8 Wrestlers Who Broke All The Rules

4. John Cena - 15 Years A Hero

Orange Cassidy
WWE.com

Is John Cena the first top babyface who crowds began to sour on? Absolutely not. Where Cena broke the rules of professional wrestling, though, is in how WWE just powered forward with Big Match John as the uber-hero regardless of the intense boos so often directed his way.

Before Cena, even the biggest of stars would eventually be turned heel once the bloom was off the rose and the fan response began to wane. You can point to heavy hitters such as Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, The Rock, and even 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin who became villainous when the crowd response dictated a character change.

For Cena, once his early heel run as the Doctor of Thuganomics was so popular that it led to a babyface turn, the multiple-time World Champion has never once embraced the hate. To have a top star remain a babyface for over 15 years in itself is largely unheard of unless your name's Bruno Sammartino, and even more unique is having a top star remain a babyface for 15 years when a large portion of every venue is raining down boos on said star.

After doing this with John Cena, it looked for all the world that WWE was again going to follow this path with Roman Reigns. That was, of course, until Reigns joined forces with Paul Heyman just last month.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.