Batista: John Cena Killed Hardcore Wrestling

Source: The Chad Dukes Show

The Chad Dukes show recently had Dave Bautista as a guest, and he had quite a few things to say about the PG direction of WWE.

About playing heel against John Cena: "I was playing the part of the heel, but they were still booing the hell out of Cena. I really had to go that extra step to be a heel against this guy."

About John Cena Being Responsible for the WWE PG Era: "I think, you know, they did the whole PG direction thing, I think that works for Cena; the little kids love him, cause he's a great character, he's someone they can look up to. The girls love him, good looking guy, says all the right things, does all the right things, but the hardcore fans can't stand him. He is Mr. Hokey, Mr. PG… to me; he killed hardcore, edgy wrestling."

What killed Hardcore wrestling was too many "garbage wrestling" promotions with "wrestlers" who, frankly, sucked. When you're running the ropes while they're lined with barbed wire, you're missing the entire point. You're supposed to be avoiding the barbed wire because it is supposed to hurt. HOW HARD IS THAT TO UNDERSTAND?

The man pretty much solely responsible for the PG Era is Chris Benoit. He's why everything got toned down, moves were banned, and little kids became the target audience.

He has some nerve every wrestler just blames john cena and not wwe for the direction they were going with I don't think john cena had anything to do with wwe going pg.

perceval wrote:

What killed Hardcore wrestling was too many "garbage wrestling" promotions with "wrestlers" who, frankly, sucked. When you're running the ropes while they're lined with barbed wire, you're missing the entire point. You're supposed to be avoiding the barbed wire because it is supposed to hurt. HOW HARD IS THAT TO UNDERSTAND?

The man pretty much solely responsible for the PG Era is Chris Benoit. He's why everything got toned down, moves were banned, and little kids became the target audience.

im guessing you're referring to CZW and XPW? lmao

Those and some of the Japanese promotions, yeah.

You look at the classic hardcore matches from World Class or ECW, or even some Attitude/early Ruthless Aggression Era WWF, and you have talented workers telling a story in the ring. Some were a lot more talented than others, sure, but everyone at least knew how to work a match. You got hit by barbed wire, or even a chair, landed on thumbtacks or went through a table, you sold it. And there was actual, y'know, wrestling in those matches.

Now, people randomly light themselves on fire wrapped in barbed wire while jumping through a table with the ring exploding and then jump around like it's nothing. And, um, why light yourself on fire in the first place? Isn't that going to hurt you more than your opponent? Isn't the idea to hurt your opponent?

XPW & CZW missed what actually made ECW work. It wasn't just Hardcore. It was also great technical wrestlers, Lucha Libre, spot specialists (and notice the best hardcore matches involved people who were either solid technically or spot specialists), and, above all, great storytelling. It was the storytelling that made Raven vs Dreamer a classic feud.

As far as PG is concerned, I think Batista is trying to keep himself relevant, because he was there at the time. He knows very well why the shift to PG happened, and it had nothing to do with Cena. Cena had to tone it down as much as anybody else, since his gimmick was based on Eminem. He just adjusted to the new realities better than some.

It was the aftermath of Benoit. What people need to remember is Benoit almost destroyed pro wrestling in the States.