Would Cena turning heel be as big as Austins heel turn?

[mysteriofan]

Remember WM17 when Austin joined McMahon and turned heel? Of course you do, it was one of the biggest and most shocking things in wrestling history and one of the most well known heel turns. Well if Cena turned heel I'm guessing it would be pretty big, maybe just as big. Just my opinion but I thought it would make for an interesting thread and get other opinions as well. So like the thread title says...would Cena's heel turn (if it happened) be as big as Austins WM17 heel turn?

[Ice]

No. Part of the audience won't care. The ones who love to boo him would cheer, because they're annoying like that. And what's left would hold on to hope he'd go back to the way he was once upon a time. I personally wouldn't care too much. I'd be surprised initially, but that's about it. I think they've gotten to the point where they can't really do much with him but keep him as he is. A heel turn is too little too late.

[HilaryFan]

Bigger. Not that Cena is bigger than Austin cos hes not, but the heel turn itself would be up there with Bash at the Beach if done right

[Ice]

Bigger. Not that Cena is bigger than Austin cos hes not, but the heel turn itself would be up there with Bash at the Beach if done right

And there lies your issue. There's almost no good way to do it at this point.

[Summer of Punk]

No. Part of the audience won't care. The ones who love to boo him would cheer, because they're annoying like that. And what's left would hold on to hope he'd go back to the way he was once upon a time. I personally wouldn't care too much. I'd be surprised initially, but that's about it. I think they've gotten to the point where they can't really do much with him but keep him as he is. A heel turn is too little too late.

What part of the audience wouldn't care? Seriously?

[Heartburn Kid]

If he cheated to end Taker's streak at mania, then hell yea it'd be bigger by a mile.

[Dose]

Bigger. Austin the face wasn't exactly Mr Goody Two-shoes.

Cena going from boy scout to dastardly villain with a twirly mustache would be a bigger deal IMO.

[Ice]

What part of the audience wouldn't care? Seriously?

You really think every part of the audience cares what they do with this guy at this point? I didn't say a large part. A majority of the audience loves to hate him or just love him.

[oWn]

If Cena cheated to beat Undertaker I think that would be a huge oppertunity to get his heel turn over big time. But I also think this should have happened 5 years ago because its being talked about now by the IWC which would make it less of a shock. I think 5 years ago this would have been so unexpected

[The Hindusault]

The actual moment of turning might have been epic, but wasn't Austin's heel run ultimately a bit of a flop? Partially because it is hard to differentiate an Austin style heel from an Austin style face, and since Austin was so over, there was no way he could heel it up enough to keep from getting cheered against most faces you could throw at him?

For Cena, you might have a somewhat similar problem in that the people who used to boo him as a face, and to some extent still are, might in fact start cheering him if he turned heel. But other than that, the contrast between evil Cena and the very upright citizen Cena he's been since leaving his rapping days behind is certainly more distinctive than whatever could earnestly be done to differentiate newly turned heel Austin from face Austin.

So I think it might be a bit easier to envision a really good Cena heel turn than it was to come up with something that could work with Austin, and as such a Cena heel turn could be more successful - even though "bigger" is another question, seeing as wrestling itself is smaller now and Austin was top of the heap in wrestling when wrestling was at one of its tops (although I contend that The Rock might have been more of a crossover star in mainstream media even before his movie career started, but that's another issue).

[HollywoodDude]

bigger but at this point it doesnt matter anymore cause the audience is too smart and the lines between heel and face have blurred.

[BigRed]

The thought of Cena turning is so unimaginable to me at this point, that to see it actually go down would be HUGE. The only thing bigger that could happen in pro wrestling at this point is 'Taker's Streak ending. Therefore, as many have suggested, combining the two would be batshit crazy big, I think. Way bigger than Austin's.

[Djm]

It's a matter of HOW they do it.

It would have to be a major event to cause it. It'd have to be something as egregious and blasphemous as making Undertaker tap out at Wrestlemania.

[BigRed]

It's a matter of HOW they do it.

It would have to be a major event to cause it. It'd have to be something as egregious and blasphemous as making Undertaker tap out at Wrestlemania.

With the way 'Taker's 'Mania's matches have gone down the last four years, it couldn't be a simple tap out. That's too ridiculous to buy into. It would have to be a No DQ match or something similar and have it like the Umaga/Cena RR '07 match where he uses the ropes to assist in the application of the STFU.

A regular submission tap out would infuriate me. Add in the ropes or some other element to it and I'm on board. God, the Interent would explode.

[Todd]

The fact that it would infuriate you BigRed, is exactly why it's the sort of thing that Cena needs to do to ever successfully be heel.

