you're somehow less good than the under-utilized mid-carder & it's just preposterous. John Cena is easily one of the best on the entire roster but if you read online that "CENA SUCKS!" every single day, and every time you try to question it or make a case against it you're browbeat, how long until you just give up?
"CENA SUCKS!"
"Why?"
"lol n00b"
"No, seriously, why does he suck? He has great matches, etc."
"cause he lacks psychology & can't execute moves plus half the crowd boos him lol"
"Do you even know what psychology is?"
"lol troll...CENA SUCKS!"
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I always thought he was at his best entertainment wise when he was on Smackdown. Though, Cena in 2006 entertained me. I didn't really care for Cena in 2007 because I just wanted him to drop the title.
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Lol I remember that.. that's when I was foolish enough to buy both New Years Revolution AND Royal Rumble because I actually believed Umaga would win, stupid me. 
..such a shame he didn't though.
..such a shame he didn't though.
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He was good until he got injured in the middle of 08. When he came back and beat Jericho for the WHC thats when we got goofy im gonna do comedy all the time to sell a PPV Cena.
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