John Cena Sr. Says "Woken" Matt Hardy Character Won't Work In WWE
Above is another recent interview with John Cena Sr. for Boston Wrestling Sports where he gave his thoughts on "Woken" Matt Hardy. Over the past few weeks, the "Woken" gimmick has become unleashed on the WWE Universe with his first feud against Bray Wyatt. Cena doesn't think the character will work in WWE and felt bad for Wyatt getting looped in with it. About the gimmick itself, he thought it should have been left in the past.
"Been there. Done that. Let's move on," Cena said. "It might start a little bit of a fire in WWE, I give it 30 days, 45 days, before it gets watered on, and the 'Woken' becomes broken."
Cena continued that after fans demanded more from the gimmick, Vince McMahon finally gave in, but it's going to be just too much to have long-term appeal in WWE. He also thinks the feud with Bray Wyatt isn't good timing.
"I think [WWE is] building that feud up. I feel so bad, because it's just not the right time," Cena said. "It's not the thing to do. The gimmick- here's the thing, everybody wanted more frosting on the cake. Finally, Vince [McMahon], WWE, the writers go 'Okay, we're gonna give you more frosting on the cake,' and what's the first thing that happens when you first bite the cake? 'Too [much] sweetness, too much frosting on the cake. I don't like it!' And that's exactly what's gonna to happen. I make the prediction here and now, the 'Woken' is gonna be broken."
After months of back and forth between Hardy and Anthem Sports & Entertainment over the ownership of the "Broken" intellectual property, Hardy and WWE were finally able to move forward with WWE putting the obvious "Woken" spin on the name. Cena felt like all of this news has potentially hurt the gimmick with fans.
"I don't think it's going to help anybody, I really don't," Cena replied. "I think Matt has kind of made a mistake, because what worked before, might not necessarily work again. And the fans were so agitated by Impact Wrestling and what's been done, it's kind of like, they've heard so much about it now, it's kind of sour. It's more frosting on the cake, but it's too sweet."
Finally, Cena was asked if he had the booking power, how would he handle Wyatt vs. Hardy, and he was clear that Wyatt would go over in this feud.
"I'd put Bray Wyatt over! He would break the 'Woken,' Cena said. "He'd break him in half, the worms would cover him and it's over. Bury him out back next to Sister Abigail, it's over, it's done with. No, I'm sorry, that's not even fair to Bray Wyatt."
Again, you can see the full interview in the video above.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Boston Wrestling Sports with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Yumi Matsumoto contributed to this article.