Ever since Carlito debuted on "SmackDown!" a couple years ago, there's been a ton of hype surrounding the second generation Superstar. Quite frankly, he deserves all the hype he's received. He's got unlimited charisma, tremendous in ring ability, and that illusive "it factor" necessary to become a future WWE Champion.All of these qualities were also used to describe another cocky young heel a few years ago on "SmackDown!". This future WWE Champion's name was John Cena.
How dare I compare the great Carlito to the smark despised Cena? Well, I see more parallels between the two than most of my contemporaries. It seems Carlito has somehow gotten a free pass for many of the sins John Cena has been condemned for.
Much like Cena, when Carlito debuted he was a young, brash, cocky heel who spit in the face of tradition. He had that edge of a future huge fan favorite. It was just a matter of time.
Then, it happened. Carlito inevitably turned babyface. I personally enjoyed his program with an up and coming Chris Masters. The problems I have with Carlito began soon after he won his program with Masters. When Carlito began his on screen relationship with Trish, I assumed it was going to end badly for Ms. Stratus.I was sure Carlito was going to be the scumbag has was originally portrayed as. I mean what would get Carlito more over than not only bagging Trish, but leaving her high and dry after he got what he wanted? To me, that would have made Carlito a huge hero to all the red blooded American (and Canadian) young men.
It was not to be. Let's face it, Carlito's relationship with Trish was old fashioned vanilla. Exit Trish Stratus, enter Torrie Wilson. Almost seamlessly Carlito was now in another relationship with the top blonde on the E roster.
Remind me again why this wouldn't make me resent the Carlito character. In my mind this makes him the guy with the ridiculous hair cut and questionable clothing choices that gets to shag some of the hottest women on television. There's absolutely no edge to the relationship. Once again, Carlito is vanilla.
I know what you're thinking. "Hey, Ben. Wrestling is a work! It's not Carlito's fault, it's the writers!". Ah...but there lies the basis for my argument. Is it not true that John Cena's character his also been hijacked by WWE creative?
The once raw and cutting edge heel has been transformed into every ten year-old boy's favorite action movie star and troop supporter. Nobody has a problem condemning Cena for becoming vanilla. In fact, vanilla would actually be the most civil way Cena has been described for the past couple years on Tha O Show.
Technical ability aside, what exactly is the difference between the Carlito and John Cena's characters? They both have been instrumental in the anti-Vince vignettes the past couple weeks on "Raw". I'll tell you the difference. Cena is on top. Carlito has been struggling as a mid-carder for the past year on "Raw".Every time you think he's going to get a break, he gets knocked down again. He makes you want him to succeed. Cena on the other hand, has been on top for the past couple years no matter what is thrown in front of him. It makes you resent the guy.
While there certainly are many other factors that separate Carlito from John Cena, I would suggest to you that both of their main problem is the same: WWE creative. The E sees fit to make Cena indestructible and make Carlito struggle to stay above curtain jerk status.
However, they also see fit to make both characters absolutely vanilla. Both are bring marketed to the younger audience. Both have teddy bears in their likeness. Yet Carlito always seems to fly under the smark radar of scrutiny.
Am I suggesting Carlito is undeserving of the credentials he's been endowed with? Absolutely not. I am merely trying to point out that in a business that's a work, talent doesn't always have a say in how their character is portrayed. In the case of both John Cena and Carlito, they both come off extremely vanilla. Both men will undoubtedly turn heel once again at some point in the future.Both men will both live up to their initial hype once again as not only Carlito, but Cena too will be winning the hearts and minds of the smark community. Until then, perhaps Carlito's character should not escape the same scrutiny that Cena's has.
9 comments: on "My Take On Carlito"
I FEEL THE SAME WAY,I THINK THE WWE KEEPS DOING THE SAME THING TIME AFTER TIME,ITS TIME FOR A CHANGE IN CHARACTER ROLES.
hey hey hey ive been saying it for years it reminds me of the people champ rock vs corprate rock same guy yet the face get the boo and you sucks but hey thats the nature of the best for you maybe these two will get there day and maybe mellie mell wil team up with john cena and fued with crime time
I can't forsee a Cena heel turn anytime soon. Vince seems to think that the fact that smarks made more noise with Cena as a champion means that he's actually over as a face, which means two things. One, that belt is gonna be spinning around his waist quite often in the future. Two, he's gonna stay a face. If the heel turn was going to come, it would have come a long time ago.
And let me clear this up once and for all, in case any WWE people actually do read this page now and then-The response I give for "no one said a thing when Benoit was champion" was that us smarks didn't say anything becaue we liked Benoit as the champ. Smarks hate Cena, so we're hoping the noise will make the E realize that Cena is not the "wave of the future" they believe him to be.
It wasn't that no one said a thing when Benoit was champion... It was that no one said ANYTHING when Benoit was champion. When Benoit held the title, not only was he vanilla, but the crowds and the internet were too. There is nothing strikingly memorable from his title run.
I think that you will find the same for Carlito. People so badly want to see the next breakout star, and with mic and in ring skills, Carlito seems to be the heir to the throne. However, Carlito has done nothing to really stand out, and he is quickly losing ground to the returning Jeff Hardy and emerging Johnny Nitro.
All the Cena hate and lack of Carlito push can not be based on creative, unless creative is telling them how to wrestle (which is possible). Cena never improves, and Carlito seems to phone it home, when he should be having really memorable match of the year candidate matches.
The biggest problem in the WWE is there inability to cut the umbilical cord they have sucked off of since the Attitude Era.
WWE is far to concerned with developing the next Rock or Steve Austin to let guys get over on their own. John Cena is not Stone Cold. Carlito is not the Rock. WWE wants them to be the second coming, which will be about as successful as if they had told Bret Hart to be Hulk Hogan.
