THIS Is The Greatest Thing WWE Never Did

Cena, if anything, did the opposite of that in his series with The Miz. They were a series of defensive flexes that doubled as mid versions of the most rudimentary WWE "style". Bret Hart would never.

Match quality wasn't the only factor behind a visceral hatred some fans had of John Cena. Those fans apparently showed themselves up by reacting to his every movement, even in the spaces between - that is, if a hailstorm of droning jeers counts as a job well done for the biggest babyface in the world.

They hated his goofy, drastically counterproductive promos. They hated the dumb, gurning facials that accompanied his sudden, unconvincing comebacks. They hated his appallingly gentle finishers which stood in obscene, glaring contrast to the parodic levels of punishment he had endured to pull off the win at the dying second.

Most of all, they hated his sense of invincibility and the horrendously contrived finishes that put that invincibility over. This isn't an objective take - there's no such thing - but it sure as sh*t sounded like it. At least half of those fans hated the John Cena character with an earnestness that feels quaint now, but was none more ardent then.

Cena had spent much of 2012 - or at least, that one episode of RAW where he was sat in the stands with eerie music playing over his defeated monologue - haunted by his loss to The Rock at WrestleMania XXVIII. It was clean, or as clean as it gets for Cena. With his flexing attempt at the People's Elbow, it was more a defeat for Cena than a victory for The Rock. Cena's crisis was ruthlessly undermined by his japes with John Laurinaitis and constant presence in the World Title picture, but as unconvincing as it was, that's the character arc WWE proceeded with.

WWE should have blindsided its fans by booking Cena to overcome it by challenging the Undertaker, thus leaving CM Punk to defend his WWE Championship against the Rock as built towards on RAW 1000.

CONT'D...(3 of 5)