This may sound highly skeptical, but doesn't it seem kind of odd that the shield HASN'T attacked Cena yet? They've beaten up ryback, Orton, Sheamus, Bryan, Kane, and the Rock, but not Cena. Also Punk keeps denying any connection. Wouldn't it be great if Cena is the one directing the Shield? Would be a great swerve and generate a ton of interest. Still leaves a lot of faces with Ryback, Sheamus, Del Rio, etc.
Cena turning heel is like the great pipe dream of the internet and it's just not happening, sorry. Cena's winning the belt from Rock at Wrestlemania as a babyface and he'll go on to feud with heel Orton for three months and maybe another feud with Big Show or Brock or heel Sheamus or whatever. Besides, I wouldn't want Cena to turn heel and have a group of hired guns doing his dirty work because Jesse Baker booking coming true in real life would just be WRONG.
If they are ever going to do it, this is the perfect angle for it.
ReplyDeleteI could have sworn Shield attacked Cena at least once. I seem to remember everyone here making a comment about Cena burying the Shield in feel swoop during it.
ReplyDeleteIf Cena were to actually turn heel, that creates a ton of matchups against his old rivals that would now be fresher simply by dint of the face/heel dynamic being reversed. After all, Orton and Sheamus are established faces, Del Rio/Jericho/Kane/Miz have all turned within the last few months, Ziggler is turning if you believe the backstage gossip and Punk can easily go back to facedom. They can run this all the way to WM30 when the last face standing against Cena is the Undertaker.
ReplyDeleteThat said, Scott's right, it's not happening.
We all said the same thing about Austin before WM17! Hope springs eternal!
ReplyDeleteI wish I could believe this.
I'm curious as to how they will transition Shield into every day wrestlers. Having them come out of the crowd and jump people is fun, but at some point they have to start having matches and angles. As of right now er are supposed to think they don't even really work for WWE right? How do they get to the point where Ambrose gets to have boring matches on Raw with Jinder Mahal like everybody else?
ReplyDeleteThey're not attacking him because it would immediately put them in a corner. Cena would demand revenge, and since nobody is allowed to truly get the better of Cena more than once, you'd get Cena beating the Shield in a 3 on 1 handicap one arm tied behind his back match.
ReplyDeleteI thought they did too.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Scott, Cena will turn heel. Maybe it's still years away, but he will.
I'm probably taking your statement too literally, and what you mean is there's no use in speculating on it constantly because it's not imminent. In which case, I agree.
But while we're baselessly speculating, would there be a better way to do it than in the main event of Wrestlemania against the Rock? I mean, following his desperation to beat Rock last year and coming up short....is this not Austin at WMX7 all over again? This is just begging to completely rip off that buildup. Forget the silly shit this time. (Which, maybe I'm being optimistic, but I think they will drop the silly shit this time. Yes, I realize I'm talking myself into this rematch. Fuck it, if it has to be a match I don't want to see again, at least it'll probably be a really good match still.)
While we're on the topic of ripping off old Stone Cold storylines and pie-in-the-sky Cena heel turn ideas...wouldn't Bret's 1997 heel turn be the way to do it? Obviously not with the patriotic aspect, but where Cena just viciously turns on his detractors, tell them they're the ones that changed and turned on him, etc? All the while he "stays true" to those that support him and still does the Make-A-Wish stuff? You validate the fans who essentially turned heel on the goodest good guy who ever did good and you don't lose the kiddies and their parents. He already antagonizes the haters. Just turn up the volume on that, wear an even bigger shit-eating grin, oh, and change almost nothing about his in-ring style. Slow it down a bit, throw in a couple cheap heat things here and there.
Of course this all should have happened three years ago when Orton just turned face and his act was fresh and new and ungodly over...or the Summer of Punk...or a half-dozen other times. But it's still a good idea.
Totally agree.
ReplyDeleteEverybody knew Austin was turning heel at wm17.
ReplyDeleteThere should be a moratorium on discussing a Cena heel turn.
ReplyDeleteAt that point though, do you have the announcers acknowledge this? Or do they keep treating Cena as the god that he is because "he lifts heavy things".
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty easy to just become another guy who'll never be a star. Just ask Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Darren Young, and David Otunga.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing that could happen to you while in Nexus was getting fired or injured.
What I cannot understand is why would the WWE/Vince turn Stone Cold heel in 2001, and Cena, who's been stale since 2009, hasn't had any major changes to his characters whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteThey're not turning John Cena heel because he's already a heel to half the audience. If they turn him and associate him with the Shield, we'll all think it's fantastic and the kiddies will be heartbroken and boo him. He's been so polarizing for so long that they'll never have the entire audience feel one about him, so why bother?
ReplyDeleteHe won't fight Jinder. That would make him a face.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, Ambrose and Rollins are miles better than any of those guys. Haven't seen enough of Reigns to know much about him. I think Slater, Gabriel, Young, and Otunga are at the level they should be. Ambrose and Rollins deserve better.
ReplyDelete2010 with Face Orton and Heel Cena would have been nuts. Heat for it may have been tempered though because they had just finished a year long feud.
ReplyDeleteTrue, but I remember thinking at the time that it would have felt fresh with the roles reversed.
ReplyDeleteBut I have to admit I was a HUGE Orton mark after he turned face that year. Like I said, I thought they had '97 Bret/Austin 2.0 on their hands.
