John Cena is the best wrestler of 2015

[prophet]

Anyone concur?

How many amazing matches has he been in this year? I'm not even just talking about the higher profile ones like the absolute classics with Kevin Owens or the matches he's had with Rusev/Rollins/Cesaro etc...

He's also had pretty awesome matches with lesser opponents such as Barrett, Neville and Stardust. I'd go so far as to say this has been the most entertaining year of Cena's career wrestling wise, his character is still terribly in need of major/minor/literally any change but I've really enjoyed watching him work - his opponents raise their game whenever they're in the ring with him and he's a good worker.

I know he's also extremely sloppy in his execution and you can hear every spot he calls but still

#NEVERGIVEUP #CENA54

[SlightlyJames]

I definitely don't agree.

He's being given ample time and freedom week after week to have that quality of match and he's being put in there with the best performers in the company, few guys they have would struggle to have quality matches under those circumstances.

Time and time again he comes across as the weaker element of the matches he's involved in and I'm almost never impressed by his individual ability. He still can't make a goddamn STF look good and bless him for trying to innovate but things like the wonky Springboard Stunner and his weird ass Hurricanrana always make me cringe.

He's being involved in the best matches in the company out of circumstance alone, he's nowhere near the best wrestler they have.

[Hanley!]

I think this spot is better for him than any he's had in a long time, but I still can't quite bring myself to call him the best wrestler of the year. For several reasons.

First of all, his moves are really sloppy. Even when he's putting on good matches, he always looks like the worst person in the match, regardless of who he's against. It's impressive that he can have watchable matches when all of his moves look like ... well, like they do. But it's not so impressive that I'd want to call him the best wrestler of the year.

Second of all, the springboard stunner. Get rid of that shit now.

Third of all, while he's been having exciting matches, they've all been basically the same match. There's a formula to it.

Fourth of all, the spot calling has been pretty bad as of late.

Lastly, his matches are largely just good because they're booked that way. He's given extra time on Raw compared to most people, and unlike other matches on Raw that get a lot of time, his matches jump straight to the near falls very early, with both Cena and his opponent prostituting their finishers for pops. It gets a reaction for sure, but that's always been a style of wrestling that I find cheap and less entertaining than a properly paced match (hence my apathy towards a lot of Undertaker's Wrestlemania matches). Plus, I think it's kinda harmful in the long run. It hurts the finishers, makes it harder for fans to suspend their disbelief, and ultimately means less reaction to any move that's not a finisher.

He's definitely having a good year, but I'm not as enthusiastic about his stuff as a lot of other people are. I'm enjoying it, and definitely I'm enjoying him more than I have in a long time. But I still wish he'd tighten up his ring work, and not rely so heavily on cheap tricks like doing a dozen finishers to get fans into the match.

[Viazon]

I have been enjoying Cena more over the last year than I have in a long time. That may be because he hasn't been shoved down our throats in the main event picture.

However, what with him still holding the US and will apparently be challenging Seth Rollins for the WWE World title next, I fear they may be repeating the whole Super Cena thing.

[Circled Square]

This has been one of his best runs with a title ever, I'll give him that.

[Str8Shooter]

He's absolutely deserving of being in the discussion as wrestler of the year for WWE? I mean who else could you argue has had a better year in ring in the company?

People are nitpicking because he's John Cena. The guy has had amazing matches this year with damn near every single person he's been in the ring with. From midcarders like Stardust and Neville and NXT guys like Sami Zayn, to Owens and Rollins and Cesaro and Rusev. You guys can't seriously be arguing that he's being carried to these performances because of his opponents, please don't even start that shit. The common denominator here is Cena, who's become a damn good worker in his own right.

The guy's star power is also carrying these matches from being good in ring contests to legit main events. Say what you will, but Cena is arguably the biggest babyface, and the biggest heel on the roster at the same time. Every match he has is going to have a molten hot crowd, and that's because of him.

There are lots of long matches on Raw these days, there are lots of good in ring matches on Raw these days. But none of them are able to reach the heights that Cena's matches do.

[Hanley!]

People are nitpicking because he's John Cena. The guy has had amazing matches this year with damn near every single person he's been in the ring with. From midcarders like Stardust and Neville and NXT guys like Sami Zayn, to Owens and Rollins and Cesaro and Rusev. You guys can't seriously be arguing that he's being carried to these performances because of his opponents, please don't even start that shit. The common denominator here is Cena, who's become a damn good worker in his own right.

