It's time to embrace the Embrace The Hate storyline. Poor Zack Ryder...
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00:00Hello everyone, and a fine wabudoo to you all.
00:03I'm Adam Hailing from PartsFUNknown, and this is how Adam would book this month.
00:08I'm looking at Embrace the Hate, a concept that everyone in their 30s must at some point
00:13come to terms with.
00:14I'm for it, by the way.
00:16You're all dog arse, but hey, thanks for subscribing.
00:18Embrace the Hate was a two-month long storyline which was originally designed to be a character
00:23examination of John Cena that ended up being a total character assassination of Zack Ryder.
00:29Zack Ryder's US title reign, and also Zack Ryder's knees.
00:34Jesus Christ, though.
00:36To those of you who call yourself Blampied aficionados, and you know, don't, will know
00:41that I've already covered the Zack Ryder portion of this rebooking back in my What
00:44Culture Days, and you know, head on over and give that video a watch.
00:47Why not?
00:48Tell Adam Cleary I say hi, and that he is a little cutie.
00:51In that video, I just removed Zack from Embrace the Hate entirely, and then just stopped talking
00:57about it, because in my own words, it's dog s**t, and you can't fix dog s**t.
01:01Well, younger me was a coward, so here I come with a little plastic bag and a scalpel.
01:07Let's fix Embrace the Hate.
01:09Quick rundown of the angle itself, then.
01:11F**k.
01:12Going into December 2011, Zack Ryder was US champ, Daniel Bryan was World Heavyweight
01:17champ, and CM Punk was WWE champ.
01:20What a time to be alive.
01:22It was a brighter timeline, entirely too good to live.
01:24John Cena and Zack Ryder were friends, which makes sense, they're both affable idiots with
01:28the moral complexity of a chair.
01:30And in December 2011, after five months away from TV, Kane showed up once again wearing
01:36a mask.
01:37The mask had a bad boy scowl built into it, which is a fundamental misunderstanding of
01:42what makes masks effective.
01:45Masks shroud the wearer's emotions and intentions, which makes the wearer unpredictable and therefore
01:50intimidating.
01:51Jason, Michael Myers, original Kane.
01:55Like, the mask's fine, it just looks like it was made by the same sun-dried fruit by
01:58the foot that the Universal title was made out of.
02:01But then, they also gave Kane a special entrance mask, an impassive welder's mask, that was
02:08f**king awesome.
02:09He looked like Matanza Kwaito's from Lucha Underground.
02:11Gavin, wear that all the time.
02:15What the f**k's wrong with you?
02:17So Kane showed up, attacked Big Match John, said, the world's full of hate, everyone hates
02:22their job, everyone hates their friends and family, everybody hates, and let me just analyze
02:28that.
02:29No lies detected.
02:31Kane also brought up how much the fans hate John Cena, and that's a point worth remembering
02:35because that was actually interesting.
02:38Like this story actually started off with a ton of potential.
02:40A story about getting Cena, a man with, up until that point, a completely unique relationship
02:45with the crowd, and putting that relationship under the spotlight.
02:49That's cool.
02:50So far, so good.
02:51So Kane wanted to get John Cena to join him as father and son, embrace the hate, and rule
02:56the galaxy.
02:58Cena said no, so Kane said, okie dokie, I'm gonna kill your friend.
03:03Kane went after Zack Ryder like a doofus-seeking missile, tried to drag him under the ring,
03:07he slashed Zack's tires, chokeslammed him through pallets, gave him a rib injury which
03:11cost him the US Championship, then Zack had a Falls Count Anywhere match with Kane on
03:15Raw, got chokeslammed through the stage which made him go from Zack Ryder to Zack Roller.
03:20And just look at that neck brace.
03:22That's really funny.
03:24Throughout all of this, Cena just watched everything happen, like...
03:37WWE made videos about Cena, how much people love him, him at parades, him with kids, talking
03:42heads from his fans, his dad.
03:44How often are you at home, John Cena?
03:46Not enough.
03:47And again, you see this and you think, oh, is this gonna go anywhere?
