I will admit my dirty little secret. I'm a John Cena fan and boy, do I really want him to lose at Backlash. I don't care who he loses to, so long as he drops the belt.
As much as the oh-so-reliable marketing demographics indicate that John Cena is most marketable (read: pushes scads of t-shirts and merchandise) to children and women, as one of the few females stranded on the isle of wrestling, I can knowledgeably tell you that the majority of wrestling fans are males in the 20 to 45 age bracket. The loud, baritone boos that you hear directed towards The Champ and fill nearly any arena on a given televised night most certainly don't have a pleasantly feminine soprano tinge to them, nor the high-pitched lilt of youth. Right there, that should tell you that the overwhelming opposition that John Cena faces isn't necessarily his combatant in the ring on any given night, but rather the majority of male wrestling fans which populate the arena and account for perhaps the biggest group within WWE fandom as a whole.
So why is there so much Hatorade being bottled and passed around like a cheap hooker in regards to John Cena? It's very simple. This is known as The Über-Push. The Über-Push occurs when a wrestler is elevated rapidly to the status of main eventer. Not only is this rise fast and furious, said wrestler is imbued with the mutant-like ability to remain undefeated regardless of if they possess the move set of a Dean Malenko or a piddling arsenal of four or fewer maneuvers.
Heading into Wrestlemania 23, John Cena wasn't being booed as heavily as he was going into Wrestlemania 22. At Wrestlemania 22, the Chicago crowd jeered Cena and backed Triple H, a former recipient of The Über-Push. In the eyes of the Chi-town fans, putting the belt back on Triple H seemed to be the lesser of two evils. The outcome of the match had Cena retaining his title and not quite getting the reaction befitting a champion in a babyface role.
The heat had seemed to have died down "on the road to Wrestlemania 23." While WWE fans as a whole were not entirely a fan nation united under RAW's reigning champion, there still wasn't an outpouring of boos echoing throughout the arena during his appearances.
Then, it happened. In an inter-brand match up, the well-respected and beloved veteran, Chris Benoit was brought over from Smackdown for one night only with the express purpose of jobbing to John Cena leading into Wrestlemania. Not only did Benoit do the J.O.B. to Cena, but the submissions expert actually tapped like Gregory Hines to John Cena. That did not sit well with the fans either in or out of the arena. Following the match and in subsequent airings of RAW, John Cena was nearly booed out of the building. While this would have been a perfect opportunity to plant a seed of doubt as to if the Champ could retain his title at Wrestlemania against Shawn Michaels, instead, it made Cena all the more reviled among a large chunk of the fanbase.
Apparently, this move was designed to cement John Cena's newfound reputation as a submissions expert, underlining the supposedly devastating power of the STFU. At Wrestlemania 23, if Chris Benoit had tapped like Gregory Hines, then Shawn Michaels tapped like a Broadway revival of 42nd Street. Yes. The Shawn Michaels of the Iron Man matches, the same Shawn Michaels who had achieved his boyhood dream, and the very same Shawn Michaels who had battled it out in several ladder matches tapped out to John Cena. While I realize that this may have been an instance of passing the torch to the next generation, it would seem that a clean pin would have done just as well and attained the same outcome.
Additionally, in recent weeks following Wrestlemania, John Cena has walked away completely unscathed from a handicap match featuring Team Rated RKO as well as boasting some interference from Michaels. Again, Cena decimated the competition, coming back from a sound thrashing by not one, not two, but three men to retain his title. He received more boos than weekend homework in Mrs. Finklemeyer's fifth-grade arithmetic class.
Once again, the boos are a result of Cena's Über-Push. Wrestling fans enjoy a flawed champion who either has a weakness or loses every once in awhile. It lends an air of believability to a title reign and more importantly, doesn't overly push the issue that a reigning champion is damn near messianic. Additionally, it becomes tiresome to see the same wrestler in the main event for several years running, particularly when there are at least 30 other wrestlers who are equally, if not more talented that are begging to be given a shot.
The feud between former Tag Team Champions, John Cena and Shawn Michaels continues and now, a few days before Backlash, it seems that The Powers That Be are finally doing what should have been done quite some time ago.
This past week on RAW, I was half expecting John Cena to come out, walk on water, change said water to wine, and not only beat Shawn Michaels yet again, but to get him to renounce Christianity and become the first disciple of Cena-ism. Yes, it's a little extreme and far from what actually transpired on the program. Instead, viewers were treated to a nearly hour-long match in which both Cena and Michaels put on a tremendous display. The match finally ended with Shawn Michaels nailing The Champ with some Sweet Chin Music and pinning him for the win. However, did I mention that this was a non-Title match? Yeah.
While RAW's header into Backlash plants the seeds of doubt if Cena will retain his gold at the PPV, this should have been done earlier. Nevertheless, another message this match sends is that it took Michaels, one tough sonofagun in his own right, an hour to finally wear The Champ down and eventually pin him. In the immortal words of Nell Carter, "Gimme a break!"
It remains to be seen if Cena loses the Championship and if so, which of the three other competitors may win the title. Randy Orton seems to be a definite "no", given that he had recently been sent home from WWE's recent European tour. As talented as Orton may be, that's not necessarily an inspiring vote of confidence for a potential champion. It looks like Edge and Shawn Michaels may be the front-runners in this race with the edge (pardon the pun) possibly going to Michaels. Given the substantial amount of time spent on the Cena/Michaels feud and with DX in limbo due to Triple H's recuperation, it seems to be a logical direction. Then again, the WWE may decide to keep the strap on Cena, although it could only do further damage.
Another recourse, should Cena still retain the belt, would be turn him heel. Cena was much more entertaining as the edgy and risqué proponent of Thuganomics, dropping slams and rhymes on his opponents that were genuinely funny. Cena has some solid mike skills and as a heel, he would have more of an opportunity to use them.
It's never a good sign when at least half of your fanbase boos the Heavyweight Champion that has held the belt for the greater part of two years, especially when that he has been a face for the duration of his reign. Not only for the good of the company, not only for rewarding the fans, but for the good of the wrestler, it is in the best interest for all to put the belt on someone new. Overexposure can do irreparable damage to a wrestler. It's rarely the creative team or the bookers who are blamed, but instead, the wrestler himself suffers the burden of being sacked with a bad gimmick.
I have an odd feeling that Backlash will be turned into "Back-Lashley" and the ECW Champion will now be the new recipient of John Cena's Über-Push, thus continuing the vicious cycle. It is a distinct possibility that upon the rather broad shoulders of Bobby Lashley, the weight of the company may rest until the rabble or The Powers That Be tire of him…. Or maybe not. We'll see soon enough.
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