I have just seen one of the greatest wrestling promos of all time. Take it from someone who's seen a promo or two over the years - people will be talking about this 'inside look at John Cena' promo for a long, long time to come.
This one simple promo has single-handedly shifted the balance of power in favour of John Cena in my mind as far as his Wrestlemania 28 match with The Rock is concerned. It paints Cena as straddling the dichotomy between the immature 'believers' and the righteous smarks who view him with condescension but it does more than that. It shows him not as being disaffected or arrogant but as truly assimilating it as part of his character and still going that extra mile to handle a workload not seen in his profession since Hogan in the late '80s. There's a depth to this promo I can feel, sense, touch. There's something about it that convinces me that John Cena the character is John Cena the man.
He doesn't need to turn heel and he doesn't need to do heelish things. Because, with every step he takes, with every cap he throws out in slow motion to an empty arena, with every radio show spot he does and with every Make-A-Wish kid whose dream he makes come true, he is 'getting over' as this compromised character, each and every day of his life.
John Cena the man is going to take to that ring in Miami on April 1. John Cena the man is going to get booed out of that building by all but a select (possibly planted) few. But it is John Cena the man who needs to go over The Rock at Wrestlemania 28. I am now convinced without question that this is absolutely how he must be booked. John Cena must win. There is simply no other way.
