The Tides Are Turning

There has been a lot written and spoken about since the CM Punk interview that shook the world about this being the beginning of a new era in wrestling, Punk himself has called this the "reality" era. In my mind there are a few things that I can see that would truly signify a new era. This article is about the main thing I see as being the turning factor for the true beginning of a new era.

It is time the WWE pull the trigger on a John Cena heel turn. The timing is perfect, the situation could not get much better, and the fans are ready for it. Much like Hulk Hogan in the early 90's his character has grown stale and the product has suffered because of it. He is still a major money earner among the pre teen demographic, however everyone else is turning on him. CM Punk's merchandise is currently flying off the merchandise counters and out of shop.wwe.com at a tremendous rate. With the popularity of Punk and the continued popularity of Rey Mysterio I believe any merchandising revenue lost turning Cena could easily be recouped.

There are a few ways that this could happen. The easy and obvious route would be to have Cena align himself with Triple H and continue the feud against Punk. Cena could be Triple H's corporate champion much like The Rock was for Vince McMahon. He could stop wearing the jean shorts in the ring and evolve his look to a more traditional wrestling gear, something along the lines of what he wore before the white rapper gimmick.  A change in music would be needed as well, something more like what Mark Henry uses if they want to keep it a rap song.

This could also seriously help build the Wrestlemania match between The Rock and Cena. It could be billed as the face of McMahon's WWE vs the face of Triple H's WWE and they could even be in the corners of each wrestler.  I imagine a version of Cena who is a little rougher around the edges who caters more to what he wants and his boss Triple H instead of trying to cater to the fans.

There have been a few subtle signs of a potential turn by Cena. The most obvious would be during the contract signing when he specifically named off the reasons the fans dislike him. He could easily build on this saying that he didn't turn on the fans, the fans turned on him.  The fans are largely siding with CM Punk during there feud and the WWE has to see the writing on the wall here.

The pay off ultimately would be after a few years of heel Cena the fans will be cheering for him much like Hogan at Wrestlemania X8, thus making it feel like the inevitable face turn seem more like a reaction to what the fans want and help build the business back to where it was ten years ago.