10 Wrestlers Who Didn't Care About Kayfabe
2. John Cena
John Cena ritually broke (the veneer of) kayfabe to - and this was always so bizarre, especially how accepted it became - bury his opponents as a means of building his upcoming pay-per-view match with them (!).
It was an altogether more charmless continuation of the Rock's patter, in which under Vince Russo's non-traditional creative direction he favoured slick and witty trash talk over the traditional three-point wrestling promo. Cena also wasn't fond of the put your opponent over, explain your hatred of them, tell the people the date on which you're going to kick their ass deal, and instead treated promos like a battle rap even when he had stopped rhyming.
This worked to a not insignificant extent, obviously - John Cena was a major star, the last draw - but that there were so few competing with him for that spot tells its own story, one over which Cena on the mic held creative control.
Cena exposed Alberto Del Rio's gimmick as a sham in 2011, which it was, because it's wrestling, but you don't say that, because it's wrestling. With Bray Wyatt, he hurled fat jokes at the guy we were meant to be afraid of, and this ruined the man's aura. His presence was reduced to sh*t; you saw not the menace in his eyes, but the folds bulging through the t-shirt. He told Roman Reigns that he'd have to learn how to cut a promo.
Perhaps best to do so from another teacher.