The problem with turning him heel, is that people only want it to happen so that they can like him again. That's backwards and unsustainable. He would need to be genuinely hated by the mass audience. It will be an extremely difficult thing to pull off, and it would probably need to be aided by a shocking moment, such as beating Undertaker at WrestleMania.

A dirty win would accomplish the same thing though.

[Ice]

With the way 'Taker's 'Mania's matches have gone down the last four years, it couldn't be a simple tap out. That's too ridiculous to buy into. It would have to be a No DQ match or something similar and have it like the Umaga/Cena RR '07 match where he uses the ropes to assist in the application of the STFU.

A regular submission tap out would infuriate me. Add in the ropes or some other element to it and I'm on board. God, the Interent would explode.

You know what? I'm openly against ending the streak. Always have been. But that's the first legit statement to make me reconsider. That would be huge beyond words.

[BigRed]

The fact that it would infuriate you BigRed, is exactly why it's the sort of thing that Cena needs to do to ever successfully be heel.

The problem with turning him heel, is that people only want it to happen so that they can like him again. That's backwards and unsustainable. He would need to be genuinely hated by the mass audience. It will be an extremely difficult thing to pull off, and it would probably need to be aided by a shocking moment, such as beating Undertaker at WrestleMania.

A dirty win would accomplish the same thing though.

It would infuriate me because it'd be so unbelievable. First off, 'Taker doesn't tap out ever. I think the only time he ever did was against Kurt Angle on SD! for the WHC at some point, but even then, it was ambiguous. As such, he certainly isn't going to merely tap out at 'Mania, even if the same submission made HHH and HBK tap out. Second off, given what all we've seen 'Taker go through and still keep coming the last few 'Mania's, I just wouldn't be able to stretch my imagination enough to buy into Cena beating 'Taker with a regular STFU.

Like I said, big beat down beforehand, maybe some blood, add in the ropes or whatever else, and then the STFU and 'Taker taps? That's legendary. That's insane. Not only did the once big time babyface bloody the Deadman, beat him up severely, but he made someone that doesn't tap out, tap out at the event he isn't supposed to lose at. It's nuts.

Ah, to be fair, in any event, I'm going to be infuriated just out of loyalty to the Deadman and the Streak, but you can damn sure bet I'll be excited to tune into Raw the next night.

[Engel]

Austin was the greatest heel turn? Andre is sad.

You want a huge heel turn. Have Taker fight another heel, and have Cena cost him the streak and beat him down after the match. That would get far, far heat than a straight up Cena win.

[Djm]

Austin was the greatest heel turn? Andre is sad.

You want a huge heel turn. Have Taker fight another heel, and have Cena cost him the streak and beat him down after the match. That would get far, far heat than a straight up Cena win.

I've thought about that, too. But I think Cena needs to be the centerpiece. John Cena is a symbol. Something for everyone to gather around. Cena putting that STF that so many people can't stand on Mr. Tough Guy I-Wish-MMA-Was-Around-When-I-Was-Young Undertaker and making him tap out would be fantastically symbolic.

But I like symbolism a lot. John Cena beating Undertaker CLEAN via submission. Just that thought causes some people to tweak out.

[Ice]

I want to change my vote!

[Djm]

I want to change my vote!

.....Another one crosses over to the dark side.

[Oncall]

Austin was universally loved IIRC (my wrestling viewing was in its infancy at this point) Cena certaintly isn't. I feel as if all a heel turn would do at this point is change the tones of cheers and boos he gets.

[Ice]

.....Another one crosses over to the dark side.

Are you proud of yourself?

[Shivari]

It would've been huge, but it's something they should have done years ago. At this point I think they've invested so much in keeping Cena the same through hell and high water and they've missed so many good opportunities to turn him that I don't even really care. And the turn would be so awkward because everyone who boos him will probably cheer it because it would be the character evolution that made sense years ago. Back then you could have turned him and everyone probably would've been against him, because a lot of the hate was centered around "this guy legitimately sucks". At this point you'd just be reversing who's cheering because the hate is based around "this dude is still a fucking boyscout", and the reversal wouldn't be good for WWE because fewer adults would buy Cena t-shirts.

They realize they're better off keeping Cena the same. Face and heel mean less now anyways, because we all know that Punk could be as evil as possible from now on but next time Punk and Cena are in the ring together the crowd will be split like it always is. And both sides will be perfectly happy cheering their guy on and hating the other and the WWE wins in the end because people will put their money into it. And they get to move on afterwards with Cena having a typical face-heel feud right after and everything's back to normal and they keep collecting money.

[System]

No, it would suck. The people that didn't want it wouldn't be pleased, and the people that do would claim it's years too late.
The people that love it won't outweigh the people that love buying shirts.