Its somewhat surprising that a wrestler who has a signature move thats also a euphemism for male masturbation is portrayed as a morally upstanding character. Dont misunderstand: John Cena is not characterized as an infallible human being, but in the ring, hes often presented as an upright guy who doesnt take shortcuts. Hes the ultimate good guy, a person who stands there and smiles goofily as fans chant, Cena sucks! Last night, there was a moment that stood out. Maybe its nothing, but it seemed completely out of character for Cena. Roman Reigns powered out of Kanes chokeslam and then speared him. Cena broke up the pinfall then tried to pin a downed Kane himself. Its just not something youd necessarily expect, especially since it was Reigns who hit the knockout blow (if Orton had RKOd Kane, it wouldnt have been noticeable). Cena trying to steal one from Reigns stood out for a brief second. Cena definitely is noticing that Reigns is the new golden child, the one being groomed to lead WWE into the future. We all saw it at the end of Raw a couple weeks ago when Cena and Reigns took turns raising each others hand to boos (Cena) and cheers (Reigns). When they were finally alone in the ring Sunday night, Cena rubbed his hands together as if to say he was anxious to find out who the Alpha male was. And while no one expects Cena to become a bad guy, it would be nice if hes starting to show some shades of grey as a character. Maybe hes intimidated by Reigns and his standing with the fans. Of course, if we get a healthy dose of Super Cena for the next three months, then all of this means nothing.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
