The opinions on how John Cena's retirement tour have come in from far and wide across the wrestling landscape, with thoughts from fans, journalists, fellow workers themselves, and nowCena's own father. Yes, much like the jilted little league father who thinks the seldom-used left fielder (usually named Duncan or something like that) would've been league MVP if only the coach utilized him differently, most proud poppas think they could have handled their kid's management far better than those who were entrusted to do so, and John Cena Sr. is no different.
Hey, maybe he's right. After all, Mr. Cena is known to be a lifelong wrestling fan, which you might say makes him about as qualified as most of us until you realize he's been a longtime promoter, commentator, and in-ring talent in the New England independent circuitand he's even worked a handful of matches! (which makes him about as qualified as, like, six of you). Everyone's got a take on the matter and that of the elder Cena has made the rounds recently, primarily from an interview with Dr. Chris Featherstone on "Unskripted."
Of course, Cena Sr. is not alone in his criticism of the booking of his son's swan song. In fact, most wrestling aficionados and fanatics will agree that his heel turn, while perhaps fun and shocking in the moment, went sideways quickly (maybe thanks to The Rock, the lack of an actual plan, Travis Scott, or one and all). His thoughts on this final run aren't all bad, to be fair, and he is comprehensive in sharing what he felt about everything from the positives to the heel turn, The Rock's involvement and then lack thereof, Cena's interactions with Cody Rhodes, getting squashed by Brock Lesnar and what he'd do differently, and more.
Unlike little Duncan's dad on the baseball field, with some actual wrestling know-how in his back pocket, the right thing to do is hear this father out, and that's what we'll do today for Mr. Cena.
The nitpicking of Cena's retirement tour has been intermittent throughout the run, with negatives mostly surrounding the heel turn that never really went anywhere. But to be fair, as Cena Sr. is in his take, is to also point out some of the good stuff, of which there has been plenty from an overall perspective, and from which, it sounds like Mr. Cena is confident that his son's legacy will remain in goodstanding forevermore.
"I think what he's done is right," he said. "It's good. It's positive. He's done what he said he would do. He's thanked the fans in the only way he knows how and that's by giving them 36 appearances. You know, those fans mean an awful lot to him, as does the wrestling business."
With four of those appearances now left, speculation on an opponent for his last match, set to take place at "WWE Saturday Night's Main Event" in Washington, D.C. on December 13th, had reached a crescendo before it was announced that Cena's final foe would be determined via a 16-man tournament, fittingly titled, "The Last Time Is Now." The first four participants have now been announced, with Rusev taking on Damian Priest and Shinsuke Nakamura facing Sheamus on "WWE Raw," and the field will be fleshed out soon enough, but to Cena Sr., it doesn't sounds like that final opponent matters so much as the mark his son will leave on the business when it's all over.
"The legacy he will leave behind is really positive," Mr. Cena said. "If you listen to what he has to say, it's not about John Cena. Part of it is thanking the fans, and he says it's my turn to leave so some of the great, young talent in the back can come forward." Especially with the announced inclusion of two yet-to-be-named NXT superstars, speculation about the likes of Carmelo Hayes, Dominik Mysterio and others in terms of those ready to take the next step, and perhaps a wild card or two from non-WWE talent, the opportunity has been presented.
The biggest negative, according to Cena Sr. is the heel turn that perhaps few saw coming, but by which, even fewer ended up satisfied. Like many others, the elder Cena thought the idea was just fine, but where things started to get lost was the inclusion of, shall we say, an extra party, and the disappearance thereafter of the key player in the entire concept, outside of Cena himself.
"The shock factor was great," Cena Sr. said. "But I think the storyline was destroyed and that was a very poor move in my opinion because it was a big gamble for everyone involved and to see how it started, and then to see the characters who were involved no longer be present, well, the heel turn almost became non-essential." Naturally, you don't want to waste any of the dwindling time remaining for, arguably, your biggest star of all time, so "non-essential" is a stingingly nice way of saying "a waste of time." And clearly, the "no longer present" is a reference to The Rock (which we'll get to) but the biggest turnoff for the man known on the indies as "Johnny Fabulous" was the inclusion of rapper Travis Scott, who Cena Sr. says "had no business near a wrestling ring."