Well put.
ReplyDeleteEvery time someone clamors for Cena to turn heel, I have to jerk it to a picture of AJ Lee. For the sake of my wrist, please stop.
ReplyDeleteIt's a tricky proposition, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really usually one for fantasy booking, so I don't know if you have Cena turn on "his" fans as well at some point.
It can be done. It's kinda how Punk turned last summer; he didn't fully turn and shit on the fans until after Summerslam.
I've been a huge Orton mark since 2004 so I definitely would have been down for Face Orton vs. Heel Cena. Even as an Orton mark still I don't want to see heel Orton vs. Face Cena. We've seen it so many times before. At least heel Orton taking on face Sheamus and face ADR would be fresh from face/heel alignment. Plus I think Orton/Sheamus could kick some serious ass.
ReplyDeleteEasy, you have him act exactly the same, but start doing things that obviously make him a hypocrite, kind of like 2000 Kurt Angle.
ReplyDeleteThey're not attacking him because it would immediately put them in a corner.
ReplyDeleteAnd NOBODY puts Shield-y in the corner!
Exactly. I said more or less the same thing in my post. (Not trying to claim credit because I know I'm not the only person who has had that idea, just saying I agree.) You don't make him a badass. You change *almost* nothing.
ReplyDeleteBut Brian is right, the thing that makes a Cena turn pretty unique is that they've willingly rode out half of the crowd booing him for years. It's not like they don't know. They know full well that even though- really, because- they present him as the mega-face, a good chunk of the crowd decides he's a heel to them. It's not like they pretend everyone cheers him; everyone openly acknowledges he gets a lot of heat.
you have to?
ReplyDeleteThis.
ReplyDeleteThe difference between Nexus and Shield is no dead weight. All three of these guys are blue-chippers. And I think the WWE knows it.
When's the last time Orton was in any real storyline?
ReplyDeleteA storyline with any real substance? Maybe his feud with Wade Barrett? Or Cody Rhodes in late 2011.
ReplyDeleteCan't say I knew
ReplyDeleteMake a Wish, good guy image, stand up to cancer, support our troops, looks good to shareholders and most importantly, advertisers. Make him the doctor of thuganomics again and people start asking questions. Have him go out there and salute and make poop jokes and WWE remains a show that's great for kids. Vince has too many people outside of the company that he has to answer to. They need a poster boy good guy, which is why Cena will give the Attitude Adjustment (not the FU) to Rock in MetLife, get the handshake of respect, and smile into the camera as Cole says goodnight from the biggest night in WWE history.
ReplyDeleteSuper Cena is a face! Now and forever! He's winning the title at Wrestlemania! Here! Eat it! Swallow! Eat more! Open up! Here! HERE! I'll SHOVE IT DIRECTLY DOWN YOUR THROAT IF YOU WON'T SWALLOW IT! Want more? No? TOUGH SHIT.
ReplyDeleteThis works so they won't do it. Cena didn't save Flair and his argument for keeping the belt on Punk by having the Shield interfere would be because Cena wanted to face him at WM and finally win - rather than deal with the Rock.
ReplyDeleteIf Cena turns heel, he needs to feud with Daniel Bryan immediately to make it stick. Bryan is the only guy completely over with the entire audience right now from kids to adults.
ReplyDeleteWell there's one theory down the drain (for now - remembering that the Outsiders *did* powerbomb Bischoff at the beginning of the nWo angle).
ReplyDeleteI think the WWE writers read this discussion before Raw
ReplyDeleteOrton really was directionless last year. All of his feuds could be summed up with "Well, they don't really have anything better to do." Although Del Rio doing his snake dance was pretty great.
ReplyDeleteThat means they have to turn Bryan heel like they did Punk.
ReplyDeleteChristian over the World Title maybe?
ReplyDeleteShield DID take out Cena
ReplyDeleteYes. Have to. It's a stipulation in my otherwise IRONCLAD CONTRACT
ReplyDeleteWell that was before Cody and Wade feuds. 2011 was pretty much his last year with real feuds. He feuded with Punk, Christian, Mark Henry, Cody Rhodes AND Wade Barrett that year. Not surprisingly Orton had a hell of a year in 2011. Pretty much having great matches with everyone on Smackdown.
ReplyDeleteThey did powerbomb him. However, Bischoff explained that away by saying that's what made up his mind to join the nWo. Basically it'd be better to be with those guys than against them. That was probably contradicted at some point b/c, well it was WCW, but that was the explanation at the time.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry. Dougie is just our resident contrarian.
ReplyDeleteWhy am I the only one that remembers this?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEZ69jT7Jnc
They turned Austin because it was an absolutely logical extension of his character, and he'd done everything he could as a face. They also figured he had fresher competition as a heel. But really, WHO does Cena feud with as a heel? Orton's been done to death, Taker and HHH are part-time, Kane could MAYBE get a month feud. There's not really a lot of babyfaces that Cena hasn't already faced - and Del Rio's on Smackdown, so that's unlikely.
ReplyDeleteHey, maybe heel Cena could face babyface Miz? That'd solve all of WWE's problems.
Seriously picture a feud between Heel Cena and babyface Miz.
ReplyDeleteThat would be the worst feud ever.
Austin turning heel was set-up perfectly... until he came out at Mania, and they realised there was no way he'd be booed that night against The Rock.
ReplyDelete