The Phantom Rant: John Cena is a bust as a heel

Greetings conversationalists all across the fruited plain. It is I…the one and only “Phantom Lord” Joseph Davis and this is The Phantom Rant. As always I am coming to you from a very hot and humid New York City and it was so hot that the big apple was baked inside and out. Luckily things are set to cool off over the next couple of days, but that doesn’t mean I will. Night of Champions is done and over with and I must say it was a run of the mill typical WWE show. Nothing shocking happened. Cody won the King of the Ring like I figured he would. That’s setting up Cody vs. Cena at Summerslam since Cena retained in a run in filled main event against CM Punk.

John Cena’s heel turn…the turn that people had been clamoring for over a decade in my view is officially a bust. Sure The Rock ditching everyone didn’t help matters. Travis Scott being a replacement run in to help him win the WWE Title was lame. But in the time since he kicked Cody Rhodes in the balls to right now, John Cena being the bad guy has been a bust. Okay, yes the Cena pipe bomb was pretty good. But that was one good thing. The bad outweighs the good in all of this. Once upon a time in the early 2000’s, Cena knew how to be a heel. But I guess after decades of being Superman… somewhere along the line he forgot how it all works. Also doesn’t help that Cena’s Peacemaker TV show is coming out with its newest season to celebrate the start of the new DCU.

I just can’t see how Cena is going to stay champion until his last match in December if this is all we are getting from him. It’s the same thing in every match. I think John Cena is much more capable of being a heel, but because of his outside of wrestling image he can’t separate the two. John Cena has to be the good guy 24/7 because that’s what his roles in Hollywood dictate. John Cena as a heel should have been something generational on the level of Hulk Hogan turning heel to join the N.W.O. But we never got that.

Maybe I’m placing too much blame on John Cena. WWE Creative is as much to blame as is everyone I’ve mentioned so far. I thought when John Cena turned on R-Truth, that was done brilliantly. Truth couldn’t accept that his “childhood hero” would do such a thing. The WWE dropped the ball with this feud. Truth came back and was all serious and he was out for revenge and they had a quick match and that was that. Truth still wants Cena, but he’s not going to get him anytime soon. I just don’t get it. They change R-Truth’s character completely and do nothing with him. This was after the crowds demanded he be brought back. Well, knowing the WWE they are probably punishing Ron Killings for forcing them to re-sign him back to the company. Yes, I know how crazy that sounds…but you don’t understand how petty this company can be.

So with the feud with Ron Killings pretty much dead for the time being, where does Cena go from here? I hate to say it, but I almost hope Cody wins the title at Summerslam only for Seth Rollins to run in and cash in and win it from him. I don’t think the company can make it to December with Cena as champion. Just to be clear, I don’t mean that in a literal sense. No, the WWE is fine. They won’t implode upon themselves if John Cena remains champion until his last match in December. But things are getting boring and they will only get worse if something isn’t done to spice things up.

I think in retrospect, they should have never put the WWE Championship on John Cena at Wrestlemania. Yeah, Cody was getting a little stale as champion. But it’s nothing that the odds couldn’t overcome so to speak. Would things be different if The Rock didn’t bail on everyone? Oh most certainly they would be. Is it possible that The Rock has told the WWE to keep things status quo with Cena as Champion? I wouldn’t doubt it for a minute.

What needs to happen is Cena and Cody need to have a barn burner of a feud between now and Summerslam to save everything. Everything we were getting with Rock and Cody, we need that kind of feeling. That kind of tone. That kind of everything with John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes. I don’t want to see Cody involved with Seth Rollins. Seth has his toes in enough feuds to keep him busy to whenever he cashes in. Cena and Cody needs to go old school and make this feud something straight out of the 80’s with the heat and intensity.

Aside from that I don’t know what else can be done to salvage John Cena’s run as a heel. He needs to do something to get that heel heat he is so lacking. If you think Cena’s heel turn hasn’t been a bust, I don’t know what to tell you.

So we shall see what happens in the coming weeks with the build to Summerslam starting off slow as Saturday Night’s Main Event and Evolution 2 are higher priority’s for the WWE at the moment. I hope after next week when those shows are over we start getting something….anything with Cena and Cody because they need a desperate shot in the arm for all of this.

On that note I am done for this week. As always feel free to leave feedback down below, on twitter or email me at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com