John Cena and Bray Wyatt, WrestleMania 36
The psychological thriller between Bray Wyatt and John Cena at WrestleMania 36 examines the evil lurking inside the main event spotlight of being a WWE Superstar.
The incredible display of metaphor for John Cena’s rise and dominance in WWE from 2002 until 2020. Bray Wyatt and John Cena fight in an unorthodox match due to the nature of no crowd and not inside the Performance Center. But, though it was advertised as a Firefly Fun House Match, this wasn’t a match at all. It was art imitating life. Kayfabe is challenged here, but so is the emotional connection between fact and fiction. In a story that lasted over 15 minutes, Bray Wyatt let John in. Into a story that was 18 years in the making, hoping to once and for all, stop the ruthless and demonic uprising that is John Cena.
The thriller starts immediately as Cena’s difficulty adjusting in an entrance without a crowd is sort of awkward for all parties. Looking into the camera, Cena welcomes us to WrestleMania. But Bray has already taken control of John Cena. He has flipped the script, not allowing Cena to finish or have the upper hand. For much of his career, John has been the pinnacle of welcoming the fans to Wrestlemania with an entrance that sets the tone of his matches prior to hitting the ring. Not this time. Bray already has the upper hand, and he will take advantage.
The overuse of Vince McMahon and Gene Okerlund in the opening package welcoming us to WrestleMania presents an early sense of anticipation, a suspension of what is about to happen. Using this as a mind game early, Bray is setting John Cena up for fear using positive reinforcement and fear of the known. From a fan perspective, you can not look away, you are being deceived, you are being controlled. Using images of history in a happy time, Bray uses this against us, turning us into a creature of an unknown future.
Related Read: The Undertaker stole the show at WrestleMania 36
Images from various WrestleMania events is to confuse and instill fear. When McMahon and Okerlund are shown saying “Wrestle” over and over, it isn’t just for effect. The tactic of overusing words is called Semantic Satiation. It’s devaluing the meaning and making it become irrelevant.
Is this a sign that WrestleMania isn’t what it once was? Who was at fault for the decline? Bray has now used history and repeated images to initiate his mind control on Cena and the WWE Universe. This is certainly going to be an adventurous ride.
The huge smile and sadistic wave from Bray inside his funhouse isn’t meant to make you comfortable. It’s meant to keep you awake, preparing for the anticipation of fear. The film style here is called Neurocinematics. The ultra-use of emotional connections between the mind and experiences that are seen and heard. Bray isn’t waving to show he welcomes you. He is waving to take over the soul.
Bray speaks about a world beyond our comprehension. In his demonic mysticism, Bray is rising above the mundane approach to human society. This firefly house isn’t the world we see all the time; it’s a world beyond comprehension. The grotesque and demonic land we live in is masked in beauty – a world contrasting light and darkness.
“Our darkest urges are no longer kept secret.” You don’t need to believe or try to disprove. The fact is, the truth is out there, it’s no longer a secret. However, no matter how many times the truth is told, the believed normalcy always overshadows.
A world where good and evil are neighbors. Beyond the visually seen and heard, monsters and gods are all around us. It’s a world that is unrecognizable because it is not what we believe to be normal.
The dollar bill is the price of admission atop Mercy the Buzzard’s box. As it always is in life, in order to play, you must pay.
Bray has now drawn you into his world, he has manipulated your sense of emotion, and how he’s ready to take over. This neurological rollercoaster is about to begin.
“Okay John, let’s take a deep look at who you really are.”
Why would anyone want to open a door and go inside a room that abandons all hope? The writing on the wall door is a connection to Hell. That connection isn’t a place, it’s a sin. Which gate did John Cena take? Was it the sin of Greed? The sin of Wrath or Envy? Or maybe the devil’s most prominent trait, the sin of Pride?
John Cena has been the staple of professional wrestling for almost two decades. His stature and position in the company have been one that is superior among all others who worked as peers. His heart was about ego and pride, his soul was deceitful. Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect defined the man but disputed everything he developed his character to be.
There is so much imagery that explains John Cena here. But, it shows we are all a demon of sin. It just so happened that John took his fate into the gates of Hell to fight himself. What a FUNHOUSE this has turned out to be.
The darkroom isn’t a room at all. It is a subconscious world where John Cena is facing himself, literally and figuratively, in the shadows of his once self. All John hears is the rapid heartbeat, a possible sign of anxiety and unknown that is about to become.
The McMahon puppet with the devil overtone is done purposefully in describing not just Vince as demonic, but John Cena’s devotion to taking sin in order to reach heightened success at any cost. “Show me, or you’re FIRED“.
Does John Cena want to be at the top because he wanted to make millions? Or did he want to be at the top so he wouldn’t lose his job? The fear of losing is much more powerful than the excitement of winning, thus, the absolute sign that Cena is taking a sin of pride, greed, and wrath in order to not lose his job.
Who has what it takes … to have no compassion, no pity? Be merciless and cruel to all those around you. To take from others without any fear of consequence. Who will take the opportunity to, above all, think only of oneself on the path toward enlightened success?
Was that a better way to describe Ruthless Aggression? Was that not what John Cena took in order to not lose his job? The fear was always in John Cena. Cena feared himself and took the deadly sins of the world in order to position himself as the one. McMahon chose Cena by instilling the ultimate fear. Bray is making John relive that.
