John Cena seems to be the poster boy for popularity gone sour. After debuting in 2002, it didn't take Cena long to make an impact on the WWE playing field, despite initially stumbling out of the gate. Cena was able to get WWE fanatics on his side with an urban character that WWE said better reflected Cena's personality outside the ring and was also popular in much of the mainstream media at the time. Cena would use a rapping style in his segments, lines often cutting down his opponent or whomever the target of his fury may be. Cena was one of the most well liked stars in history and seemed destined for Hogan-like levels of stardom. Then Cena became the inescapable face of the company, infallible in the eyes of the McMahon family and the younger WWE fanatics defeating all comers on a career path that has brought him WWE title reigns so numerous they are matched only by Ric Flair. During this time, Cena slowly shed the urban image that had made him so appealing to being with, eschewing it for a more conventional, politically correct attitude, espousing high morals, sportsmanship and never giving up, Cena quickly lost many of the fans who had gotten behind him for being something different from the squeaky clean corporate champion he became. Fans also rebelled against Cena due to WWE's refusal to market Cena to its devotees any other way than the way he has been marketed for the past decade. A failure to evolve has disappointed the masses and the result is the loud chorus of boos heard anytime Cena steps foot on the entrance ramp. Rather than change Cena however, WWE has done the opposite, cashing in on the fans that hate Cena buy making and selling anti-Cena shirts, some of them quite witty on top of the normal merchandise associated with the 14-time world champion, making it clear that Cena is not likely to change any time soon. Whether a result of a refusal to change, a byproduct of pulling strings with the right people, the crowd changing or even shameless exploitation of death, all of these wrestlers were once at the top of the world and could do no wrong, only to have it taken from them and their role reversed in an instant, usually through no fault of their own on-camera. Another interesting note in most of these cases is WWE's refusal to acknowledge the wrestlers' loss of the fans and continued packaging said wrestlers the same way.
JV Vernola has been a wrestling fan since he was three (around the same time Hogan was bodyslamming Andre) and has been able to write almost as long. He lives in the scorched earth that is the Arizona desert while trying to maintain awesomeness.
