PWTorch Specialist Roundtable

(Question A) Do you think the edgier/non-PG John Cena character is the direction WWE should go with Cena leading up to WM28 and beyond The Rock feud?

(Question B) Do you think Cena "winning" the Raw promo exchanges is straight forward with Cena simply beating Rock on the mic or is it part of a master plan for Rock to lower himself and "sell" for Cena?

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Shane McKinley, PWTorch Absurdity specialist

(A) Yes, I favor the edgier John Cena leading up to WrestleMania. I don't think fans would have as much fun with this Rock-Cena feud if Cena were still the bag of suck that he was: "Ruin my WrestleMania match, Rock? That's fine by me!" I'm enjoying this Rock-Cena feud nowadays, not so much on Rock's part, but because of this new direction with Cena's character. It has me thinking, "Hey, this cat is actually a human being, not some WWE wind-up toy hero." What sort of Cena will we see after WrestleMania, or more to the point after his feud with Rock is done? We'll see, because the whitebread happy camper Cena who doesn't say "bitch" and overcomes the odds is WWE's safe and standard route when Cena faces guys like Kane.

(B) Ah, the great wrestling question: "Is this a work or a shoot?" I say it's a work. Cena could have all of the somber empty arena promos in the world; if he didn't "beat" Rock in one of their verbal smackdowns, he would still be seen as a uncool loser. No one wants to see a uncool loser vs. a movie star. Now, it's a guy who isn't afraid to make fun of himself and calling out Rock for being "too Hollywood." Now, was Rock becoming a jabroni intended? I'm on the camp that Rock's bit was deliberately intended to be awful. For next week's Raw, we know why Cena needs to win, but we don't really know why Rock needs to win this match, other than for the opportunity to rip out Cena's throat like MacGruber. (Read McKinley's regular Absurdity of It All columns on WWE and TNA topics.)

Justin James, PWTorch contributor

(A) As a parent of a young child that I allow to watch WWE shows, I am extremely uncomfortable with the non-PG John Cena. I don’t mind him getting more angry and a little bit aggressive in his attitude, but the language is unacceptable. The only “out” is that Cena almost never says something inappropriate right now unless it is a response to The Rock. Monday night, my boy was feeling sick, so he was watching a bit of Raw with me before he went to bed. When he saw the ads for The Rock, he said, “I can’t see that, Rock says nasty things.” While the Cena character may be boring, stale, and cheesy to this cynical adult, the “real John Cena” is an excellent role model for a young child. The “PG John Cena” is not a terrible person either for the most part, and I would hate to have to shut both of them out of my kid’s life because someone decides to make John Cena appeal to adults.

(B) I think Cena’s recent victories are 100 percent legit. I feel The Rock is passé, chiche, trite, and boring. Seriously, if you watch Rock on TV and find him “electrifying,” I really wonder. There is absolutely nothing “electrifying” about watching a man with a greying goatee bragging about his genitals and getting an arena full of families to chant his profane catch phrases. Cena has pulled Rock’s pants down pretty badly. Shoot or worked shoot, it doesn’t matter, The Rock is exposed as a cheap pop generator.

Rock said for a long time that when he came back to WWE, it would be for something truly special. John Cena didn’t need any further elevation, and there’s nothing special about him going over Rock, considering who else he has gone over on. Nothing that happens will make the vocal males love Cena, and nothing that happens will make the kids love him anymore than they already do. I honestly believe that this program somehow went off the rails a while ago, and everyone is in damage control mode, and in the process Rock is just looking worse and worse by the week. (Read James's weekly NXT & Superstars online show reviews.)

Anthony Beckingham, PWTorch Review specialist

(A) I don't know if the edgier Cena character is all that non-PG. Last year's promos certainly were when he busted out the Doctor of Thuganomics, made references to fellatio, and spoke disparagingly of homosexuality, but he's recently pointed out - maybe hypocritically - how shallow that all is. Cena's new tactic, rather than trying to insult The Rock, seems to be to undermine Rock's insults directed towards him. It's a refreshing change.

