TLC: Total Lack of Cena?

‘Twas the night before TLC, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even that mouse;
The matches were scheduled on the card with care,
But wait, what the heck, John Cena’s not there?

That’s right, kiddies, with only 24 hours between now and the third annual Tables Ladders and Chairs event, John Cena isn’t scheduled to appear on the show. Pretty weird to think about, right? Well let's look closer.

With Cena’s choice to forfeit his place in the WWE Championship match in order to give Zack Ryder his long awaited his shot at Dolph Ziggler’s gold, he snapped his streak of 41 consecutive advertised pay-per-view appearances. If you do the math, that means that John Cena hasn’t been left off of a WWE pay-per-view since October, 2008… when he was recovering from a broken neck.

Impressive or infuriating, depending on what side of the street you’re coming from. Cena is undoubtedly the face of the WWE, but those stats are still staggering. Through thick and thin, good and bad, the WWE has used John Cena as that little extra “umph” for PPV buy rates for three years continuously. The sole thing that could take the man off of the monthly events is severe injury, with his fractured neck in 2008 and his torn pectoral muscle in 2007. That makes this creative decision all the more shocking.

Why all of the sudden? Cena is very much in the spotlight in the current day, maybe more so than ever. He is hot off of competing alongside his WrestleMania 28 opponent, The Rock, facing Awesome Truth in a tag team main event at Survivor Series. The week prior, before he gave up his PPV spot to the ultra-hot Zack Ryder, he was seemingly in the thick of the WWE Title picture once again. Hell, he even accepted a Slammy earlier this week! Well, think about it. I think it might be deeper.

As of late, Cena has been receiving a bit of an increased negative reaction from the crowd, as noted by The Rock via Twi

tter and many of Cena’s foes. Recently, this has been implemented into the direction of his character, with Roddy Piper ripping into him during a recent “Piper’s Pit” segment, warning Cena to finally break his silence and address the haters or his career will dearly suffer for it. “Hot Rod” finished his rant with a swift slap to Cena’s face, which led to a suspiciously heel-ish action: Cena walked away. And then, Interim General Manager John Laurinaitis made match: John Cena vs. Zack Ryder. If Cena wins, he enters the WWE Championship match; if Ryder wins, he gets his shot at the United States Championship. Cena pulled out the win.

You know all that, but here is where it gets interesting: Cena went backstage and proceeded to give up his chance to win his 13th World Championship, all to give Ryder his shot… right?

Did Cena really do this out of the goodness of his heart? Or could this be a ploy to get the crowd back on his side? The creative part of me is leaning toward the latter. Even the commentators, notably Jerry Lawler (a bigger Cena fan than Mrs. Cena), are picking up on the fact that Cena may be struggling to “Rise Above Hate.” (T-Shirt can be found at WWEShop.com!) After habitually trying to please the crowd, even putting his own personal gain on the backburner to do so, the haters continue to hate, and that might be taking toll on the Cena character.

Wouldn’t it be a breath of fresh air if the white-meat babyface finally went off on the boo birds? I wouldn’t be completely shocked if we see just that sometime before WrestleMania. Nine times out of ten in babyface vs. babyface matchups, if creative doesn’t turn one heel, the crowd will. While Cena might not become the Iron Sheik circa 1984, don’t be surprised if he takes on more of an edge leading to his highly hyped match against “The Great One.”

But hey, I could be wrong. In any case, John Cena might not appear on a WWE pay-per-view event for the first time in over three years come tomorrow. That in and of itself quite the mind boggler. What does WWE have in store?