03:51Is Cena gonna re-examine his relationship with- no, no, no, it's not.
03:54It's not.
03:55Well, that's the end of that feud.
03:56Except, no, it isn't.
03:57Kane abducted Eve, Cena saved her, then she kissed him, he kissed her back, and then Zack
04:03is like right there, and it's so funny, and I'm so sorry, and it's so funny.
04:10Then Cena almost hits Zack, doesn't, then Zack's thrown off the stage and Cena's like...
04:25And then he beat Kane clean at Elimination Chamber in an ambulance match.
04:28He rose above hate in the incredibly unconvincing metaphor of winning a random-ass pay-per-view
04:33match and there, story over.
04:35Next night on Raw, Cena makes a brief reference to losing Zack as a friend, but then in the
04:39exact same promo cut to Type 5 on Eve, sipping the skank juice, shucking and jiving to the
04:45cheap sheets, getting them to do a Hoski chant, so f***ing nothing.
04:51Nothing accomplished.
04:52A stopgap feud for Cena to beat a monster in order to heat him up for his match with
04:56The Rock, and you know, that's fine in itself.
04:59It's boring, but it's fine, except WWE, they just didn't change Cena in any way, and they
05:05had the opportunity to.
05:07They brought Kane back just to beat him a bunch of times, and irreversibly damage someone
05:11who was making him a bunch of money.
05:13Zack Ryder's shirts used to sell out, WWE, what are you doing?
05:16It felt like WWE just saw The Dark Knight, saw the whole arc of Joker tortures Harvey
05:21Dent into becoming Two-Face, but instead the only thing they ended up recreating was not
05:26Dent's arc, but closer to just Batman's, where he kept reacting to everything the Joker was
05:33doing by going, and then just beating Joker in a fight, and that was the end.
05:40You know, the not interesting bit about The Dark Knight.
05:43You know, they took out the bit that makes the f***ing film work.
05:47Embrace the Hate is a big wasted opportunity, one I've been meaning to have a crack at for
05:50a while, so speaking of which, let me have a go.
05:59So a lot of people, including a younger me, wrote off the Embrace the Hate storyline because
06:02it ultimately didn't change wrestling's most resistant to change character, completely
06:06destroyed Zack Ryder in the process of accomplishing nothing.
06:09But there is an idea in here, and it's a combination of two stories that WWE convinced themselves
06:14they had told when they actually hadn't.
06:17The Embrace the Hate storyline, when John Cena hadn't done anything, just looked aghast
06:25at Zack living through a series of unfortunate events.
06:28So let's take that storyline and combine it with the one that WWE retconned going into
06:33WrestleMania 29.
06:34See, a huge part of that build-up, in an effort to distract fans that it was exactly the same
06:39build to exactly the same match, except without the promise it was only going to happen f***ing
06:43once, was that 2012 had been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year for Johnny C.
06:50After getting beaten by The Rock, Cena described 2012 as a year of my existence destroyed,
06:56and the Redemption video package actually made the visual connection that being beaten
07:02by The Rock caused John Cena to get divorced.
07:04I don't know him personally, maybe it did.
07:08This Redemption story is bollocks of course.
07:10Here's a quick rundown of how John Cena's 2012 actually went.
07:14He kissed Eve in front of Zack, which is hugely funny, beat Kane at Elimination Chamber, got
07:20beaten by The Rock, okay, that is a setback, beat Brock Lesnar in Brock Lesnar's first
07:26match back.
07:27That's the stupid John Laurinaitis big show feud that ended with Cena getting John Laurinaitis
07:32fired by beating the big show, so he got what he wanted there.
07:36Money in the Bank won that, darkest timeline stuff this, not getting the title because
07:41of a DQ at Raw 1000, and you know, failing to get the WWE title off CM Punk without ever
07:47actually of course being beaten by him.
07:51Some time off, win the Royal Rumble, yeah, a year of his existence destroyed.
07:57Where's John Cena's ribbon?
07:58So that being said, my pitch for this booking is a year long story for John Cena, starting
08:01with Embrace the Hate, and then giving him an actual very bad year.
