John Cena’s Current Character Direction is the Most Interesting He’s Ever Been

Good old John Cena, Big Match John, the One-Man Shirt Machine, the Leader of the Cenation (jury’s still out on whether that’s a real nation or not). Regardless of how one feels about Cena’s prominent place in the spotlight for almost 15 years, umm, well, it can’t be denied that he’s had one. Okay, so a lot of people don’t care for Cena, often citing his special treatment at the expense of apparent “more deserving” talent over the years.

WWE have glossed over John’s mixed reactions by referring to him as “controversial” and peddling out the old chestnut of how all that matters is that he evokes an emotional response. It’s not been all bad, despite what many members of the Internet Wrestling Community may want you to believe — there are some small nuggets of gold in the long, long career of Vince’s Superman.

Despite a collection of strong matches and interesting storylines, there has been one criticism of John Cena that has remained a constant: his character hasn’t evolved since 2006. You see, 2006 was the year Cena went from being a unanimously over babyface to a man who divides audiences like Marmite in muscular human form. Since then, fans have begged for something, anything resembling a change. Maybe the elusive heel turn? Or how about some more edgy character dimensions? At this point, Cena is so settled in that that is never going to happen, but there is something much subtler going on right now.

Last week on SmackDown, Cena showed up and declared that he wanted a shot at the WWE Championship. Despondent after losing out on a WrestleMania opportunity at Elimination Chamber, John kept reminding anyone who would listen that he has no fabled “Road to WrestleMania”. We all know this isn’t true, he’s John Cena, he could demand a match with the Dalai Lama and probably get it. But this is what’s so clever about what WWE are doing; all of our perceptions of how much John Cena’s been pushed over the years are being played off of and folded into a work.

Shane McMahon informed Mr. Cena that he could gain entry to the WWE Championship at Fastlane this Sunday if he could defeat AJ Styles later that night. Obviously, Cena prevailed and went from main eventing a Raw pay-per-view to closing out a SmackDown one just two weeks later. Isn’t that just the most typical John Cena thing ever? He’s bouncing around both shows like he runs the place because, well, he kind of does.

On Raw this week, Cena’s power trip entered a whole new level. He came out on the red show to essentially plug a match for the blue one. Who else can do that? You don’t see Roman Reigns coming out on SmackDown to call out Brock Lesnar. Cena’s promo was so intense that it almost bordered on parody. Before being weirdly booked into a match with Goldust (which I can only imagine was due to it being the Oscars over the weekend), John seemed almost possessed by the hallowed powers of the WrestleMania sign. It was actually kind of ridiculous, but that was the point.

As for the next night on SmackDown, John was absent (save for a replay of his promo from Raw). The arrogance of this man. Not only is he not on the go-home show of the pay-per-view that he’s headlining, but he just sits back and lets the other five guys beat each other up while he’s completely fresh for Sunday.

Cena has leaned into how we perceive him and is deliberately being an obnoxious mega face just to piss us off. He even squashed Goldust for no real reason other than because he’s John Cena. It’s all one big meta angle that plays off of every complaint we’ve had about Cena for years. John is going wherever he likes and is inserting himself into feuds that have nothing to do with him and is proudly displaying it.

Should Cena actually capture his record-breaking 17th world title this Sunday (he won’t), then he’s suggested a triple threat at Mania between himself, Styles and Nakamura. While that would absolutely be an excellent match, it would rob us of the long-awaited rematch of the Styles/Nakamura classic from Wrestle Kingdom 10 in 2016. Wouldn’t that just be typical Cena? John bulldozing in to ruin a big-time match between two workhorse technical masters is a frightening prospect for many.

None of this will happen though, Cena’s match for WrestleMania is set in stone no matter how much WWE wants to throw us off the scent. It’s going to be John Cena vs. The Undertaker, everything else is just white noise. There’s nothing for Cena to do at Mania that he hasn’t already done, world title matches come and go, The Undertaker is the Holy Grail. WWE have kept the Cena vs. Taker card in their back pocket for longer than a lot of Cena’s fanbase has been alive, it’s the biggest money match they can realistically do with their main roster talent.

WWE have been ambiguous over the last year as to whether Undertaker is truly retired, which is because he’s not. The fact he isn’t going into the Hall of Fame this year is all but confirmation that he’s wrestling, and who the hell else could he have his actual final match against other than WWE’s franchise player?

One could argue that WWE are insulting our intelligence by insinuating that Cena doesn’t have a locked in match at WrestleMania, but doesn’t that just add to the whole thing? Cena’s booking since 2010 has been an insult to our intelligence, only there was no self-awareness. What’s happening now is a tongue-in-cheek wink to the audience, John Cena is being booked as John Cena, and it’s some of the best stuff he’s done since he was a disrespectful white rapper.

There’s a high chance that this won’t be paid off in any meaningful way, Cena will probably just revert to his old ways once Mania is over and done with. This would be a shame, as continuing to push Cena in this direction could be the next Hollywood Rock, just not as overtly heelish. Cena will stay a face forever, but when he portrays himself as a face who knows people hate him, it’s somewhat endearing and proves that he’s one of the most complete performers that WWE have.