Speculation on if John Cena Working with a Broken Nose Will Change Fans’ Opinion of Him

There is some current speculation on if John Cena working with a broken nose will change fans’ opinion of him or not. As previously reported, Cena suffered a severe nasal fracture during the July 27 edition of “Monday Night Raw” after WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins connected with a stiff knee to his face.

The United States Champion had to have emergency surgery on July 28 to improve his breathing, as the fracture was making it hard for Cena to do such a simple function as that. It was then reported that the leader of the Cenation would be removed from all WWE events and television leading up to Aug. 17, which is the “go-home” show for “SummerSlam,” which will take place six days later on Aug. 23.

Cena is expected to face Rollins at the annual August Pay-Per-View event. The match will be a Title vs. Title Match, where the winner will be crowned both the United States and WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter adds that there is some question as to how Cena will be respected if he does face Rollins in a match at “SummerSlam.” Rollins addressed the WWE Universe during the Aug. 3 edition of “RAW,” where he was cheered and thanked for breaking Cena’s nose, and this adds fuel to the fire.

Do the fans really despise Cena enough to be happy about such a severe nasal injury, or will they gain more respect for him and get behind him at “SummerSlam” for competing in such a condition? Meltzer speculates on the answer to this question, saying,

“One question that can’t be answered is will the Rollins match and fighting through the broken nose and having a great match change the reaction to him, in the sense will the audience that only comes to PPV shows and Raws and boo him heavily start gaining more of a grudging respect for him. I don’t expect a complete turnaround, and his first Raw back will be misleading.

But SummerSlam should be interesting, because New York is traditionally as negative to Cena as any market, but that show is also drawing the most hardcore fan base and if anyone will accept his toughness and change their tune on him, that would be the audience. I don’t expect him to be cheered wildly, but it’ll be notable if he’s not booed as much as usual in New York.

A lot of people have brought this up to me over the past week within wrestling, but until SummerSlam, nobody will really know. In San Jose, it appeared that nothing had changed. Every time Rollins talked about breaking Cena’s nose, the fans cheered and chanted ‘Thank you Rollins.'”

Editor’s Note:

It should be interesting. The over-all consensus that I’ve heard from our sources and from the mouths of most smart fans, the respect for Cena as an unstoppable force is only continuing to grow. The character may be stale, but the man himself is proving why he’s had the reigns of the company strapped to him for so long. He’s performing at an entirely new and impressive rate in the ring, and he fights through injuries like nobody else ever has. It’s the cool thing to do, to boo Cena and say he sucks, but I believe the respect from his peers and viewers is only rising.