It just seems stupid. People generally don't get stabbed in wrestling, so when I hear that Cena's been stabbed I think it's real. It does seem in bad taste to me, because it's a lot more 'Real' than normal wrestling. If they'd said Cena had broken ribs from a match, or whatever, that'd be okay. But to me, saying "John Cena was stabbed in a bar, he'll be out for a few weeks" is just as tasteless as, "John Cena accidentally overdosed on drugs this weekend. He'll be in the hospital and in recovery for the next few weeks."
I don't think many wrestlers or wrestling fans would think THAT was in good taste.
-Jag
The view from over here:
There's no real difference between me and Joe Conservative as I see it. We both lie, cheat, and steal. It's just that sometimes, deep down, it bothers me.
What bothers me about the angle is that it's a crime where, if it had actually happened, John Cena could have died. To pass this off as an 'okay' angle for him to go off and shoot a film is wrong. They might as well said that Lita had been, (your deity here) forbid, brutally raped when she was out with her neck injury. It's just really wrong.
But that gets me back to what I mean. "Who Ran Over Stone Cold Steve Austin?" was a great injury angle because you had many players and it happened on camera the night of Survivor Series. The angle with Cena didn't happen that way and to me, they missed out one hell of a chance to get Carlito even more heel heat. All they've given us is that Cena got punctured in the kidney and Carlito may have been unvolved. AND it wasn't aired.
What should have been done was an angle that aired on tv for all to see. Sure, we'd know that it was a work to get him over to the film set, but don't bullshit us with a letter campaign. This isn't like with Randy Orton; he was really hurt.
If anything, instead of sending Get Well wishes, people should inundate the WWE with fake leads to suspects who might have stabbed Cena that night or with questions as to how the investigation is going. That would be funny to me.
Meg: Being a single mother is hard, but the real challenge is having a baby that's addicted to crack. Right Stewie?
Stewie: What's that? Oh yes, yes, I love crack. I'm absolutely cuckoo for crack.
It think it is a good angle in regards that I don't think its going to be Carlito. Carlito is a huge red herring in this plot, so I'm hoping its someone else, because Carlito is not really impressing me at all. He has a afro and an arm drag, wow I'm totally marking out. He is a generic wrestler and I don't think to highly of his father either.
I can almost see it being Orton that attcked John if they give Orton the belt early. That would be an instant heel turn for him. It would set up Orton/Cena for the Wrestlemaina 21 which is something they have been kicking around. Cena on Raw is something that would help Raw, but Smackdown would need something in return like HHH. I would have said Kane or HBK, but since its going to be a long time since we see either of those guys, Hunter is the best choice to get something going on Smackdown.
from a Torch interview... TNA's wrestler and member of Team Canada 'Johnny Devine' has started to work out for the first time since he was stabbed several weeks ago while leaving a nightclub in Nashville. While he is healing up he has been doing commentary for USA Championship Wrestling in Nashville. Devine is said to be upset over the recent WWE angle where John Cena was attacked in a nightclub, feeling the company is playing off his real life incident
"What bothers me about the angle is that it's a crime where, if it had actually happened, John Cena could have died."
Same here. Also the fact that when it's revealed to be Carlito or whichever surprise heel they're going to put the heat on, then you've got a wrestler who stabbed another wrestler. Which is just creepy. And puncturing livers with knives goes beyond my personal taste spectrum for damage I want to see inflicted in pro wrestler.
This upping the ante in heel actions in a desperate attempts to get people over with baby-killing and now stabbing is beyond pro wrestling heat angles. They're so hardcore that they probably would've drawn millions of dollars 30 years ago, but now they just seem cartoonishly extreme, from heel heat to ridiculous movie villain heat.
I agree with the Spaceman, Spiff, who said Cena should have been Shooting Star Pressed into some kind of coma. That's perfect.
A Fan: "I can almost see it being Orton that attcked John if they give Orton the belt early."
That would actually be pretty cool, and at least makes the Big Stab important for a major turn and big Wrestlemania match instead of a midcard injury angle.
I was going to make an "I bet it turns out to be Sid"-joke, but I wonder how Arn Anderson feels about this angle. (I'm assuming he still works for WWE, because I don't remember hearing otherwise.)
“To get ass, you’ve got to bring ass." -- Roy Jones Jr.
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You know the whole thing which sickens me about this angle: on wwe.com they have put up a 'send your get well cards to John Cena' bit. I mean what the hell are us smart marks supposed to write?