More than ever, Cena is conveying a man at ease with himself who doesn't need to brag about being well-endowed or talking about how cool he is; he's just being himself whether you like it or not because the only thing he's focussing on is winning. That is PG to me and, just like Chikara, proves that you can take wrestling seriously, frown and shout, or talk angrily at someone without it being an adult-only product. So, to answer the question succinctly, albeit not directly, I think this is the Cena WWE should build towards Mania, even if I don't find him non-PG.

(B) I really can't tell whether Cena winning the exchanges is part of the plan or not. I'd rather not think about it as the idea of worked shoots make me enjoy the program less, as it takes me out of the sustained reality. And, it's not even a case of "Oh, that other stuff was fake, but this is real." It makes me wake up to the fact that I'm watching a scripted show, including the bit that's supposedly breaking the script. I think it's very likely that Cena is beating Rock legitimately with these talking segments and strangely it's because Rock is just a better person, in my mind. If he is losing, it's because Cena's taking dirty shots at Rock, while Rock is respecting Cena enough not to bury him like he so easily could.

It could just as easily be scripted and be just as desperate a tactic that Cena and the writers have had to resort to after realizing that Rock is so far above Cena that this is the only way to bring him down to Cena's level. Either way, I was just glad to see the old Rock this week - one that made hilarious jokes while not smiling. It seemed like Rock had forgotten what made him great, but finally he played the straight man, no matter how ridiculous the subject he was talking about. Finally, I'm on the way to being invested in this match. (Read Beckingham's regular Shimmer DVD reviews.)

Alex Roberts, PWTorch specialist

The problem so far in the Rock-Cena build-up has been that it's attracted what, for lack of a better term, I'll call "rubbernecking heat." Rather than garner legitimate interest in their upcoming match, it seems to me like Rock and Cena's ego-fueled attacks on one another are leading to tawdry arguments about what is "real" or "just a work," akin to morbid curiosity while driving by a car crash. I didn't tune in Monday night to watch the development of a storyline feud, per se - I tuned in to see whether or not Rock and Cena would legitimately cross the line by show's end. While this might be effective in building some hype for WrestleMania, I feel it's a fundamentally destructive route to take. I fear that this "rubbernecking heat" can quite easily become the infamous "go away heat" that every wrestler fears. Once questions are answered about how "real" this feud is, WWE will still be left with a worked match at WrestleMania - a match that, like all others, still requires some storyline reason to be compelling. Take away the curiosity surrounding the writing on The Rock's wrist, and this storyline feels nearly completely empty.

The tail end of Cena's promo Monday night was exciting not because he used edgy language, or referenced The Rock's genitalia, or might "get in trouble" for what he said. It was exciting because, for seemingly the first time during the build-up of this feud, Cena sounded clearly like an intense, all-in wrestling character hyping the importance of a one-time-only, intense, all-in wrestling match. The discussion over the non-PG elements of Rock and Cena's exchanges feel analogous to the debate that surrounds the use of blading - used correctly, it can elevate already-great moments, but it isn't essential and can actually take away from a moment when over-used. So far, I feel all of the "you son of a bitch" and "shove it up your candy ass" and "The People's Strudel" lines haven't translated into raised stakes for the actual match. Cena's solemn assertion that if "I lose this match, I lose everything," meanwhile, raised them immediately.

Is it a "work" that The Rock has been stumbling in the last few weeks? If it is, it's not necessarily a good thing that WWE hasn't made it clearer. The scary thing about this feud is that it's coming dangerously close to treading on what I see as wrestling's essential - dare I say, sacred - rules. Though it's a business with so many huge egos and backstage politics, wrestling nevertheless is most successful when those personal impulses are squelched in the name of kayfabe. At a fundamental level, pro wrestling depends on participants willing to look battered and beaten - to sell - to determine its values and drama. Interrupting each other, saying the other "isn't tough," smirking while the other is supposedly dressing you down... none of these really help tell a wrestling story, and ultimately only succeeds in making the worked segments of the feud feel scripted and "fake." If Rock and Cena can steer this feud where it needs to go, they can still definitely tell a unique, terrific story. If they don't - if they continue to let this feud devolve into "real" arguments based on ego - it could well get as unprofessional as wrestling gets." (Read Roberts's regular DVD/movie/book reviews.)

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