"I don't think Travis Scott really should have had a spot there to start with, period." he added. "Especially when you have a superstar down and [as shown on "WWE Unreal,"] it was The Rock that said to Scott, 'Lay it in.'" That wasn't the only blame Mr. Cena placed on The Rock, whose "I want your soul" storyline went nowhere after "The Final Boss" failed to appear at WrestleMania 41.
"[It's] not fair to the individual and it's not fair to the fans of the WWE," Cena said. "The story with Cody Rhodes and The Rock isn't finished." With that, the patriarch of the Cena family remains baffled, making the point that if there is to be no payoff, there should also be no tease. "Why not finish what we started? Or, if we couldn't finish what we started, let's not start it at all."
As bad as the short-lived heel turn went, a face turn would follow to hopefully cleanse the palates of those who still had bad tastes in their mouths. At SummerSlam, when Rhodes won the WWE Championship back from Cena and the two embraced, that was solidified, and the crowd at MetLife Stadium seemed happy. The WWE Universe seemed happy. John Cena Sr., presumably, was happy. And then Brock Lesnar came out and destroyed the younger Cena with an F5. The return itself wasn't much cause for alarm, unless you're thinking of lingering controversies outside the ring, but the wrestling world began to wonder what it meant for Cena and how the two might interact as the retirement tour wore on.
Everyone got their answer when the pair met at Wrestlepalooza, with the end result being Lesnar dominance to the tune of seven F5s that left Cena laying. For Mr. Cena, the result made no sense, though it begat a pair of alternative booking scenarios he would have laid out for his son versus "The Beast." "I think the intent of that match," he explained, "was a squash match [but it shouldn't have gone down that way]. Brock doesn't need the rub." Instead, Cena Sr. would have liked to have seen either a non-finish set up his son's next opponent, calling that at least minimally better than what actually played out, or for Lesnar and Cena to team up in a way that would both further establish the former as the beast that he is as well as transition the latter into his next feud, with the connective tissue being Paul Heyman.
"If Heyman wanted to get back at Lesnar and turns around and screws Lesnar, costs him the match, what's your next match?" he asked. "[People would] want to see it, Cena and Lesnar tag against whoever Heyman's representing." Seemingly, Mr. Cena was referring to Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed, but it matters not since that never happened. "I think the intent [was] that Brock is 'The Beast' and so 'The Beast' has decimated 'The GOAT' and so now let's see who 'The Beast's' next victim will be."
Ultimately, Cena Sr. is still hung up on the whole John Cena-Cody Rhodes-The-Rock-Travis Scott mess that went afoul, and he proposed a completely alternative scenarioone which had been bandied about here and there by others both before and after the Cena heel turnthat would have seen not "The Never Seen 17" but rather "The American Nightmare" turn to the dark side. "How about if the real victim here is John Cena and the real perpetrator is Cody Rhodes?" he asked. "What a swerve that would be."
Papa Cena's big hangup remains the fact that The Rock wasn't around after Elimination Chamber (and again that Scott shouldn't have been involved in the first place) so instead, he saw the turn and the payoff, at least as far as "The Final Boss" is concerned, take place in one fell swoop, with the Cena/Rhodes rivalry continuing on its own from there.
"If The Rock wasn't gonna be there," Cena Sr. said, also pointing out that Scott is now no longer associated with WWE either, "I think what should've happened after Cody told The Rock 'f*** you,' when Cena comes over and hugged Cody, Cody's the one that should've squeezed Cena, John turns to the crowd, it's Rhodes that nails him with the belt, and now we see the real alignment, and it's The Rock that comes over and said, 'You did it.' That would've been a storyline that could've gone on forever."
Of course, that vision wasn't the reality that took place and instead, despite the fact that Cena did win his 17th career world title at WrestleMania 41, thanks, in part, to Scott's controversial involvement, his dad and legions of others were left dissatisfied. "That championship win at WrestleMania was just not good." But in the end, with four dates to go, there is still time to wrap up John Cena Jr.'s final run in a way to make as many people as possible, including his father, happy with the entirety of it all.