Dear Mr. Cena, I was sorry to hear you have been 'stabbed'and when I say 'stabbed' I mean gone of to film a movie where you get paid thousands to millions of dollars. I deeply regret that you are now being payed more for three months of work than I am being my entire life. Furthermore, I would like to say a big old 'thankyou' (and when I say 'thankyou' I mean 'screw you') to Vince McMahon and the rest of World Wrestling Entertainment for promoting Cena to be at all future WWE shows up until the week of his dissapearance meaning that 75% of the audience go home dissapointed because they mainly came to see Cena. This also applies to Kane.
Call me crazy, but I'm okay with it. This hearkens back to the days when people really thought Junk Yard Dog was blinded by the Freebirds, or that whoever it was really broke Bruno Sammartino's neck. In fact, my latter example was handled so well I can't remember if it was real or not.
What is the great divide between asking for get well e-mails and not asking? The people who actually write these things will be too young and/or naive to realize this incident didn't actually go down. By the time Cena returns, he'll be billed as having "fully recovered", and no one will know the difference. Asking for get wells for legit injuries carries the ugly risk of creating an emotional build-up that won't deliver a payoff, since legit injuries can lead to retirement.
The guys who run WWE are the last of the Carny crowd. Slowly but surely, the guys hanging up the boots and going behind the scenes and running the show in McMahonland are a clan who can remember a time in the business where you never admitted it was fixed. It was a simpler time, a time when you didn't sit across from a talk-show host and smile as he disparaged your livelihood. Where you didn't have to grit your teeth and take proverbial bumps from some paltry-lookin' h'ordeurve of a punk thinking he'd "like to be a wrestler".
This is, sadly or not, the logical evolution of "working the marks". Only now, the marks have so many weapons at their disposal, this being the age of information and all, that it has to be taken up a step. Fortunately they've subtracted the "worked shoot" feel that WCW had when Father Russo thought he was being so clever, and now they'll settle for fooling "some of the people; some of the time."
As traditionalists, we may scoff at it, but if wrestling must admit itself as being little different than any other entertainment on the TV dial*, it makes little sense to continue to apply limitations to its programming.
Also, can someone please explain how showing attempted vehicular homicide is less damaging to the kiddies than talking about to an off-screen stabbing? From Heidenreich, to Shane, to Austin being hit, to Austin dropping Triple H out of that crane, to the nWo smashing the Rock, we've actually seen those crimes. The likelihood of a surviving a stabbing is actually much higher than any of the car-wrecks they've shown on-screen. Wasn't any of that creepy?
*Guess TVs don't have dials anymore, but meh, I love that cliche.
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I still wonder what Cena does with the 1000 different pairs of wrestling tights he was known for having? Why buy all those different colored trunks with matching boots and then wrestle in the same pair of jean shorts every night? Now all that money wasted on work clothes you don't ever wear is appalling.
"This hearkens back to the days when people really thought Junk Yard Dog was blinded by the Freebirds, or that whoever it was really broke Bruno Sammartino's neck."
I said the same thing, except the only problem is you can't turn back the clock and expect what worked in the past to work today. Those angles drew gigantic houses for the grudge match and I will safely bet that this one won't mean anything.
"In fact, my latter example was handled so well I can't remember if it was real or not."
It actually was. Stan Hansen slammed him wrong or sumtin.
"The guys who run WWE are the last of the Carny crowd."
Indeed, and I think the more they try these desperately over the top angles in an attempt to pretend it's the 70s and what worked then will work again, the less they're going to actually accomplish.
"Also, can someone please explain how showing attempted vehicular homicide is less damaging to the kiddies than talking about to an off-screen stabbing?"
I wasn't really talking about kids, I was talking about what I do and don't like to see as part of pro wrestling. To me, a car crash is cartoon violence and stabbing is a lot more disturbing. Why, at the same time, I'm completely comfortable with guys being left in a pool of their own blood after being hit in the head with something hard, I dunno. Just don't puncture!
Originally posted by Sam_Van_619You know the whole thing which sickens me about this angle: on wwe.com they have put up a 'send your get well cards to John Cena' bit. I mean what the hell are us smart marks supposed to write?
Obviously, they're supposed to put the pen down and log onto the first message board they can find to share their smug sense of superiority with their brethren!
Also, forgive me but you don't seem that "smart" of a "mark."
Ya know I thought it was pretty disturbing about him getting puncture wounds in the kidneys. The little kids at home must have been scared. But despite the moral injustice I think it was actually a pretty good angle apart from them saying that Carlito did it. I think it would be good if when Cena comes back he looks for the Homicidal maniac who - wait a minute why not the WWE sign Homicide and have him feud with John Cena! Either him or Sabu. Personally, I'm not bothered.