08:07So we're going to start with something that I'm not going to deny I've stolen from comics.
08:10DC did a really fun Batman story called Face the Face.
08:13Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face, got reconstructive surgery to make his face whole again and actually
08:19joined Batman on the side of crime fighting, but couldn't keep the Two-Face persona at
08:22base who ended up re-burning himself.
08:26So before Kane returns to the ring in December 2011, a multiple vignettes of unmasked bald
08:30ass Kane from 2003 to 2011 talking to his old mask saying, they no longer fear us.
08:37We have so much rage burning inside us, and if we don't make them feel it, that rage will
08:44burn us alive.
08:45They have to be afraid again.
08:48Cam returns to reveal a skillet full of hot coals.
08:51Wearing one of his black gloves, Kane takes a handful of coals and WWE cuts around him
08:55burning his own face.
08:57He burns himself to reclaim himself and returns wearing his original blank face mask.
09:05So Kane goes after Cena on his return for pretty much the same reasons that he gave.
09:09The world is full of hate, John Cena isn't being honest with himself, the fans hate John,
09:13doesn't he realise how powerful he can be when he lets himself be fuelled by hate rather
09:18than all these rules, and you think they'll save you.
09:21Cena refuses because he is basic, which provokes Kane.
09:25He says, if you continue to deny hate, why is Kane suddenly British?
09:29I shall have to make hate undeniable.
09:34Which is why he goes after, not Zack Ryder, but John Cena Senior.
09:40John Cena Senior.
09:44Because you know what?
09:45John Cena's dad is a giant mark.
09:48And it's adorable.
09:49He bloody loves the wrestling business so much that the dude co-owned an indie fed called
09:52Millennium Wrestling Federation once.
09:54He did manager work for them.
09:56Dude f***ing loves a bit of it.
09:57So yeah, Kane drags Cena's dad into the arena, gives him a tombstone.
10:01Let the hate flow through you.
10:05This leads to Kane vs Cena at the Rumble.
10:08Kane provokes Cena into losing his cool and says stuff like, hey, I killed your dad, remember?
10:13The two brawl to the outside, double count out.
10:16Yes, yes, I know.
10:17But Cena grabs Kane and AAs him through the stage.
10:20Loads of refs and EMTs come out and try and calm Cena down.
10:24No, no, he's had enough.
10:27He throws EMTs to one side before the hole where Kane was put through erupts in fire.
10:34Cameras look into the smoking hole and Kane is gone.
10:38So after the Rumble, Kane ramps up the attacks, telling John, didn't it feel good to give
10:43in, John, to give in to the hate?
10:46But the problem is, you don't really hate me, John.
10:50You hate everyone else, because despite everything you've given them, the parades, the hours
10:55spent away from home, the family that you never see until I'm taking them apart in front of you.
11:03Despite everything, the crowd still chants, Cena sucks.
11:07Get people to chant it at John.
11:09After everything I've done, John, they don't support you.
11:12Then why rise above hate?
11:15Over the weeks and after a vignette where he visits his dad at home who's confined to
11:19a wheelchair after Kane's attack, we see a slow change.
11:23Cena escalates.
11:24He starts by attacking heels a bit more viciously.
11:27Then he demands another match with Kane at Elimination Chamber, which initially John
11:31Laurinaitis refuses him.
11:32So Cena plants him with an AA, grabs a steel chair, and Cena attacks John Laurinaitis with
11:38it as Kane stands at the top of the ramp and laughs.
11:42Cena brings out his dad in a wheelchair and asks the fans for their support.
11:46And if you present WWE fans with a cheesy request this transparent, they will absolutely
11:53take the opportunity to destroy it.
11:55This actually gives WWE the opportunity to do something it's never really been capable
11:59of doing.
12:00Properly grappling with a crowd by being aware that the fact that their universe is pretty
12:04full of callous pricks.
12:06You especially.
12:08And manipulating their fans' contrary nature.
12:11Kane comes down and kicks over Cena Senior.
12:14Cena and Kane brawl into the crowd, which ends with Cena aiming a punch at Kane, who
12:18ducks, and Cena hits a fan instead.
