For a man earmarked for great things, a product almost entirely of the WWE developmental system at a time when the majority of their stars had previously cut their teeth elsewhere, its still astonishing that John Cena was given the gimmick of a ghetto-tough rapper and symptomatic of exactly how far out of touch the company was and still is. Nothings changed in the last decade. Lets be clear about this: there was not at the time and is not now a sizeable proportion of the WWE crowd secretly into hip hop, demanding representation on television. Hip hop gimmicks dont work for black wrestlers, even in 2014: the pro wrestling audience is far more oriented around heavy rock and metal, even after all this time. Whats more, its not like WWE were there in 2002 with their fingers on the pulse of Eminems recent rise to success as a credible white hip hop superstar. This is the WWE were talking about: theyd based it on human punchline Vanilla Ice from a dozen years earlier, the man Cena had mimicked in fancy dress on a Halloween episode of Smackdown. But people who wrote Cena off hadnt heard about his now-legendary work ethic. John Cena may have had the support of the office, but he made the gimmicked Doctor Of Thuganomics live and breathe. The mic skills that would help propel him to the top of the business over the next couple of years paid off in spades when playing a rapper, even one as cringeworthy and clichéd as only WWE could put together. Of course, a gradual movement over to a Hulk Hogan style of cartoon babyface character and the erosion of Cenas credibility would later transform him into the most divisive WWE headliner in the companys history. That shouldnt take anything away from his achievement in getting over with a terrible, out-of-touch gimmick in the first place, though.
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.
