Vintage Column- Cena Sucks: The History of John Cena and Chicago

[Welcome to Chicago Week. There is now only one WWE RAW show left in 2011 and it is in Chicago this Monday. Chicago is my city and to get you excited about RAW, I am devoting an entire week to Chicago-related blog posts. I am planning to do a daily column this week called Great WWE Chicago Moments. I will do a Top 15 WWE moments in Chicago column this weekend so the Great WWE Chicago Moments columns will feature some of the honorable mentions. I am planning on doing four of them and there should be one for every day before Christmas. That starts tomorrow.  Today, I am posting a column that first appeared on THE INFAMOUS JCITY. I have never posted it here and this is a good time to post it. This vintage column will have an updated ending.]

Cena Sucks: The History of John Cena and Chicago

By Tony Kegger

On July 17, 2011, John Cena will defend his WWE Championship against CM Punk at the WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view event. The PPV will take place at the Allstate Arena in Chicago which is CM Punk’s home city.  As you can imagine, CM Punk is expected to receive many cheers despite being a heel. John Cena is expected to receive a lot of boos from the Chicago crowd but not just because he is CM Punk’s opponent. Chicago has been booing Cena for the last several years and the boos could reach an all-time high on July 17 with the hometown hero CM Punk as Cena’s opponent. Cena has made several appearances in Chicago during his WWE career and this article will focus on some of those appearances. If you saw the last Monday Night RAW before WrestleMania 27 that took place in Chicago on March 28 of this year, then you know that the fans in Chicago are hostile towards John Cena. However, as you will see in this article, there have been many other times when several members of the Chicago crowd made it clear that they do not like John Cena.

I need to mention something before I start going through the history of John Cena in Chicago. This article will include several videos that will help illustrate my point about how the Chicago crowd feels about John Cena. I will try describing how much Cena is disliked in Chicago, but watching the videos should help you understand better that Chicago doesn’t like Cena.  The videos should appear in the article. If for some reason the video isn’t appearing or isn’t playing, I will have the link somewhere in the paragraph. If I am referring to an event and you see that some of the text is linked then there’s a good chance the link will direct you to the video. Okay I hope that all makes sense and please enjoy the article.

June 27, 2002- John Cena makes his WWE debut on Smackdown in Chicago.

Believe it or not, John Cena actually made his WWE debut in Chicago during an episode of Smackdown. If you didn’t know that, then you are already learning something about the history of Cena and Chicago and I have barely started this article. A lot of the Chicago fans had no idea who John Cena was so this is one of the few times Cena didn’t receive a hostile reaction from the Chicago crowd. I don’t really have much to say about John Cena’s debut. It is just very interesting in my opinion that his WWE career started in the city that would end up disliking him a lot.

April 10, 2003- John Cena cuts a promo before his match on Smackdown in Chicago.

Do you remember when John Cena was a heel? I don’t but that’s only because I was in the middle of a seven year break from WWE TV during the beginning of Cena’s career. In 2003, John Cena was a heel so when Smackdown came to Chicago on April 10, Cena got booed. This was one of the few times in Chicago when you were expected to boo him. Cena cut a promo on the Undertaker but he also added a few insults for the Chicago crowd. Cena later went back to being a face but Chicago would continue to boo him many times after his Chicago diss promo. 

April 1, 2006- John Cena inducts William “Refrigerator” Perry into the WWE Hall of Fame in Chicago.

Okay I skipped a couple of years. I think Cena did have a couple of Chicago appearances in 2004 and 2005 but nothing really interesting happened. This would be a very long article if I discussed all of Cena’s appearances in Chicago. John Cena was back in Chicago on April 1, 2006. This time he was in the Rosemont Theatre to induct former Chicago Bears player and WrestleMania 2 participant William Perry into the WWE Hall of Fame. As you will see in the video (scroll to 1:35 in the video to see John Cena), John Cena was booed that night. As bad as it was, it was not as hostile as the reaction he would receive the next night at WrestleMania 22.

April 2, 2006- John Cena faces Triple H at Wrestlemania 22 in Chicago.

Now this is where things get interesting. THIS is where Chicago cemented its legacy as an official anti-Cena city. THIS is why many WWE fans can’t wait to see how Chicago reacts to John Cena at Money in the Bank at July 17. THIS was WrestleMania 22…John Cena vs. Triple H for the WWE Championship.

The crowd booed Cena’s entrance and it would get a lot worse after that. During the match, the crowd was rooting for Triple H and they were booing John Cena. Not too long after the match started, the fans began chanting “Fuck You Cena” (scroll to 1:20 in the video).

Have you ever heard a “Let’s Go Cena”/”Cena Sucks” chant during RAW? Well later at WrestleMania 22, the fans started a “Let’s Go Cena”/”Fuck You Cena” chant.

Cena would go on to win the match but after that, it became known that Chicago does not like John Cena. By the way, if I am not mistaken, Money in the Bank on July 17 will be the first time John Cena defends his WWE Championship in Chicago (on television) since his WrestleMania 22 match.

March 26, 2007- John Cena and Shawn Michaels face Undertaker and Batista in a tag team match on RAW in Chicago.

Last March wasn’t the first time Chicago hosted the final RAW before WrestleMania. Chicago also hosted the final RAW before WrestleMania 23 on March 26, 2007. The main event match of that RAW was Cena and Shawn Michaels vs. the Undertaker and Batista. This match was booked because Cena would face Michaels and the Undertaker would face Batista at WrestleMania 23. During the match, Michaels hit Cena with Sweet Chin Music which allowed Team Undertista to get the win. In any other city, such an action by Michaels might have been viewed as a heel turn because John Cena was the biggest face of the WWE at the time. But Chicago cheered Michaels for it. Now it became clear that not only did Chicago hate Cena but they also liked seeing bad things happen to him. If the WWE ever wants to turn someone into a face, all they have to do is have him attack Cena in Chicago.

