That night, there I was in in the Squared Circle in Chicago, grappling with myself about why I didn’t like John Cena when I should. No, not the Squared Circle you’re thinking, my friend. This is a bar restaurant on 2418 North Ashland Avenue in Chicago, near the long stretch of Kennedy Expressway and its run of traffic that seems to go into eternity. Place for fans and wrestlers alike, with framed championship belts and…
Category: Never Give Up, or The Cena Problem
I’ve been working on keeping my cool. Not letting disappointments bring me crashing down, maintaining a consistent vibe when everything goes into a tailspin. I also caught a spoiler that Kevin Owens lost to John Cena as I was running about an hour behind in my watching of Battleground, so I was prepared for the unfortunate eventuality. Kevin Owens’ #1 fangirl here didn’t riot when Cena won, because I’m practicing non-attachment, rising above the fray,…
Happy Money In The Bank Day everyone! Today The Work of Wrestling features an editorial I wrote about the deconstruction of John Cena by Kevin Owens. Click here to go read it! And if you’ve arrived here after reading my piece on John Cena and Kevin Owens, a warm welcome to you. If you scroll down a little, I’ve transcribed and commented on the recent memorable KO promos, and earlier I wrote about the ethics of…
Kevin Owens brightened the heck out of Smackdown this week with a reiteration of his previous RAW promo. John Cena is delusional and corrupting the minds of children around the world! It’s no secret I’ve been giddy about Owens since that first match with CJ Parker, so his epic deconstruction of John Cena fills my heart with joy and gives me great hope for the future. Bask in his words of Forgotten Man truth: You…
Wow, things are fairly groundbreaking, even game-changing, in the feud raging between Kevin Owens and John Cena. This stuff gives me chills! I am working on an editorial about the Cena/Owens duality for Tim Kail to read on his Work of Wrestling podcast, but I need to transcribe these promos to work from so I’m sharing them here. Notice how literary these words are when you see them in print. Kevin Owens speaks in precise,…
It is a curious state of affairs and a reflection on the liminal nature of kayfabe that WWE feels it must apologize to the people of Russia about Big Show’s satirical disrespect to their flag on RAW this week. Recall that WWE readily apologized about Lana’s mention of the Malaysian Airlines plane in Eastern Ukraine, while Lana herself dismissed the kerfuffle about what she said as “blah, blah, blah… propaganda.” These apologies are calculated —…
A couple days ago somebody looked at my post about John Cena and Paul Heyman after having performed the following Google search: “will pual hymen bring john cena thug in 2014” A drunk and possibly high wrestling fan was contemplating the John Cena problem and Google offered me as relevant source material. I’m not being silly when I say this: I couldn’t be more proud. This is exactly why I write the things I do.…
I couldn’t help but feel that the veil of kayfabe was wavering as John Cena railed against Paul Heyman on RAW Monday night. There was a tremble and a fervor in Cena’s voice as he laid out his grievances: he shows up and works hard every day even if he doesn’t feel like it because he “loves this place,” and where’s the respect? We may have been seeing real emotion there, his frustration as he…
Fully embracing his inner Hamlet… Ok interweb, have fun with this one.. #lifewouldbebetterif I turned heel. @twitter feed crash in 3….2….. — John Cena (@JohnCena) July 25, 2014 Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to step aside for Roman Reigns or vindicate Bray Wyatt. That is the question!
John Cena had this to say on Twitter just now: You either die a hero or live long enough to become a villian.True or not I am and have always been me.Thru crisis or triumph #nevergiveup — John Cena (@JohnCena) July 22, 2014 I can see he recognizes his own hero problem, which I have written so much about. To be a heel or not to be a heel, that is the question! And earlier,…