Less of a single crowd reaction, and more of a continuous, unbroken trend for around the last nine years, the story of a significant proportion of the WWE audiences reaction to top dog John Cena is a complicated beast. As all good stories should, it changes depending on the person telling it. Some say he cant wrestle (untrue but hes clumsy and unrealistic in the ring), some say he cant sell (also untrue, but he rarely bothers to sell consistently). Some say that internet smarks hate Cena because hes not one of their well-travelled indie darlings but a WWE manufactured product through and through, with all of the weaknesses that said smarks insist this brings. Others say that Cena buries people, intentionally or as a by-product of how hes booked, and others say hes a throwback, a cartoon character in an era of more realistic sports entertainment. The WWE have been forced to recognise this polarising division from fans for a long time now, with the announce team prepared to deliver any of a selection of euphemisms around the hoary its good to get a reaction defense at a moments notice. Cena himself is so practiced at pretending not to be bothered by it that hes practically ready to issue a new t-shirt saying Summa YAll Like Me And Summa YAll Hate Me And Thats Alright not that that stops him from waterskiing in the slipstream of stars with a more consistently approving following if he needs to (smarming up to CM Punk fans in 2011 and Daniel Bryan fans in 2013). However they choose to handle it on any given night, the crowds reaction to Cena is now officially a part of his character. In recent years, WWE have even begun to address the constant begging for a heel turn from certain parts of the WWE audience, with first Kane, then Bray Wyatt and now Paul Heyman all clamouring for the WWE bobblehead to unleash his dark side in order to defeat them.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
