5 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (31 Mar - Results & Review)

2. "Listen To What I’m Saying NOW"

John Cena’s heel turn began with so much promise and hype, and it’s been just a couple of steps better than a wet fart in church.

In three appearances on Raw since he attacked Cody Rhodes and aligned with The Rock at Elimination Chamber, Cena has droned on a lot and changed his tune each week. Monday, Cena contradicted himself from last week, when he talked about wanting to ruin wrestling.

This week, Cena was apoplectic that Cody had turned the Undisputed WWE Championship that he had built into a “symbol of mastery” into a joke. If you’re keeping score, last week, Cena said he’s going to “ruin wrestling.” This week, he made wrestling great, and Cody has already ruined it. What’s left for Cena to do? Apparently, the only way to save the title is to win it back and hide it away forever.

That doesn’t even take into account the overly rehearsed Vince-pilled lines justifying the heel turn. Oh sure, there are some golden nuggets in there, and the barbs were fun for what they were, but the actual substance was lacking, masked by those gimmicks. The irony, of course, was that literally was Cena’s main argument against Cody – he’s too polished and rehearsed, relying on tricks to cover up the fact that there’s nothing really there.

The problem here is that this isn’t some meta commentary fans are meant to get on a deeper level. It’s a lack of self-awareness from Cena and WWE as they presented Cena earnestly.

There definitely are untold stories that one day will see the light of day about Cena’s heel turn, how it was foisted upon him, how little preparation there was for it, and the chaos that ensued behind closed doors and backstage in the six-week build to WrestleMania.