WWE: Is Thuganomics John Cena Making A Comeback?

That strange noise you heard last night after John Cena‘s music hit was a honest-to-goodness, legitimate crowd pop! While I’m sure there were still a fair share of boos, the applause came through the loudest to those watching at home. Since John Cena returned to WWE TV after his brief 2016 exodus, he has been fueled by a very different fire than the one we’ve grown accustomed to over the majority of his reign.

Over the past ten years, there have been two kinds of John Cena: Serious deep voice Cena and obilvious poop joke John Cena. The second was a result of the WWE writing complete drivel for his promos that only a nine year old could find humorous. Considering nine year olds were forcing their parents to buy headbands and “fruity pebble” t shirts, this actually makes sense.

Before he became the company’s torch bearer, however, there was another version of the champ –the Doctor of Thuganomics. At the height of Eminem’s popularity, Cena rocked a his signature jorts with a backwards hat, big rope chain and sports jersey of the local team’s biggest adversary. Every Cena promo included a “freestyle rap” that would tear down his opponent for the night. While Cena’s “raps” were more or less edgy poems, they were fairly well crafted. Unfortunately, they usually concluded with a reference to how his opponent enjoyed sleeping with other men, which at the time was apparently the ultimate diss. Remember, this was the pre-PG Era of the WWE.

While his Marky Mark, Justin Bieber flow did seem a bit ridiculous, one thing Thuganomics Cena had going for him was edge; especially during his early heel days. Cena was ruthless in the ring. He didn’t have to overcome the odds, he was the odds! Once it was clear Cena was on his way to becoming the WWE’s number one babyface, the WWE dropped the freestyles and the sports jerseys (but sadly left the jorts) and started pumping out Cena merchandise by the millions.

When Cena went away to film The Marine in 2004, you would have thought he literally left for the Marines. Suddenly, Cena was saluting the crowd and wearing dog tags and preaching his hustle, loyalty and respect credo.

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Cena’s PHD in Thuganomics has been left on the shelf for the majority of the past decade; only returning for a brief stint to battle The Rock in a rap battle to build-up to their Wrestlemania match up in 2012. A few less gay jokes, but awful nonetheless, and as everyone knows, when you want street cred, a Mark Price jersey is the obvious choice. 

Over the last three weeks, Cena has been in pure Serious Cena mode. He’s made it clear that he has no intentions of stepping aside for anyone in the WWE’s “new era.” Each week, however, Serious Cena has let a little more and more of his Thuganomic side slip back into his promos.

First it was finishing his promos by saying “I’m John Cena, Recognize!” Who says recognize anymore? Clearly, only someone who received their Thuganomics degree in the early 2000’s. 

Last night, Cena took it a step farther. John Cena threw a little rhyme diss into his promo on Baron Corbin! 

John Cena is clearly on his way to tying Ric Flair’s record of 16 world championships and is possibly even on a collision course with the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. While I haven’t given up on Cena turning heel at some point, the fact that he’s incorporated hints of his old persona into his current character makes it clear that Cena hasn’t forgotten his Thug past. Don’t be surprised to see it creep into his act more and more over the next few months, because as we all know, damn it feels good to be a ganster. 

Would you like to see the Cenation leader return to his Thuganomics roots?

Word Life!

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