Gunther wins LOL: John Cena ends one-of-a-kind WWE career in bog-standard fashion

They say that familiarity breeds contempt but that s only half the story If something sticks around long enough demands to be acknowledged relentlessly enough that contempt can soften as thinking shifts from current annoyance to historical significance Watching Tom Brady tap dance on the hopes and dreams of the entire American Football Conference was infuriating and heartbreaking in the moment but that s not what anyone was talking about when he won one more Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers LeBron James capitalized and televised Decision to head to South Beach felt like arrogance in the moment and looks entirely justified in retrospect So it went on Saturday when an arena full of WWE fans were enraged by a John Cena loss That sentence would have been inconceivable to the average pro wrestling fan during Cena s heyday After an early run as a rapper called the Clinician of Thuganomics WWE bookers presumably looked at Cena for the first time and recast him in the role of a super-powered jarhead Trying to shake off its association with the equal parts juvenile and vulgar Attitude Era of the s WWE repeatedly handed the championship belt over to a troop-respecting golden boy Cena was the perfect avatar of the big loud patriotism of War on Terror era swinging into every match with boot in your ass swagger and ending it victorious after finishing his opponent with an Attitude Adjustment Cena even broke the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed to countless Americans He publicized that the Al-Qaeda leader had been compromised to a permanent end before President Barack Obama s official announcement Beyond his troop-respecting Cena s sloganeering was cheery even by WWE standards He encouraged fans to Never Give Up and promoted his values of Hustle Loyalty Respect It was a return to the eat your veggies sameness and unstoppable optimism of Hulk Hogan s dynasty and it rankled a great number of fans who grew up watching the goodie-two-shoes in the company get two middle fingers for their trouble You can t hoist a record WWE World Heavyweight Championship belts without winning a ton of matches and Cena s imperial era was full of matches where he eked out domination from an obvious defeat The predictable end upshot caused Cena wins Lol to become a popular meme among online wrestling fans who bristled at how boring it is watching a probable GOAT continue to be great Related The power and the glory of Dusty Rhodes The American Dream who transcended pro wrestling s racial divide But time heals all boring Main Events and fans were not ready to see Cena go out with a whimper in his final match Cena had stated his match against Austrian heel Gunther on Saturday would be his last time in the WWE ring Wrestling tradition dictates that big-name stars lose their last match going out on their back to promote an up-and-comer Cena did just that tapping out of a submission hold for the first time in his decades-long career No super Cena No blood No crazy spots No shenanigans No post match swerve I get that John tapping out was his way of saying I m done but man he went out on such a dud I m sorry but Cody John at WrestleMania was better than this pic twitter com O LdAszvp John Cena Retirement Tracker Assassin December The tap-out from the man who made Never Give Up his entire personality shocked the fans in attendance who rained down boos and expletives on WWE head booker Paul Triple H Levesque as he joined Cena in the ring for a send-off The reaction of WWE fans reminds me of an early job I had in my hometown local record store The store s owner about years senior to his staff was absolutely shocked about our love of Billy Joel To him a punk in the s and early s the Piano Man represented all that was wrong with pop music That persistent harmonica intro or god-forbid his later forays into doo-wop were an eternal annoyance part of the reason he started looking for certain alternative in the first place You seem like cool kids he raged How can you stand it To us Joel s hits were eternal River of Dreams was in constant rotation while we were learning to walk and talk Movin Out was part of the American songbook You might as well hate air Start your day with essential news from Salon Sign up for our free morning newsletter Crash Curriculum A large number of of the shocked faces watching Cena s loss on Saturday night were children decked out in imitations of Cena s classic look of armbands and jean shorts But it s telling that the angriest shouts were all from adults The same people showering Triple H with unprintable language were likely a little bit miffed to see Cena win his inevitable third eighth or fifteenth championship Stacked up on one end as we look back at Cena s career though his greatness is equally indisputable Cena s signature move wasn t enough to finish off Gunther in his final match but the attitude adjustment among WWE fans is undeniable Read more about this topic John Cena will retire from wrestling after WWE season Hulk Hogan pro wrestling superstar dead at Why professional wrestlers are more likely to die young The post Gunther wins LOL John Cena ends one-of-a-kind WWE career in bog-standard fashion appeared first on Salon com