Overgrown Children and Why We Hate John Cena

I must confess, growing up I was a big wrestling fan, but then as most do, drifted away from it as I reached my latter teenage years and my early 20s. I somewhat kept tabs on what was happening and would read the occasional article when WWE managed to cross over onto mainstream news or ESPN, but for the most part, I was out.

I found myself sucked back in last year when CM Punk somewhat made wrestling cool again (kind of) and despite the fact it has often failed to live up to the heights of last year, I find myself still hooked.

In doing this, I have also found myself deep into the online wrestling world reading "dirt sheets" on occasion and also the articles of some of my favourite wrestling writers such as David Shoemaker and Brandon Stroud, as well as interacting with them on twitter. Immersing myself in this world I have found just how much wrestling fans of my generation and older hate John Cena.

I can't pretend to be a Cena fan either, but it's actually quite amazing how vitriolic some people can be about it and it makes me wonder why and of course, I have a theory.

Now the prevailing thoughts on the issue are the Cena caters to children, is rammed down our throat even when we are sick of him and also that a guy that looks like he should be the best and never seems to really struggle, dominates his competition, which becomes boring and repetitive, especially with such a limited arsenal.

The above is all true, but I think there is more to it. My theory is that wrestling fans who hate John Cena on some level hate him because he reminds them that in some regards, they are still heavily following a sport/entertainment that most people their age long ago left to the younger generation. The exact reason Cena is rammed down our throats is because of his appeal to children, the merchandise sales he generates and so forth. But there-in lies the problem for many people. Who are WWE saying is their target market?

If at my age I admit to someone who doesn't follow wrestling that I in fact do, I fully expect an eye roll or snarky comment. I'm sure this is the same for many. The last place a wrestling fan wants to get that treatment is when they are watching the product itself. In some ways, John Cena is that eye roll and snarky comment but coming directly from the WWE. John Cena is the face of the WWE even if we hate it because we're not supposed to be watching anymore anyway.

Now obviously that's not entirely true. The WWE can't survive on the child demographic alone. They need the big kids like myself to continue to watch and that's why we do get thrown a bone now and then. The recent pushes of CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and Zack Ryder are testament to that. That way the WWE continues to have its cake and eat it too.

But the big question I think I and other wrestling fans over the age of 20 might need to ask ourselves is whether we hate Cena because he sucks, or because he reminds us that we are holding onto something that isn't aimed at us anymore and we don't want to admit it.

In the meantime, enjoy Punk v Bryan at Over The Limit.