12:22Obviously a plant.
12:23Cena then comes out the next week to apologize to the fans, but ends up losing patience with
12:30them, telling them to shut up.
12:32And obviously that's the game.
12:33You tell them to shut up, they will chant louder.
12:35And this is the important thing.
12:36Right now, right here, this is not a heel turn.
12:40Cena's right in being offended by the WWE universe being full of hate and not being
12:45sympathetic to his poor injured dad.
12:47Because yeah, they're full of hate because Kane's right.
12:50It's a more interesting story trying to get John Cena in an actually vulnerable place
12:55where he is less able to endure the complicated and often toxic relationship he has with the
12:59fans.
13:00And in 2012, you can't tell this story with anyone else.
13:03Using Cena's deteriorating ability to rise above hate, have him go on a proper losing
13:09streak.
13:10Starting at Elimination Chamber, where he faces Kane in a Falls Count Anywhere match.
13:14Again, like on Raw, the two fight up the ramp.
13:17He's going to hit Kane with a five knuckle shuffle, but he's just distracted by the crowd.
13:22He just looks at them like, guys, I know you hate me, but after everything he's done, how
13:28could you, how could you hate me more than you hate him?
13:33How could you not be behind me?
13:35And after this distraction, Kane grabs him, chokeslams him off the stage, through tables,
13:40pins him.
13:41One, two, three.
13:44The next night, Cena comes out, and he's trying to understand.
13:47He's outlining all of the things that Kane did to him and did to his family, but he said,
13:52look, if anything, I can understand that.
13:54Kane is a monster.
13:56He's been burned and consumed in fire, and he has to let it out, but what I don't understand
14:04is you.
14:05Because I've tried rising above hate, but here's the thing, I understand that you do
14:10hate me, but even after all these years, I don't understand why.
14:16Is there anyone who can actually seriously tell me why you hate me?
14:21If you smell, out comes The Rock, who proceeds to burn through 10 Shakespearean sonnets about
14:27why people hate John Cena, which gives their feud just that little bit of extra venom.
14:32So at Mania 28, Rock beats John, just like in real life, after Cena essentially beats
14:38himself.
14:40Instead of Cena going for a smarmy people's elbow, he goes for a chair, thinks about using
14:45it on The Rock, looks at the crowd, throws it away, turns around to The Rock bottom,
14:51pin.
14:52One, two, three.
14:53On Raw, Cena says he refuses to turn on the fans.
14:58He's not going to go to that dark place.
15:00He just wants to understand, because his issue can't be with the fans.
15:04His issue is with himself, so in order to make peace with himself, he needs to make
15:08peace with the people, and that starts with the people's champion.
15:12So he calls out The Rock, out comes Brock Lesnar.
15:16Oh my, says Michael Cole, terribly.
15:19Replicate their feud going into Extreme Rules, but instead of the match they had in real
15:22life, Brock beats the absolute piss out of him.
15:26Remember the SummerSlam 2014 match?
15:28Do that here.
15:29It makes way more sense to do it here.
15:31Cena's in a slump, Brock's an unexpected commodity, have Brock exhibition squash him, ending with
15:36Brock breaking Cena's arm.
15:39Which means that Cena's on the shelf for a bit, he misses over the limit, which leaves
15:42the show to be main evented by, well I guess the show doesn't have a main event.
15:47I guess you could run CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship, but no, that'll
15:53never work.
15:54There are medical updates from Cena about how he's doing, he wants to thank the fans.
15:58When he returns from injury after a month and a half, this segues into a feud with John
16:01Laurinaitis and his people power.
16:04John Laurinaitis, still bitter from the whole steel chair thing, says that Cena has lost
16:08his control over the people and sets the big show on him, which leads to a match at No
16:13Way Out, which again, Cena loses clean.
16:17Keep playing these audience games, let them in on the joke that hey, if you chant these
16:21things like we want you to chant, we'll book Cena to lose.
16:25Money in the Bank 2012.
16:27One year on from their 2011 feud, run Cena vs. Punk again.