Or the common denominator is that he's the only person having championship matches every week, and the only guy who's having matches on Raw that are filled with near falls and involve multiple finisher kick outs.

I mean, I think Cena's name deserves to be in consideration, but people have made valid points here about why he might not deserve to be called the best wrestler of 2015. Don't just dismiss all of that and say we're nitpicking because he's John Cena. You don't know why we're nitpicking. I'd nitpick just about anything.

Also, it's a minor thing but most of the guys you listed there are pretty stellar workers and universally regarded as better than Cena, so it's not hugely surprising that he could have good matches with them given enough time.

[Str8Shooter]

People are nitpicking because he's John Cena. The guy has had amazing matches this year with damn near every single person he's been in the ring with. From midcarders like Stardust and Neville and NXT guys like Sami Zayn, to Owens and Rollins and Cesaro and Rusev. You guys can't seriously be arguing that he's being carried to these performances because of his opponents, please don't even start that shit. The common denominator here is Cena, who's become a damn good worker in his own right.

Or the common denominator is that he's the only person having championship matches every week, and the only guy who's having matches on Raw that are filled with near falls and involve multiple finisher kick outs.

This is the WWE style of main events now, with finisher kickouts and nearfalls galore. And Cena is in most of the main events. We've seen Ambrose and Rollins have matches like that, even Brock/Reigns at Mania had finisher kick outs, or no sells of finishers. If you have a problem with that style, that's fine, but I think that's a WWE problem I'm not sure you can blame Cena for. If Cesaro and Rollins had a 25 minute PPV main event I would guess it would look very similar in terms of style.

[SlightlyJames]

Or the common denominator is that he's the only person having championship matches every week, and the only guy who's having matches on Raw that are filled with near falls and involve multiple finisher kick outs.

This is the WWE style of main events now, with finisher kickouts and nearfalls galore. And Cena is in most of the main events. We've seen Ambrose and Rollins have matches like that, even Brock/Reigns at Mania had finisher kick outs, or no sells of finishers. If you have a problem with that style, that's fine, but I think that's a WWE problem I'm not sure you can blame Cena for. If Cesaro and Rollins had a 25 minute PPV main event I would guess it would look very similar in terms of style.

I think you've missed the point of what Steve's getting at.

From what I took from it, he wasn't criticizing the nature of the matches with the near falls and false finishes, rather he was using the fact that Cena's matches featured them as an indication that these matches were being treated as a bigger deal, reinforcing what we've been saying: that Cena's matches are being afforded greater opportunities than most others.

I'd also have to reinforce that it is a bit unfair to dismiss criticism of John Cena by saying that we're just laying into him because he's John Cena. I don't think I've been particularly unfair in what I've said and I'm not expressing this for any reason other than it's what I believe. I don't think he's objectively bad as a performer, I just don't agree that he's the best in the company.

Like I said, he's consistently been in the best matches on the show for the past few months and he should of course be commended for being a part in making that happen but I still believe that a large factor in that is that he is consistently afforded the opportunity to have those matches with the best guys in the company, a large number of whom I'd say are far better performers than John Cena.

[Str8Shooter]

What I don't get I guess is why people are complaining that Cena's matches are being given more of a showcase and are treated as being a bigger deal. It's because they are a bigger deal! He's the company's top guy, of course his matches are going to be more featured than that of a lower card guy. It doesn't make his performances any less impressive, at least to me.

[SlightlyJames]

What I don't get I guess is why people are complaining that Cena's matches are being given more of a showcase and are treated as being a bigger deal. It's because they are a bigger deal! He's the company's top guy, of course his matches are going to be more featured than that of a lower card guy. It doesn't make his performances any less impressive, at least to me.

I'm not complaining about it, I understand why he's being afforded more opportunity to put on good matches, my point is that there are plenty of other guys not being given that opportunity who, in my opinion, could have as good if not better matches on a regular basis.

As much as the matches that he's been in have been consistently good, I've never been impressed by his individual performance, as I've said a couple of times he's undeniably sloppy in the ring and it limits what he can do a lot.

Guys like Cesaro don't have that problem and that's why I'd have to say he's an objectively better wrestler than John Cena, hence why I disagree with the thread title.

[Locke]

Dude went balls out with a broken nose when most people just pass out. Fucking legend.

[Daz]

John Cena would be in the top 5 no doubt, but AJ Styles and Roderick Strong, with a nod to Katsuyori Shibata are edging him out for best wrestler of 2015 imo. And if we're keeping it strictly WWE, then Kevin Owens is definitely giving him a run for his money.