Wait a minute, they did tell Lex Luger to be Hulk Hogan, and we all saw how well that worked out.
Cena developed his own strong character that they pushed as being John Cena with the volume turned up. We all know he is no "marine." We all enjoyed him as an edgy hard as nails rap character. His current character strikes me as a dude you would invite over to watch wrestling and play Smackdown vs. Raw with. He's just a guy who happens to wrestle. His lack of cowardice is put over constantly, but it's not as if he is Shawn Michaels or Rey Misterio. The dude is huge, and he doesn't sell worth a damn. It's hard to be too sympathetic towards him.
Say what you will about Hulk Hogan, he never went into matches as an underdog, but he could get you to believe that Hulkamania was in real trouble throughout the match until he inevitably Hulked up.
Still, Cena has internet sites writing about him daily, and positive or negative, it's something that Benoit certainly cannot say. Vince doesn't care what people are saying, he just likes being talked about. Hell, he cut a promo a week ago saying he will tell us what to like, and we will like it. How much of a shoot was that? This is a man who proposed an angle where he impregnated his own daughter...
If people really want the belt off Cena, the best thing they can do is to shut up about him, and start talking about someone else.
I'm in agreement all the way on this. And to me Carlito doesn't even look like a face. Remember Mania when Piper called him Sideshow Bob? That was it, it was perfect. Carlito also "spits in the face..." you can stop it right there, and nothing even remotely similar to babyface should come from that. You shouldn't ruin an excellent heel gimmick and turn that into something baby. The E's writers may be the worst that they've had in a LONG LONG time.
Cena doesn't deserve credit for carving a niche. He planted his ass down into the one that Vince MADE for him. Had Cena remained heel and not went vanilla, maybe, no definently I'd give him credit. His title run is unique because everybody knows that it's a load. Tell me when Cena's lost the title clean, truly putting over the new champ? It wasn't at New Years Revolution when Edge won in 2 minutes after a run in cashing in the money in the bank. It wasn't at ECW-ONS when Edge ran in, and Heyman made the count. Well, thats it, there were no more title runs. 3 times the champ, no times a true loser. Not even H can claim that.
Because it hasn't been a title run is the reason it's unique. It's been GTT, grand theft title. If Vince turned Cena heel I'd give him credit yes, because Cena being heel means freestyling and ripping his opponents to shreds on the mic, not telling them that they suck and their girls got herpes. Cena was money on the mic as a heel. Nobody wrote his freestyles, plus as a heel, the wristbands wouldnt be released everymonth, he wouldnt be a "marine" anymore, and he could focus on 1 true character not a clusterf*ck of the 2 or 3 he's got going on right now.
Tell me what makes this one good? The length or what? This is a serious question, not a shot at you or anything.
I too agree that it's unique, but only because they're allowing him to win every match, end undefeated streakS, and not put over anybody clean.
As far as it being good, I'm going to disagree, but not just for the sake of disagreeing. I think that the title run itself could have been good, his first ever title defense was a solid I quit match with JBL. He won it on shaky terms but thats because he and JBL had maybe 10 minutes because H needed all his time, I'll let that slide. After the I Quit match, it went downhill. He came to Raw in the draft to a huge pop). He ended the undefeated streak of Mohammad Hassan in around 4 minutes.(Hassan as we all know is no longer in the company) He defeated Christian and Jericho in a triple threat at Vengeance(2 of the 3 are no longer with the company.) He then went into a fued with Kurt Angle, where Angle repeatedly put him over and made him look decent(just like 4 years ago when Cena answered the Angle invitational and "almost" won, Angle is also no longer with the company) Then into a pointless elimination chamber match that was filler match for the NYR card. Out comes Edge to win in "cheap" fashion ending the 9 month title reign. 3 weeks later at the Rumble Cena trounces Edge and on top of it makes him tap. 5 more months at the top to follow. He has a decent match at MANIA with H, but sadly, or not so sadly, not many people cheered him, and some didn't acknowledge his existence, unless you count the deafening boos in Chicago that night(enter CM Punk). And nobody but his 2 or 3 brothers in attendance really enjoyed him winning. H is slowly becoming Mick Foley-esque and I hope his job doesn't become putting over guys at Mania. Decent triple threat match at Backlash though I don't think the E can go back to Kentucky for a while(there's a no bleeding rule in that state). Into his program with RVD. Cena becomes an anti-anti ECW antagonist. Loses at ONS again though Edge spears Cena recurring theme maybe? The crowd at ONS really loved John Cena, the chants they directed at him were all in fun and nobody meant them. Then back into the program with Edge and RVD. RVD drops title to Edge(RVD will probably no longer be with the company after mid-07) Edge in turn loses the match he never lost before and a match where Cena looked like a fish out of water at times, the TLC at Unforgiven. We are currently at 4 months with Cena on top...yet again.
In review 6 of Cena's big name opponents are either gone(4) injured(1) or fixing to be gone(1). So now Cena is going to be fed a whole new list of superstars he can miraculously man-handle. It's not a knock on him by any means that these guys are gone, or injured. I'm just saying that he can't go back to 6 big fueds for big money. H is really the only possibility.
*Mohammad Hassan was never a big money fued, but could have easily been made into one. So the above 6 big fueds should be 5.
I forgot, since Wrestlemania 21 there have been a whopping 4 months and a few days that Cena has NOT been champion.
So with Edge being pushed as a top heel, the former 2 time champion has had a whopping 3 months at the top. RVD had another quite impressive title run coming in at almost 4 weeks. Now Edge and RVD's runs would have been impressive in '98 and '99 when titles changed hands more times than most of us change underroos.
ok carlito colon can wrestle cena cant ~kc starr~ www.myspace.com/kcstarr33
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