^ I heard a rumor that Booker T beat the shit out of Batista in a real fight backstage a few years ago... But I'm not exactly sure of the details... Looks can be deceiving...
I'll never understand the constant hate towards Cena. His character has become stale, but they are switching it up.
Let's see them switch it up. So far, they haven't. They took one step forward by putting him with Cryme Tyme, then took two steps back when in the process of trying to make him seem legit and tough, they had him spray paint "poopy" on a limo.
That doesn't reflect Cena, that reflects Vince portraying him to a younger crowd. I fear that Vince is afraid to go over the line with Cena because of his extreme popularity with the younger fan base.
I agree, and it's dumb on their part. The kids cheered Stone Cold. They'll cheer any face that's pushed.
Honestly, I think Vince is more concerned with keeping Cena pretty to the girls, rather than the kids. As 10P10 said, he's going to be cheered by the kids regardless, but he's got the chicks wrapped up too. Vince is probably afraid to challenge their sensibilities. As for why I don't like him, the biggest reason to me is that he tries to be a cross between Austin and the Rock. Yet he's neither as tough as Austin, nor as funny as the Rock. As for the "poopy" thing, my 10 year old, who doesn't like Cena either, walked in when they showed the "poopy" on the car, and was like "Poopy? He wrote poopy on the car?" Then he rolled his eyes and walked out of the room.
Well it's not like he can really write "shit" on the car. That would look pretty funny as they try to censor that out.
Totally agree. However, wouldn't have made sense to just keep tagging the car, rather than write "JBL is poopy"? When 4 year-olds speak like that, it's cute. When a grown man does...
Trying to compare him to two of the greatest wrestlers ever is crazy. For any top draw of the company, you have to look at them as themselves. If Vince wants Cena to become a top draw as a face, the first step is turning him heel.
I'm not trying to compare him to either Rock or Austin. Just watch him. He tries to be a mix of the two. Watch his mannerisms. Listen to the specific inflection he puts on his words. He's a copycat, rather than a wholly unique persona. There is his problem, and that's why I think he fails. I agree that he should go heel. I doubt McMahon has the stones to do it though. He'd immediately lose his whole audience to gain the opposite one. The one he'd gain would spend far less cash on his branded merchandise though. While it would be good for the game, it'd be bad for business. At least in terms of strict sales marketing.
I wasn't sure where to post this :lol: Jesse Ventura To Run for Senate? July 09, 2008 9:20 AM In an interview with NPR's David Welna that ran today former Gov. Jesse "The Body" Ventura, Ind-Minn., sounds like he may run for Senate, challenging incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., whom Ventura defeated for governor in 1998, as well as Democratic nominee and former Saturday Night Live humorist Al Franken. Ventura, born Jim Janos, tells Welna that the main reason he would run is because of Coleman's support for the war in Iraq. "That's the reason I run," he says. "I run because it angers me...All you Minnesotans take a good hard look at all three of us. And you decide: if you were in a dark alley which one of the three of us would you want with you? Ventura had a stormy tenure as governor and horrible relations with the Minnesota press corps. Thus, it was the June issue of a local wine magazine where he chose to drop hints about his pending campaign. "I'm not a politician, I'm a statesman," he told The Midwest Wine Connection. "I do one term, and then I go back to the private sector. If I get back into the fray again this year, it's only because I've been gone five years back to the private sector. That's what I did when I was mayor. That's a statesman. That's not a career politician." Ventura said of Coleman, "the guy has not had a job in the private sector his entire adult life. He's been collecting government checks since the day he got out of law school and went to work for the attorney general's office. So when Norm Coleman tells people in the private sector he feels their pain, how? He's never been in it. At least Al Franken knows what the private sector is. I would like to send him out and get a real job in the private sector." Ventura called Franken an opportunist and a carpetbagger. "He hasn't lived here in 30 years, and he's only coming back to Minnesota for the convenience of his own political agenda. Why didn't he run in the states he was living in? Clearly, for being a Harvard graduate, he's not too smart on taxes, is he? Everybody laughs, saying I came from wrestling. But at least I knew when I wrestled in 40 states, I had to pay taxes in those 40 states. You just have to do the paperwork. I find it unbelievable that someone who could go to Harvard didn't know that or let it slip. Blaming his accountant is worse, because now he's turning into a politician. He's not accepting responsibility for his actions." A recent state poll has Coleman leading with 52 percent of the vote and Franken with 40 percent. A hypothetical race with Ventura shows Coleman with 41 percent, Franken with 31 percent and Ventura with 23 percent. Of course, as this priced-to-move 1999 biography of Ventura recalls those poll numbers are far better than Ventura's numbers in his 1998 gubernatorial run. In June 1998, Ventura only had 7% support. In November, he won with 37% of the vote. - jpt UPDATE: Ultimately those Ventura observers -- who argued that the former governor's occasionally confusing syntax should be taken into account when reporting his seemingly definitive declaration "that's the reason I run" -- are correct. Ventura told The Associated Press he had been speaking hypothetically to NPR, that in responding to Welna's question about why he would run, "I gave him the reasons why I would run. But I said ultimately, it will come down to whether I want to change my lifestyle and go to that lifestyle or not." Reports the AP: "Ventura says bluntly that no one knows whether he will run -- not even his wife. He says the decision won't be made until next Tuesday, the filing deadline."
I disagree. I don't believe that in the long run it would be bad for business. In the short term yes. Give him a 8-10 month heel run and turn him back. But his return as a face has to be perfect execution. If not, you are going to go back to half the fans rooting for him and half of them hating him as a face.
Jesse Ventura has already issued a statement denying that he has 100% decided to run for Senator. ABC News reported initially that he would likely be making an announcement soon, but the Minnesota Governor stated in an interview with the Star Tribune newspaper that he won't make a decision until this coming Tuesday. Tuesday is the cut-off for filing to run. Apparently, ABC picked up quotes Ventura made where he was speaking hypothetically about why he would run for the Senate, but that he hasn't told anyone, including family, whether he was going to pursue it for sure or not.
The risk doesn't equal the potential reward. Unless everything goes off perfectly, it highly risks alienating a very significant market (adult women, and children, traditionally not the typical WWE target demographic). Besides, his reaction is a wrestler's dream. He gets pop. Remember when he returned for the Rumble? The next night on RAW he came out and was talking, saying how he missed the chants. When the "Cena Sucks" chant started, he said "Yup, even that one!"
You make a real good point. Why ruin a good thing when the WWE is just trying to find things that work in an industry that really lacks the pure stars it used to. Cena isn't one, but like you said, the pop is what matters. If they see him starting to get stale with his audience, then make a move and see where it takes him. As for Bearer, it'd make sense, except for the fact that it's 4 years later. You'd have thought Kane might have asked that question at some point by now. But hey, we'll see what happens.
If McMahon is smart, even if that's not the direction they were heading with the story, he'll go that route now. That's far too much buzz to ignore.
Anyone else think they might be using this new Edge angle to turn him into a face? When it comes to ability on the mike the WWE doesn't have many better, and he'd be following the same path as some of the better bad-ass type faces as there's been in recent years. Went from a stable, to being a major heel, then now maybe using that emotion to switch back to the positive side. I think Edge moving to face after so long as a heel would be a cool dynamic, and you can't deny the pop he gets.
