He's a "Company Guy"..... - 8/10/11

So I was watching RAW last week and Good Ol' JR said, "John Cena is one of the most polarizing stars in the WWE." Then I finished reading Chris Jericho's second book and recalled his high regard for Cena. The next thing I know, I'm sitting there thinking that maybe I should look at this a little more.

Before I go any further allow me to make something perfectly clear. My all-time favorite wrestler is, was, and will always be Triple H. From Terra Ryzing in WCW to "The Blueblood" Hunter Hearst-Helmsley to "The Game" Triple H, he has always been my favorite. Some other time I will gladly write a column outlining my Triple H fandom and talking about the rest of my Top 5: Trips, Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam, Bryan Danielson (now known as Daniel Bryan), & Kurt Angle (minus the awful stint in TNA). Sabu & CM Punk are just underneath Angle.

Moving on...

JR's comment sat with me for a little bit after RAW. I'm not a big Cena fan but JR had an excellent point. For years now, many of us keep wondering when Cena will either turn heel or when Vince will stop shoving him down our throats as WWE Champion. But JR was right, Cena is polarizing. There aren't many people who are in-between on Cena. Regardless of what he is doing you always have a reaction, a strong reaction. You either love him or you can't stand him. Women and children tend to love him while most men and all hardcore wrestling fans can't stand him. I'm still not a Cena fan but admittedly, I do respect him.

When Cena first started in WWE he was a jackass who used to wear tights with the colors of the different sports teams of the town he was wrestling in. He was "The Prototype" and very agitating to watch. It didn't make sense to any of us how he ended up wrestling Jericho on PPV. About a year later, Cena would become the "Doctor of Thuganomics" and his career took off (Sorry, Bling Bling Buchanon). Every week Cena would take the mic and freestyle, verbally tearing his opponents to shreds in the process. He would win his WrestleMania debut (WM XX), defeating The Big Show for the United States Championship. Cena has fought for either the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship in every WrestleMania since. That's seven consecutive 'Mania main events for Cena.

Somewhere along the way between all that success, a large disdain for Cena grew. For me, it happened in the summer of 2005. Cena's star was red hot. He had just jumped ship to RAW as the first pick of the draft lottery. He was the reigning WWE Champion and they even redesigned the belt specifically for him. Cena would spend the summer feuding with RAW GM Eric Bischoff and his chosen challenger, Chris Jericho. While Jericho would lose cleanly to Cena at Summerslam, he would gain a larger victory with the fans. The crowd was split right down the middle. Anyone who watched the match would agree that Y2J thoroughly outwrestled Cena. This was the start of a pattern in which Cena would be outwrestled regularly at pay-per-views. Kurt Angle, Triple H, & Shawn Michaels all may have lost to Cena but they clearly paced the matches and exposed a lack of technique on the part of Cena. This wasn't lost on the fans.

Cena got a bit of boost in late 2006, feuding with Edge and actually dropping the title for a little while. But after the horrible events involving Chris Benoit, the WWE was forced to change its image and go TV-PG for the forseeable future. Taking the mic away from Cena and turning him into the ultimate babyface was great for raising the next generation of WWE fans. But for those who grew up on the Attitude Era this was the end of John Cena.

He has been the model citizen since he started and has done everything Vince McMahon has asked of him and then some. He is the consumate professional and he has improved in the ring. He's still unorthodox at best (Hey, so was Stone Cold Steve Austin.) and can be exposed by technically-superior competitors. However, Cena has learned to rise to the occasion. While CM Punk may have paced their Money in the Bank match, Cena was able to hang and get some of his own spots in.

The more I look at it, I realize that Vince will keep force-feeding us Cena because he sells merchandise, appeals to the kids (the next generation of WWE fans), and does everything he's asked to do (appearances, TV spots, music, charity work, Twitter responses) and then some. Whether we like it or not, Cena has become the ultimate "company guy" and that mainstream marketability has propelled him to becoming the face of the WWE, for better or worse. It's funny because when Stone Cold and The Rock and Triple H seemed to be in every single main event under the sun, no one cared. But everyone is sick and tired of Cena. Still, he gets a reaction (be it very mixed) and until the fans stop responding to him altogether, Cena will continue to be at the center of the WWE Championship picture.

Admittedly, I have gained some respect for Cena as a worker. But as a fan, Cena still sucks and Punk better become the Undisputed WWE Champion at Summerslam!

Some other news and notes:

1. The rebuilding of "Jersey's Team" continues as the club waived goodbye to Brian Rolston and Colin White. The Rolston move was slightly overdue and the loss of White was fast-approaching on the horizon. This is the final year of Martin Brodeur's contract and I'm convinced that after Brodeur walks away from the game the club will undergo a complete overhaul and truly become Ilya Kovalchuk's club. A lot of the youngsters who were pushed into action (Tedenby, Josefson, Palmieri, Fayne) last year are a year older and wiser and will be expected to take on even bigger roles this season. For the first time since the lockout, I feel like the Devils actually have a direction and aren't just trying to put pieces around Brodeur for one more Cup run. It may take a few years before everything truly settles in but at least there's solid direction in Newark. No matter what, I will be there cheering my ass off as always.

2. I'm still trying to figure out why it took North Carolina so long to fire Butch Davis. And just as I'm starting to comprehend that, it comes out that chancellor Holden Thorp committed a secondary NCAA violation, mentioning the name of a potential recruit. UNC is right next to Ohio State now in terms of bungling off-season compliance issues. The Tar Heels will now see their program set back several years, firing their coach so close to camp, and will be sure to lose a chunk of next year's recruiting class. It looks like the good folks of Chapel Hill will be going to back to the days of Carl Torbush and John Bunting...struggling for major victories.

3. A big thank you to the Denver Broncos for finally releasing the depth chart and naming Kyle Orton their starting quarterback. I understand Tim Tebow is a great guy who has quite the cult fan following but it's clear that Orton is the better quarterback and the guy the Bronco players believe they can win with. Being a great college player doesn't always translate to instant NFL success. Tebow has lots of work to do and losing minicamp and OTAs hurt him severely. He may develop into a solid NFL passer but right now he is number two on the depth chart and it's not even close. I'm also disgusted by all the outrage of Merril Hoge's comments on ESPN. He was in no way attacking Tebow as a person. He was simply making observations based on years in the league and plenty of film study. If you watch the film, there is nothing that Hoge said that isn't completely justified by Tebow's work last season.

4. I won't get into all the NFL player movement as there's just far too much to report on here. I'm just glad they're all back playing ball again. I wonder if the Giants got the memo that the lockout was over. The Saints and Eagles made some phenomenal acquisitions and the Packers are still the defending champions. The Giants, meanwhile, have stood idly by, waived goodbye to half of their offensive line, watched two of the best receivers flee the nest, and brought back Ahmad Bradshaw. It could be a long season for "Big Blue," especially since Rex Ryan and "Gang Green" look primed for another run deep into the AFC Playoffs.

5. I wonder if the Nashville Predators will be shopping captain Shea Weber after he received over $7 million in arbitration. The Preds run to the second round last season was entertaining and refreshing for all hockey fans. Hopefully the Preds go the other way on this and actually try to lock up their captain long-term.

6. Great hire by US Soccer in selecting German great Jurgen Klinsmann as the new coach of the men's national team. There really is no other way to describe it. I truly believe Klinsmann will clean up the youth development program, bring in a more attacking style, and push the US (hopefully) into the upper echelon of international soccer.

Until next time.

-Meech