7 Ups And 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw

3. Grandpa Cena

083_RAW_07182016ej_0693 F2c2e39ec5657b1d162085dfb3e73e1f

When he burst onto the scene as a brash rookie and (shortly thereafter) a throwback-wearing, rapping, streetwise performer, John Cena epitomized cool and hip. He rapped his own entrance theme (which still plays to this day) and dropped timely references. Over time, he got cornier and make more hokey comments, but he still showed that he was “with it” and understood the zeitgeist of the moment.

But Monday night, he looked like he was about to tell New Day and Enzo Amore & Big Cass to get off his lawn.

Cena cut Enzo off mid-promo to lament that he was simply spitting out punchlines and wasn’t taking things seriously. (Yes, the guy who previously relied on photoshopped photos and poop jokes to insult his opponents wants to be serious.) He then was confused by the “How you doin’?” chants and had to have it explained to him.

So Cena, who’s closing in on 40, apparently now has transitioned over to being the unhip old man on the roster, perplexed by pop culture and the attitudes of his colleagues. Sure, it was played for laughs, but let’s hope this isn’t Cena’s new gimmick, or else we’ll end up with him showing up with his jorts pulled up under his armpits complaining about missing Denney’s early bird special.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

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.