John is being manipulated by Bray emotionally, and now, physically. Bray has transformed Cena into a 2002 shell of himself. He can’t do anything other than relive his historic ascent into the unknown.
Bray ducking the slap made famous by Cena against Kurt Angle on Smackdown in 2002 is showing Cena isn’t in control anymore. What he had in the past is no longer relevant or accepted here anymore. Cena is essentially losing his power.
“Whoa, John. I am literally living your biggest failure right now.” Can everyone now see that Cena can’t actually wrestle?
Was Cena too dangerous for his own good? Has his ruthless aggression moniker become too much of an ego for John Cena to handle? Was John unable to transform into someone other than a self he got himself into? Who is Cena trying to imitate?
Or maybe he was just a fan of Bobby Brown and 80s music. Speaking of …
We are taken back to a time when pro wrestling was at its peak. The likes of Hogan, Orndolf, Piper, Snuka, Bundy, are all heroes of John Cena growing up. He idolized the strong successful wrestlers of the past.
Enter Wyatt behind the big blue cage. Sporting a “You can’t hurt it” t-shirt, Wyatt dives into the rich but deadly secret of pro wrestling. “My tag team partner is such a physical specimen, you can’t help but worship him.”
Wyatt continues to mock the world of professional wrestling saying that you can have little talent, but as long as you have the muscles, you are a stud. “The ladies love him, and the men want to be him.”
The young John Cena looks to take this to heart, pumping iron non-stop in order to look and become his idols and be just as, if not more, successful. Cena is now entering the sin of envy.
But, the horror isn’t just for John Cena. Johnny Large Meat, portrayed by Cena is talking about WrestleMania, that no matter what is said about WrestleMania, people will still buy a ticket, people will still buy the PPV because its the sell sell sell mentality. Creating the need to see the big stars because that is where all the money and fame is.
Wyatt’s got Johnny Large pumping iron faster and without control. The emotional abuse is starting to turn into physical pain and suffering. But don’t you worry John, you will be a star if you keep pushing.
The pain inflicted by the overuse of weights is taking a toll on John. McBossman is shown saying to keep your hands up. Again, showing that instilling fear is of the absolute necessity for star power.
Bray points his finger at Cena, asking if his egomaniac has been running wild. Ruthless Aggression is really starting to pick up for Cena now. His ego is too big for him to fail.
As Cena is sent back to 2002 as the Doctor of Thuganomics, it’s apparent Wyatt is teasing the self-destruction of John Cena right before his eyes.
The fans love the doctor’s persona. This is the gimmick that gave the fans, and Cena his big erection… err, ego (“six-to-midnight”).
Bray is completely unphased during Cena’s rhyme zone in the ring. It’s getting cheers outside the ring, but not proving any wrestling talent inside the ring. Maybe Wyatt is trying to show us something?
Similar to an actual fight in the ring, the back and forth verbal abuse by both men from each segment is more like a psychological disaster. But Bray knows the outcome and he’s using Cena to be redefined by the public eye.
“You’re not a hero, John. You’re a bully. A horrible person. You take the weakness of others and turn it into jokes.” Isn’t that what Ruthless Aggression was meant to be?
Cena entered the gates of Hell long ago. There’s no turning back now. Cena has reentered the sin of greed and sloth in order to get to the top at all costs and keeping others down for as long as necessary.
Wyatt’s message that John Cena was the voice of the people, yet he never listened to the people. Cena refused to put over the person who, well, had the whole world in his hands. The powerful sin of wrath was close by. It was John Cena’s complete domination, while slowly destroying his own.
“It’s time to rewrite my story.”
This is much more than just a video package. This was Bray Wyatt’s demonstration of the darker cloud that was once never seen until it closed all light from the sky above. John Cena didn’t see it at the time, but his actions caused much more harm than the good for the company.
Wyatt dancing in the ring as a metaphor for the wonderful performance in the ring at WrestleMania 30. Cena, now sporting a “You can’t stop me” and “Even stronger” tee, is handed a chair, just like their previous encounter. Wyatt is giving Cena the chance to fix his mistake. Was that the moment to turn John heel? Was that to put over Bray as the main babyface, where instead, he just buried the Wyatt character?
We turn to an NWO/WCW-like package, where, instead of Hollywood Hogan, we have a Hollywood Cena. Twofold here, as Cena could have been the ultimate heel, like his idol Hogan. He also began his Hollywood stardom, something that would overtake his greed once more.
“This is such good shit“. No words to describe the beauty of having this line spoke by McBossman in the Fun House.
The turn that never was, Bray is showing what could have been. Or, is it showing that Cena was the one-man political NWO power in WWE? Cena was too much for even himself. Cena played the fans, but more importantly, he played himself.
The world may never know. But Bray seems to.
As Cena kept beating (and burying) everyone in his path, he forgot to notice the good around him. But unfortunately, he is too late. By the time he realizes what he had done and the effect on the business he had, the damage was done. Looking at his hands, he knew it was over. His time is up. John Cena’s time wasn’t now anymore.
For the first time, Bray gets the upper hand. The culmination has led to John Cena believing his own hype, only to get buried by his historical virtues.
“Ending the existence of the most over-hyped, overvalued, over-privileged WWE superstar.” And all this time, it becomes clear, Cena was speaking about himself. He sees the light. But now, it’s too late.
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John Cena saw his past, his present, and now his future lay in the balance of the Fiend, Bray Wyatt.