Characters In Wrestling Part 1: John Cena

First off let me just say, that these 3 Characters In Wrestling threads are not from me. They are from a poster on JA606 called Torres's Psychologist. I thought I would repost them here cuz they are pretty good and will get the suitable attention here. Part one is John Cena:

Chapter One : John Cena

Our chain gang leader himself, except he isn't anyone is he? What has he evolved into? What does he actually stand for now? The notion of stubborness would be my best guess. Ever since around the close of 2006, the development of John Cena's character has been about one thing - decimation. Slowly stripping away his personality while replacing it with hollow "boy scout" blueprint reinforcement. The only personality trait he's managed to retain is the 'you can't see me' gesture, which at the moment signifies nothing without the sense of real oppression behind it.

John Cena used to have a full, rich character, and his decline didn't materialised the moment he pinned JBL at WM21, it was a few years after that day. In his mid-card years, he was this gritty underdog he still tries to pass himself off as now. His dodgy rhythms and ring nous were forgiveable, everything from his confused sense of morality and his personality growth through that journey was consistent and utterly relateable. Taking away everything that made his character unique; the chain, the knuckles, the throwback attire, etc.... he was a walking symbol of a similar rite of passage many men everywhere have gone through in their youth. I personally didn't care for him, but that was more down too those querks i mentioned above (that particuplar reality has never affected, or indeed interested me), i still appreciated him as an individual.

And even after he won the title, he still retained elements of his identity. Re-designing the championship belt was a start. As 2005 wore on the signs were there that a storm was coming no doubt, but he still retained the most pivetal parts of his personality : he was still the battling underdog, he still had that wig-er vibe, though he was wearing promotional gear by now they were simple designs. And further more, he actually had real odds he had to overcome : Bischoff's anti-bias, Jericho's music based feud in the summer, Angle challenging his ring credability. And even rolling into 2006 when his fan divide started to emerge and it meant something from the character's prospective. Beating HHH (the political symbol of all things WWE) at WM, taking on an entire organisation against RVD at ONS, having his first smarks feud with Edge, all things which at the time vaildated his underdog complex because he was still relatively fresh.

Contrast the last two paragraphs with what we get presented in the year 2012. No foundation for an underdog complex any longer, no individuality, no dualities, no subtle weakenesses, no true strengths, just a weightless code and a misguided ideal ..... no progression, rather a regression. He's been reduced to nothing more than an ancient blueprint of what wrestling dims as relateable to the man on the street. He defiantly refuses to turn his back on himself without realising that ship sailed a long time ago. There's no strength of character because a character in the true sense of the word no longer exists. Everything from his shameful attire to a lack of even the slightest bit of self indulgance is a complete betrayal to the kid that strolled down to the ring with but a mic and a dream. And WWE have intelligently overplayed the last piece of internal indentity he had left, seeing the fan divide as a mark of oppression, with him now actively baiting the fans into a possible heel switch. Again, writing themselves into a corner with the only way out being an empty heel turn which will put the final nail in his coffin.

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Thoughts?