John Cena Says Vince McMahon and Triple H Wanted Him Fired Years Ago

[AKI Man]

<blockquote class='quote\\_blockquote'><dl><dt>Quote:</dt><dd> </dd></dl><div>John Cena sat down with Brian Soscia of The Soscia Network for a Q&A session with fans. Highlights from the interview are as follows:

Who is left if he defeats The Rock at WrestleMania XXVIII: "Honestly, this is what I like about April 1, you have a definitive number one being decided. I think at that point it is anybody's game to try to take somebody off the mountain. We're at a period in WWE, WrestleMania is truly the end of an era. Triple H vs. Undertaker, Shawn Michaels is a special referee, John Cena vs. The Rock. One of those names, one of those names is a full-time employee for this company and you're looking at him.

"So I think WrestleMania is a platform, as it always is, for new Superstars - Daniel Bryan, Sheamus, C.M. Punk, Cody Rhodes, Team Laurinaitis, Team Teddy Long. Anyone can step up. I'm going to be there on the top of the mountain with my fists up waiting for someone to challenge me. I think everybody is going to watch WrestleMania and enjoy it, but I think everyone behind the curtain, behind the wall that I'm not supposed to talk about, is going to be watching as hungry as they can be knowing that they want to face the winner of that match."

Advice to younger wrestlers: "Never give up. Back in 2003, 2002, when I was just wearing boots and tights and I was supposed to be the ruthless aggression young good guy, nobody in the company liked me. I know Vince McMahon won't admit this, but he wanted me fired, Triple H wanted me fired, everybody hated me. They just wouldn't give me a forum to showcase my talents. I've always been able to connect with the audience if given the ability to speak.

"I got that ability and I was off to the races. I was up against all odds. I wasn't born into this business. I'm not a third generation guy or a second generation guy. I'm just a dude who grew up a fan like all you guys and I wanted to do this my whole life. And I never gave up. That's the advice I give to all the young cats, all the guys who have been trying and trying, trying to make it, attempt after attempt. I've failed many times, but you never ever give up."[/quote]

 

[stylesismilo]

<blockquote class='quote\\_blockquote'><dl><dt>Quote:</dt><dd> </dd></dl><div>They just wouldn't give me a forum to showcase my talents.[/quote]

What? Putting you in matches with Jericho and Angle when you just debut wasn't allowing you to showcase your talents? Dafuq?

 

[Tired]

I was going to stand up for Cena, but Stylesismilo made an argument that I could not overlook.

They tried to launch John Cena as John Cena, a rookie with no gimmick. And they revealed him at the same time and in the same manner as Randy Orton. But they made a huge deal about Orton's family lineage and put him into a storyline with Mr. McMahon (brief as it was). Cena, meanwhile, is a second generation wrestler, but no-one had heard of his father until a few years ago. And he was not in ROH, TNA, WCW or ECW, so no-one knew anything about Cena. But the originally pushed him like people knew who he was, and would care.

First of all, he nearly beat Kurt Angle in a match that Undertaker would reference for weeks. And then buried him under main event and mid-card talent alike. They tried to make him the face of 'Ruthless Agression', an unmarketable idea coined by the heel McMahon on television. And the idea remained unmarketable as the rookie Cena, as a babyface, could not step in the ring and simply destroy veteran and established superstars. Then they turned him heel by having him turn against his tag team partner. His tag team partner was Billy Kidman, and they had teamed for less than 3 weeks. Half their matches were not even televised, so people didn't even care.

But then again, McMahon and Triple H more than made up for it since 2003.

 

[stylesismilo]

Cena is a second generation wrestler? Wait what.

Anyway, what were you going to say actually? I'm quite interested in your point of view.

 

[Tired]

His dad was a wrestler, but he never made it big. He aspired to mid-card.

All wrestlers need characters (or gimmicks). But the WWE keeps bringing in new wrestlers with no gimmick or back story. If they have nothing for the fans to relate to or object to, then the fans cannot care about them. And they also need a good storyline too.

When Cena debuted, they expected him to be succesful simply because they wanted him to be succesful. He was so plain that Vanilla was bored with him. He was supposed to be the face of the 'Ruthless Agression' era, so he had to be intense. He had to be ruthlessly agressive in the ring. He had to be vicious and relentless. But that is NOT the character he was given. With no character and no storyline, he had no direction, and no means of getting anywhere.

And that is when McMahon and Triple H wanted to fire him. He failed at something that was impossible.

Notice how much better he got when he started performing badly memorised rhymes on the way to the ring?

 

[stylesismilo]

Ah, I get it now. Yeah. Having him as a face wasn't the best thing if he's the face of Ruthless Aggression. When they turn him heel, it was too late. When he don on the rapper gimmick, it showed that he's unique. People will notice him.