Below is the video of “The Kick”. Shawn Michaels’ kick doesn’t happen right away so you will need to scroll to 5:12 in the video. If you click the link, you won’t have to play with the YouTube time scroll.

October 7, 2007- Vince McMahon announces at No Mercy in Chicago that John Cena is no longer the WWE Champion.

Here is a Cena-related Chicago event that didn’t even include John Cena! Let me explain how this event made it in my article. No Mercy 2007 took place in Chicago on October 7. John Cena was supposed to be the WWE Champion and compete in what would have been, if I am not mistaken, his first WWE Championship match in Chicago since WrestleMania 22. However, Cena suffered a real-life injury during the final RAW before the PPV and was forced to vacate the championship. So Vince McMahon opened the PPV and told the fans that John Cena would be dropping his title, that Cena would be out for a long time, and that Randy Orton was the new WWE Champion.

Below is the video of McMahon’s announcement. Listen to the fans cheer when McMahon says, “John Cena is out of action anywhere from six months to a year “ at 3:10 in the video and when McMahon says, “John Cena is no longer WWE Champion” at 3:30 in the video. Even when Cena isn’t in the building, Chicago lets people know how they feel about Cena.

May 17, 2009- John Cena faces Big Show at Judgment Day in Chicago.

This was the first WWE event I went to and it was my first experience with an anti-Cena crowd. The crowd wasn’t very hostile at Judgment Day but I was a little bit surprised when right after John Cena’s match with the Big Show started, the fans starting chanting “Cena Sucks” whenever the words “Let’s Go Cena” were chanted.

Cena would end up winning the match despite being dominated by the 500 pound Big Show the whole night and despite the fact that (according to the storyline) he was just recently medically cleared to compete after being tossed into a spotlight at Backlash a few weeks before Judgment Day. I found out that night why so many people hate John Cena.

September 19, 2010- John Cena competes in the Six-Pack Elimination Challenge at Night of Champions in Chicago.

Although this was my fourth time at a WWE event, I feel this was the first time the crowd felt like an anti-Cena crowd. During Night of Champions, Todd Grisham and Josh Matthews were interviewing all of the Six-Pack participants. After the epic Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz match, Josh Matthews appeared on the titantron and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome one of the superstars competing in the Six-Pack Challenge tonight for the WWE Championship…John Cena!” As soon as Matthews said “John Cena”, the fans started booing. During the interview, Cena started talking about chances and said, “There’s a 99% chance we will see the Nexus. 35% chance the crowd may be hostile.” Cena paused and the fans started booing again. Then Cena replied, “Okay 75% chance.” The video of the interview isn’t on YouTube but it is on Dailymotion. Click the link for the video and the Cena interview starts at 3:20.

When Cena’s entrance music hit before the match, he was booed like I expected but something happened later during the match that shocked me. During the match, the Nexus came out (just like Cena predicted) and the distraction allowed Wade Barrett to eliminate John Cena. As soon as Cena was eliminated, the whole building cheered. It was probably the first time since the HBK Kick before WrestleMania 23 that Cena was pinned for a three count in Chicago. It was an unusual sight because I was not expecting the crowd to actually erupt in cheers after Cena was eliminated.  That’s a reaction you don’t often see on WWE TV when Cena loses. Below is the video of Chicago’s celebration.

March 28, 2011- John Cena goes face-to-face with The Rock on RAW in Chicago.

The last time Cena was in Chicago was on March 28, 2011 on Monday Night RAW. I was at this RAW show. On that night, Cena received his biggest heat in Chicago since WrestleMania 22. Cena was feuding with The Rock at the time and Chicago loves The Rock so there was no way Cena was not going to receive some boos from Chicago that night. The main event that night was The Rock and John Cena face-to-face in the ring for the first time. The Rock called out John Cena (the crowd booed when The Rock mentioned Cena’s name) and Cena entered the ring to respond to The Rock’s comments that he made about Cena via satellite over the last few weeks on RAW. Cena had to pause in the middle of his promo because the fans were chanting “Cena Sucks” very loudly.

After his Cena’s promo, The Miz and Alex Riley came out and The Rock ended up tossing The Miz and Riley out of the ring. Right after The Rock had done that, Cena sneaked up behind The Rock and gave him an Attitude Adjustment. And of course Chicago booed that too. After that, Cena walked up the ramp and back to the locker room and that was the last time Chicago saw John Cena.

So hopefully by now you have realized that Chicago becomes a hostile environment when Cena is around. July 17, 2011 will not be an exception. Does Chicago hate Cena a lot more than other cities? Not really. There are other cities that hate Cena just as much as Chicago. Will Chicago actually riot if John Cena defeats CM Punk at Money in the Bank? It’s highly unlikely to happen. But Cena has never faced CM Punk in Chicago before. Chicago loves CM Punk because he’s really the only hometown hero we have. Technically, David Otunga is from Chicago but not many people know that. If Cena can draw “Cena Sucks” chants from the Chicago crowd during a match against the Big Show, it will be very interesting to see what will happen when Cena faces the Chicago Made Punk in Chicago.

**NEW ADDITION TO THE COLUMN**

July 17, 2011- John Cena defends his WWE Championship against Chicago resident CM Punk.

I got nothing to say about this event that hasn't already been said. Just enjoy the video.



July 17, 2011 was the last time John Cena was in a WWE ring in Chicago. On December 26, 2011, John Cena will return to Chicago and don't be surprised if he gets booed in Chicago like he always does.