JBL understands why fans had a polarizing reaction to John Cena.
John Cena has been a babyface nearly all 20 years of his time in the WWE, save for a short run as a heel when he started on SmackDown. His rise to the top of the WWE would culminate at WrestleMania 21, where he would defeat JBL for the WWE Championship. Following that title win, Cena was in the main event and stayed there for the majority of his WWE career. Fans have not been too pleased with this in the long run.
While on Busted Open Radio, former WWE Champion and WWE Hall of Famer JBL discussed why some fans took to disliking and booing Cena while he was the top WWE babyface.
“I think it was because he was just too good,” JBL said. “He’s this good-looking guy, he’s got this great body, he puts out great matches, and he has incredible promos … Cena would go out there and he had the entire crowd chanting either ‘Let’s Go Cena’, or ‘Cena sucks’. By the time he’s five minutes into that promo, everybody is into whatever he’s saying … I think people just disliked him, for one, they couldn’t control it, and two, it was a great departure from the beer-drinking, middle finger, and the cussing from The Rock and Stone Cold in the Attitude Era.”
JBL on Busted Open Radio
JBL has a point that if you look up saint in the dictionary, it is likely to feature John Cena as a reference. That, plus the goody goody nature of his character would explain why fans did not take to Cena until his schedule was heavily reduced.
H/T WrestlingInc for transcription
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