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In the August 2012 edition of WWE Magazine (with Triple H on the cover. Meaning John Cena, Rey Mysterio, the Undertaker, Randy Orton, and CM Punk must have been busy) has a very interesting feature in it, titled "The John Cena Color Spectrum." As one might assume, it centers around the very colorful t-shirts worn by the Chain Gang (does he even go by that anymore?) leader. The spectrum includes a little blurb on the significance of the color, the amount of days he's worn that color, and his PPV and overall winning percentage. It is that last part that I found particularly interesting (and surprising).
John Cena has the dubious nickname of "Super Cena" because it seems like he always wins. Yet, believe it or not, Cena never achieved a greater PPV winning percentage during any t-shirt period than 57%. That's right, he's never even reached 60%! Here's the breakdown....
ORANGE (worn 269 days): 40% PPV winning percentage (60% overall; 110 days with WWE Championship)
PURPLE (worn 231 days): 50% PPV winning percentage (66% overall; 0 days with WWE Championship)
RED (worn 203 days): 57% PPV winning percentage (65% overall; 111 days with WWE Championship)
BLACK (worn 161 days): 50% PPV winning percentage (74% overall; 0 days with WWE Championship)
GREEN (worn 79 days as of publication): 57% PPV winning percentage (80% overall; 0 days with WWE Championship)
Other interesting tidbits: Cena never held the championship wearing his purple shirt, which I did not remember being the case. I'm also not sure I agree with the 50% for Cena's black t-shirt. Didn't he win at Survivor Series, lose at the Royal Rumble, and then win at Elimination Chamber? Am I missing a show?
Nonetheless, this shows that the guy loses A LOT more than people give him credit for. Especially at big shows. Of course, a lot of people claim Cena doesn't make his opponents look good even in defeat. I'm not necessarily sure I agree, but that's a different matter altogether.
5 comments:
Well, here's where I disagree.
#1, it's not just that he always wins (which he doesn't), it's how he loses. Offhand I can think of three losses this year (there might be more, but they're not coming to mind offhand). One was The Rock, that was clean. One was Tensai after a billion people all interfered...he "lost" but that loss does absolutely nothing for anyone and nobody looks good. And he lost to Johnny Ace because Big Show ran in and knocked him out. Only one of those has any meaning at all.
#2, I firmly believe Cena makes his opponents look terrible, post match in particular. His selling during a match is usually okay although sometimes can be very cartoonish (such as the awful spot he goes to occasionally where he's outside the ring for a 9.5 count, lying there completely dead, then suddenly leaps to his feet looking perfectly fine, dashes into the ring, and then lies there dead again...that's very stupid and cartoony). But post match? Forget it, he's absolutely awful. One of the worst I've ever seen for a top guy. Look at the end of each match on Raw, and check how they sell post match. You want to know who Cena most resembled? Ryback, who crushed a couple of jobbers. Cena sold for Bryan during the match (and during the match, Bryan looked strong...and for the record, Cena should have won the match), but the second the bell rang to signal the end, Cena was acting like he just crushed Stan Stansky. He posed, he didn't sell any injury at all, he smiled, etc. See Punk VS Rey...Punk wins decisively, but after the bell rings he's holding his jaw, he's leaning on the ropes...he poses, but he's selling injuries, selling like he was just in a tough match. We as wrestling fans are conditioned to see the no selling post match as something you do when you beat up a jobber who didn't hurt you (hence, Ryback or Brodus Clay after winning one of their matches). Hell, sometimes even when Cena LOSES he does that...see Summerslam last year, where Punk beat him but Cena had his foot under the rope, Cena popped up, yelled at HHH, then strolled out of the arena like he wasn't just in a big match against someone who took him to the limit. Wrestling is all about suspension of disbelief, and when Cena ends every match looking like he beat up Arthur Rosenberg in a quick 2 minute match, it immediately brings "Jobber match" to mind.
Cena does some things very well, but making his opponent look good POST match is definitely not one of them.
