With Machine Gun Kelly in attendance and John Cena embracing his inner Chain Gang Commander, this week’s Monday Night Raw had exactly two more white rappers than I would have preferred. That said, I still loved Cena coming out in full-on 2003 gimmick, even though it makes his conflict with Rock less about the biggest stars of yesterday and today, and more about the biggest stars of yesterday and slightly more recent yesterday. And of course, while I’ll almost certainly get pilloried by certain folks in the comments, I actually really dug Cena’s rap promo.
No, it was nowhere near as good as the past couple weeks where Cena tore into the Rock in person, but it still had something in common with those promos: Cena looked like he was having fun. One of the best things to watch on television is a guy having a good time – that’s what Jackass was built on, after all – and while Cena’s raps were admittedly dopey, he was clearly enjoying himself, which made all the jokes about nuts, Cleveland steamers and plastic Divas go down a little bit easier. Best of all, it was something different for Cena – I just wish there was a way that he could incorporate some of the freewheeling fun of his rapper gimmick into his everyday persona.