I don't really like the angle because if one of the wrestlers is found out to have don it, you have another instance where a felon is runing around loose in the world of wrestling when he "should" be in jail. If it isn't, then its just a lame excuse to have Cena get injured and not even give a heel some rub from injuring the top babyface. Anyway, I hope that this doesn't lead to the inevitable where Carlito is guilty, Cena comes back, and then beats him for the US Title. Hopefully, they can use his time away to rehab his character. He needs to be more edgy, and I think that everyone knows that. He also needs to be vastly improved as a worker, but I think that that is a bit more of a long term goal.
There isn't much to really be said about this. It's wrestling and I sort of agree with Hogan's Dad. It brings back some of the realism.
Yet, not always good, brings us to see that it truly a more dangerous world we live in. Kids who watch this stuff are being affected but it's parents responsibility to be there to say, "Hey it's made up story". The "Cena" story is 100% kayfabed to the common mark. To us we have to give it some kind of analysts before we talk about to deem it good or bad for wrestling.
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Surely I am not the only one to notice this. Either the writers didn't know, which means they are even more out of the loop than I thought, or they knew and that's what gave them the idea.
Just over a month ago Andy Douglas and Johnny Devine were legitamately attacked and both stabbed. Devine needed abdominal surgery, but both will be ok.
I've tolerated a lot of shit from the WWE, but this is the last straw. I'm serious. I can't go back to the Asylum, but ROH is running a sale on old DVD's.
I can't even continue this, or I'm going to rant and rave and teach you all new curse words. Time to go repeat calming mantras off of Low Ki's website.
Originally posted by Hogan's My DadYou think that was even news in WWE? I'd be surprised if Vince has ever heard of Andy Douglas or Johnny Devine. I know I haven't.
Professional wrestlers stabbed? Yeah, I think someone in WWE probably heard something about it. C'mon, it's a small world. Devine, for instance, trained at the Dungeon; someone from WWE probably knows him, even slightly.
Devine and Douglas both work for NWA TNA (Devine as a member of Team Canada, and Douglas as one-half of former tag champs The Naturals), and I'm pretty sure Vince has heard of TNA. Not that he follows them religiously or anything, but I bet he pays someone to. And even if that's not the case, I'm sure that someone mentioned this incident to him at some point.
And I'm not saying that Vince got the idea from this, or even that it would be wrong of him if he did. I just think that other professional wrestlers getting stabbed is probably a story that makes the rounds.
--K
(edited by Karlos the Jackal on 26.10.04 0246) Last 5 movies seen: Control Room - Frank and Ollie - I am Trying to Break Your Heart - Mr. & Mrs. Smith - Awakenings
I doubt Vince knows about Devine. But we know for a fact that the head writers on both shows subscribe to the Obrserver were the stabbing story and the backstage response got heavy coverage.
This doesn't harken back to the old carny times. This harkens back to Russo and "reality" angles.
It used to be getting stabbed or hurt by someone outside the buisness would get you kicked out of a fed as it makes wrestlers look weak. It wouldn't be something anyone would brag about or run an angle claiming it happened.
Austin Idols tires got stabbed, never Austin Idol.
It should also be pointed out that there is stigma on Puerto Rican wrestling as being lawless caused by Brody being stabbed by Invader which kind of lays on top of this whole Carlito angle.. And well addds to the Russo "edgy"ness of it.
SO, if my uncle got his head put into a folding chair and had it stomped on, causing internal injuries, automaticly the WWE shouldnt use that as a "going away" injury any more?
Plus, if you have Cena AND Kane both leave from "vicious in ring beatings" at within two weeks of the other, isnt that a bit obvious?
Plus, it sets up the "whodunnit" when he gets back, assuming they are smart enough to book it so that when they say he got stabbed in the kidney, the imply FROM BEHIND WITH NO WAY TO SEE WHO IT WAS. Which of course, leads to the return of "I did it for you Cool, I did it for YOU!" Heel Rikishi.
Originally posted by StaggerLeeSO, if my uncle got his head put into a folding chair and had it stomped on, causing internal injuries, automaticly the WWE shouldnt use that as a "going away" injury any more?
No, but if that DOES happen you so had better be posting pics and/or video.
“To get ass, you’ve got to bring ass." -- Roy Jones Jr.
"Your input has been noted. I hope you don't take it personally if I disregard it." -- Guru Zim
"Of course, Hassan's going to SD; that's the Land of Evil Fur'ners. Imagine the Survivor Series match with Hassan, Dupree, Suzuki, and one of the Canadians against a pro-US team.