I'd be curious if he's had any losses, aside from the Rock at Wrestlemania and Punk at Money in the Bank and Summerslam (and three actually seems like a lot more than usual), where he actually lost SEMI clean. I'm not asking for fully clean. He's a top face and heels aren't going to beat him clean generally. But even semi clean, by which I mean no outside interference unless it doesn't really factor into the finish too much (and note I'm actually letting the MitB interference go and am willing to count that anyway, since Ace and McMahon didn't actually attack Cena) and a regular amount of cheating. Maybe a low blow, a weapon shot that doesn't IMMEDIATELY lead to the pin, feet on the ropes, etc. Because when you have someone cheating like crazy or getting tons of outside interference, it doesn't help anyone when Cena "loses" because what we at home saw was "Cena clearly had the match won, with ease, but crazy circumstances resulted in a loss". That doesn't put anyone over. Who has he PUT OVER in the last few years aside from Punk and Rock? You don't even need to lose to put someone over. HHH put Jericho over huge even though HHH won the Last Man Standing match, for example. But Cena doesn't seem to ever put people over, again, except for Punk and Rock. Is that Cena's fault? Probably not, it's how he's booked, but it's annoying. It's much more than his literal win/loss record. Heck, he got a loss last year at one of those post Summerslam PPVs because someone mysteriously raised the cage, then locked him out so he couldn't get in (he was fine, of course, just couldn't get back in). That doesn't put anyone over or help anyone.
There was a period a couple of years ago, when he returned from his pec tear, that he was putting people over clean left and right. He put over Batista, Triple H (more than once), and JBL. I know that for sure. But that was a couple of years ago and before he earned the "Super Cena" monicker.
Off the top of my head, I cannot think of many matches he's lost recently that were semi clean (other than the ones you mentioned). I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that people aren't treated particularly well even after they beat Cena. Tensai, for example, was pretty much booked like a loser after beating Cena. Not saying I want Tensai in the main event, but if he was pushed as a monster after that victory, it would've meant more in hindsight.
Unfortunately for many people, WWE views Cena as their hero (whether he's right for that role is a worthy discussion). So he's typically booked into stories that he's going to win.
I just wish he'd sell something after the match. That's why he gets the SuperCena name much more than his win/loss record...because he doesn't really sell anything. He's never "hurt" at all. Look at any Punk match, no matter how decisively he beats the guy, as long as it wasn't supposed to be a squash match, he's selling something post match, he's looking like his opponent hurt him. Even Orton, who I have no love for, does it. His matches with Christian last year, aside from having good back and forth matches, he'd win and he'd pose, but he'd be slow to get to his feet, he'd lean on the ropes, he'd walk slowly (and not just the normal Viper slow) to the corner, etc. He sold it like Christian gave him a tough match. This past Monday, Bryan had Cena in multiple submission holds that would injure the neck (or maybe the arm I guess, definitely neck though)...so why doesn't Cena hold his neck, move it back and forth like he's trying to crack it because it's really sore, something like that? Something as simple as that makes it look like Daniel Bryan DID SOMETHING to Cena. He only sells injuries when they're directly part of an angle.
I feel like there's no subtlety at all to John Cena, as a wrestler. He's either 100% fine or a corpse. Hence the countout spot I mentioned earlier...he's a corpse for 9.5 seconds, then suddenly totally fine, then he's a corpse again without the opponent even touching him. Now look at Taker VS HBK at WM 25 (I got Taker's Blu Ray so it's fresh in my mind)...during the countout spot, Taker is slowly pulling himself up at 6 to create drama, but then falls back down to make people think wow, he isn't getting back in, then he drags himself to the ring apron, at 9 he's slowly dragging himself up, then with one last burst of energy he barely rolls into the ring. There's subtlety there, there's drama there. Punk does little things like doing moves different based on the move he's selling...I won't blame Cena too much for that because unfortunately most guys don't do it, but still, it's a subtle thing that helps the match tremendously. And post match almost everyone in the company not participating in squash matches sells like they were in a tough match...but not Cena. It really bugs me and that's why I refer to him as SuperCena...not how many matches he wins (because as you rightly said, it's not THAT many), but HOW he loses (usually not in a way that makes anyone look good, which is at least partly a booking problem) and how he sells even when he does win.
I recognize not everyone agrees with me here, but I'm thoroughly convinced it's a problem. I've been trying to peg why I felt it was different when Punk won most of his matches this past year, or how Orton won his matches when he went to SD (which bugged me but not as much)...I didn't think it was simply a dislike of Cena, and I think the post match no selling was what was bugging me. His opponents tend to look like jobbers post match based on the was he sells it, like they didn't hurt him in the least and he was just screwing around most of the match.
It's certainly a valid complaint. He's this generation's Hulk Hogan/Ultimate Warrior. Both men sold DURING the match (and I think Cena mostly does, too), but at the end of the match it was all pose downs and celebrations (with the rare exception). It certainly isn't everybody's cup of tea.
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