John Cena is arguably the most hated figure in professional wrestling today. Stephanie McMahon, Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton attract real heat from fans, but they do not attract the passionate revulsion that greets Cena whenever his theme music hits. Despite this, he is adored by an entire generation of young WWE fans for whom Cena is the closest thing they have to a living superhero. He's easily the most divisive babyface in WWE history. With the possible exception of Hulk Hogan, no superstar has been booked as consistently strongly as John Cena. He has been at the summit of WWE as the informal face of the company for around a decade now. In the wake of his surprising longevity, many fans are getting incredibly tired of his character, which hasn't really changed since his babyface turn in 2003. This month, Cena dropped the WWE World Heavyweight Championship to Brock Lesnar in what was essentially a glorified squash match. Lesnar - one of the most dominant monster heels in wrestling history - is riding one of the biggest waves of heat he has ever experienced after conquering the Undertaker's WrestleMania streak, but he was still more popular than Cena with a very vocal portion of the WWE Universe. That says a lot about the bile Cena attracts. However, John Cena deserves credit for a lot of reasons. He's a genuinely talented performer with tonnes of charisma and also a real inspiration to thousands of kids. He does have shortcomings and the booking around him is occasionally ridiculous, but Cena should get credit for being a living legend in the professional wrestling business. He'd be one of the first names on wrestling's Mount Rushmore and he absolutely deserves it. There's no need to hate John Cena and there are some things about his work that just aren't worth the amount of tweets, crowd chants and blog posts dedicated to them.
Freelance film journalist and fan of professional wrestling. Usually found in a darkened screening room looking for an aisle seat and telling people to put away their mobile phones. Also known to do a bit of stand-up comedy, so I'm used to the occasional heckle.