I kinda think that this was why Benoit didn't make it as big as Eddie in terms of World champion is because Beniot was gimmickless. He was just...there. I remember telling my friend that Benoit should have turned into a ruthless heel in his championship run instead of a coward heel. He should have his own stable or something like that, but noooooooooooooooooooo. Triple H had to be THAT guy.

 

[Tired]

Another reason why Guerrero did better is because when Guerrero was Smackdown's champion, he was the brand's champion. When Benoit won the RAW title, Triple H remained the brand's top star. At Bad Blood 2004, Benoit was in the World Tag Team Title match AND the World Title match, but still was not in the main event!

Guerrero had much more charisma, and that certainly worked in his favour. When Guerrero won the title, there was still the possibility that he would never ever win a major title. But we knew for years that Benoit winning the title was enevitable.

 

[stylesismilo]

Oh yeah. That was exactly what I was saying. Triple H was the top guy, whether it's a gimmick with Evolution or in real life. That left Benoit nowhere to go. His gimmick at that time was that he's "for real". That's not really a gimmick. His character was bland. He was just a babyface there to wrestle. If it was in puroresu, I would have no objections, because the in ring story is more important, but this is Pro-wrestling. The entertainment part of his character was missing.

He also used the "greatest technical wrestler alive" tag line didn't he? But he didn't have anyone else to feud with him over that. Kurt Angle was in SD. Jericho was a face. In hindsight, I would had switched brands of Benoit with Eddie after they won the titles. Eddie's character would be entertaining on Raw or SD regardless of people he feud with. Benoit needed people like Angle, Lesnar, Booker T and RVD for him to feud with because they could have given him pure wrestling related feuds like he had with Angle and Jericho back in the earlier days. Though Lesnar did left soon after he lost the title. But if I were to booked it, Benoit will have been a massive heel with no remorse on SD.

Speaking of Eddie, I still hate the fact that Goldberg had to interfere so that Eddie would win the title from Lesnar. Come on! :wall:

*...How the hell did I managed to type all the above?*

 

[Tired]

When you think about it, it wasn't the interference that beat Lesnar. Lesnar got up and tried to use the F-5. It was the Tornado DDT onto the mat (they missed the title belt). It was Guerrero who beat Lesnar, not Goldberg. And that is how I choose to remember it!

That is one thing that always bothered me about wrestling is that wrestling became a gimmick. If you 4 holds, including the chinlock, then you are a submission specialist. And technical guys like Benoit, Angle, Malenko, Chavo Guerrero and Daniel Bryan were too few. And it wasn't like technical wrestlers were in short supply. Look at ROH, Chikara or Puroseau. But because they aren't physically jacked, larger companies are not interested.

It used to bother me when I used a headlock takeover, people called it a "unique style". Wrestling coaches uses this move to teach students how to fall without breaking their wrists.

I'm not saying that technical or submission wrestling alone is a draw. In fact, I am saying that it shouldn't be a gimmick. And a technical wrestler should have a good gimmick too. But I guess neither helps if Triple H, Randy Orton and John Cena are the only ones getting the decent storylines.

 

[Blue Warrior]

2003 - Fire this kid! He sucks!

2012 - We noticed the talent in young John Cena the minute he joined WWE....

BITCH PLEASE!!

 

[KG 24]

<blockquote class='quote\\_blockquote'><dl><dt>Blue Ball Warrior</dt><dd>Mar 29 2012, 03:39:50 PM</dd></dl><div>2003 - Fire this kid! He sucks!

2012 - We noticed the talent in young John Cena the minute he joined WWE....

BITCH PLEASE!![/quote]When he's the top star, it's embarrassing to know that you wanted him fired early in his career. Heck, I can't even imagine a WWE without Cena.

 

[nadimmania]

2003: This kid is sucks!
And then,9 years later..........

Spoiler: click to toggle

<big>- This kid is the champion of the WWE
- This kid is the face of the WWE
- This kid is the money-generator for the WWE
- This kid is the most prestigious and valuable wrestler ever at the WWE</big>

<big>[/SPOILER]

 

[stylesismilo]

I think that's one of the reasons why I prefer ROH and Chikara over WWE and TNA. The ring psychology they have are better, though some are really spot monkeys.

In all honesty, if Benoit would have left WWE and went to ROH, he might have lead ROH to a huge TV deal, imagine Benoit vs Davey Richards. JIZZ.

 

[Deleted User]

When he's the top star, it's embarrassing to know that you wanted him fired early in his career.

LOL, whut?

 

[KG 24]

Shawn actually GOT fired, then got re-hired back. Cena was just a suggestion for the chopping block.

 

[Deleted User]

Yup..... I came back...... just so everyone would want to fire my premadonna ass.

 

[KG 24]

Still one of the best damned performers ever.

 

[Deleted User]

Never said he wasn't.

He was still an asshole in his younger days.

*attempts to pee in shoes but hits the wall, instead*