16:30Have CM Punk repeat this game.
16:33Foster the hatred that Cena might have for the crowd.
16:35See, this is why the people don't like you, John, because you show up and are given everything.
16:39Where guys like me actually have to work for it.
16:42Punk vs. Cena main event.
16:44Punk exploits Cena's still hurt arm to beat him clean.
16:47Again, slowly elevating Punk in multiple main events.
16:50Multiple main event wins.
16:52Raw 1000.
16:53Cena gets Punk one more time on the condition from management that if Cena can't turn his
16:57losing streak around, if he can't beat Punk for the title at Raw 1000, this is Cena's
17:01last chance at the WWE title while Punk is champion.
17:05During the match, Brock Lesnar returns to Raw, distracts Cena, and Punk beats Cena again.
17:12Which leads to SummerSlam, Cena vs. Brock, two.
17:15This is more along the lines of the Extreme Rules match they had.
17:18It's more even sided because Cena is starting to walk that dark path.
17:25He's fighting dirtier and dirtier, low blows, rabid chair shots, but Cena still loses.
17:31Then the night after SummerSlam, Cena comes out and tells the crowd that right now he
17:35hates them.
17:36So he's leaving.
17:37Because he doesn't know what else to do.
17:39Do they want him to come out and cut a You People promo and then continue to act this
17:44way?
17:45Does the fact that he resents the fans, lack of support, excuse doing terrible things?
17:49No.
17:50He still can't bring himself to do it because he knows heading down this path is wrong.
17:54This is the thing that separates John Cena from everyone else.
17:57This is the thing that can give him that unique nobility.
18:01Because he is Captain America.
18:03He is a man defined by moral intractability.
18:06People call Cat boring too, but he's one of a kind because he manages to find the strength
18:12to maintain grace in an increasingly cruel world.
18:15What doesn't work for Cena is watching a bunch of people around him suffering while he doesn't
18:20really do anything about it, and then just doing the same old shit and pretending it's
18:23own personal victories makes collateral damage unimportant.
18:27So instead here, he can feel himself heading down a dark path.
18:31He's been unable to stop the fans from getting to him.
18:36He is becoming increasingly desperate to turn his career around, and instead of continuing
18:41to embrace that darkness, all he can do right now is leave.
18:46Return to what they were setting up with all these promos.
18:49Return to his family.
18:50Return home.
18:51Take time for himself, not the fans.
18:54You know, have John be a f***ing human being about it.
18:57Also this coincides with Cena needing time off for shoulder surgery.
18:59So this way, when he then is gone for a while and WWE fans really feel that loss, then when
19:06he makes his return during the 2013 Royal Rumble, it might feel more of an actual welcome
19:11home.
19:12And this way, even though, yes, you end up doing Rock vs Cena 2, the story carries actual
19:16emotional weight because it has been a terrible year.
19:20Even after coming back, Cena is tempted to embrace the hate because he really, really
19:25needs to beat The Rock.
19:27And you can actually tease this now.
19:28A darkness in Cena.
19:30He needs to beat The Rock.
19:31Is he willing to go to that place?
19:33So the selling point of Mania 29 isn't twice in a lifetime, isn't can Cena become WWE Champion?
19:39It's will the turn finally happen?
19:42Because at this point in his career, it actually can.
19:46And you don't have to.
19:47Whichever way you work, the groundwork's there.
19:48Either Cena took time away, became secure in himself, more resolute than ever in his
19:53goals, finally understood what it took to rise above hate, or he gives in, rejects the
19:58people for good, and embraces the hate.
20:01They both work, and I know which I'd prefer to see.
20:06So that is how I would rebook the embrace the hate storyline and pretty much John Cena's
20:11entire 2012.
20:12What do you think?
20:13Do you hate it?
20:16Don't tell me that.
20:17Don't embrace the hate because I will end up reading it and it makes me sad.
20:22So just say good job.
20:26That's it.
20:27Just everyone comment good job.
20:29I'd like that.
20:30And then subscribe to PartsFundown as well.
20:33And bye.
20:34Bye bye.
20:35F**k.