Badass Decay: Difference between revisions

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== Professional Wrestling ==

* [[Professional Wrestling]] has a most bizarre example in [[John Cena]]. In 2004, he was a street-wise thug (who happened to be a white rapper) who never backed down from a challenge, and fought rich bastard [[John Bradshaw Layfield]] while espousing "battle raps" which basically mocked anyone in a 15-mile radius. In 2005 and 2006, his overwhelming popularity led the writers to turn him into a Hoganesque superhuman with an inferiority complex who openly admitted he was inferior as a technical wrestler, therefore taking away [[Darker and Edgier|everything that made him popular in the first place]]. It eventually got to the point where fans would [[X-Pac Heat|cheer his opponent out of spite, no matter how evil that person was]]. Fortunately, the release of his movie ''[[The Marine]]'' allowed him to get back his never-say-die attitude, and he appears to be recovering from the setback. Slowly. The fact that [[WWE]] seems to be implying that he really is a marine based on his role in the movie doesn't help matters. In fact, most heels who became anti-heroic faces in the [[Attitude Era]] generally fall under this trope.

* [[Professional Wrestling]] has a most bizarre example in [[John Cena]]. In 2004, he was a street-wise thug (who happened to be a white rapper) who never backed down from a challenge, and fought rich bastard [[John Bradshaw Layfield]] while espousing "battle raps" which basically mocked anyone in a 15-mile radius. In 2005 and 2006, his overwhelming popularity led the writers to turn him into a Hoganesque superhuman with an inferiority complex who openly admitted he was inferior as a technical wrestler, therefore taking away [[Darker and Edgier|everything that made him popular in the first place]]. It eventually got to the point where fans would [[X-Pac Heat|cheer his opponent out of spite, no matter how evil that person was]]. Fortunately, the release of his movie ''[[The Marine]]'' allowed him to get back his never-say-die attitude, and he appears to be recovering from the setback. Slowly. The fact that [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] seems to be implying that he really is a marine based on his role in the movie doesn't help matters. In fact, most heels who became anti-heroic faces in the [[Attitude Era]] generally fall under this trope.

** More so when you consider said anti-heroes tended to have their most popular traits exaggerated when they become faces ([[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] wasn't a full-blown redneck until his turn, and [[Dwayne Johnson|The Rock]] didn't rely as much on his "sing-along" catchphrases).

** Note that Cena's [[Self-Deprecation]] was largely a very mishandled attempt to appeal to the fans who had turned on him; additionally, it was mostly during his feud with [[Triple H]], who [[Executive Meddling|is the head writer's husband]] and has had many feuds in which his opponent has [[Creator's Pet|sung his praises]]. Thankfully, this aspect of his character was dropped after Cena was given a clean victory over Trips.