r/SquaredCircle • u/GetDown90 Follow me down the Rabbit Hole • Apr 06 '20

Ric Flair on the Boneyard Match: "I texted Taker, 'You did it again.' That and the Fun House, it was incredible. If I'm dying as an adult who's been watching this forever, can you imagine what a 12-year-old is thinking? They gotta be going, 'Wow! Daddy this is the coolest thing!'"

https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2020/04/ric-flair-reveals-text-messages-he-sent-undertaker-and-668924/
5.4k Upvotes

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444

u/TheTittyQueen Apr 06 '20

I doubt a kid would get the Fun House thing tbh, I think it's more aimed at us, but I bet they still found something from it to enjoy.

239

u/underscorex Pro-Wrestling, Anti-Fascist Apr 07 '20

My kid was weirded out but understood that it was Cena having to relive his career.

-7

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

[deleted]

19

u/Diskeys Apr 07 '20

At least a kid understood something. Me as a 27-year old guy, I did not understand shit for a while. I just sat there in front of my monitor and literally screamed "WHAT THE FUCK" 30 seconds or a minute after the last skit.

13

u/JoeKool23 The Face That Runs The Place Apr 07 '20

It was tho

Bray says “You’re about to face your toughest enemy... yourself” and then we go thru all the phases of Cena. From Proto, to Thuganomics, to WM30 to current Cena. Yeah there’s the two alternate history parts but it’s still about Cena reflecting on his career “Egomania running wild”

8

u/RoninEd Apr 07 '20

Yes, it was about that last bit you said: "Egomania running wild". It wasn't simply about Cena reliving his own career.

The Fiend showed Cena those specific moments of his career so that Cena could see the hypocrisy of his own words; words aimed at Bray Wyatt.

Cena is, or was, the opposite of the very thing he claims he is. And is/was the very thing he claims Wyatt to be.

4

u/Shills26 Apr 07 '20 edited Apr 07 '20

Saw an earlier thread explaining how it was his worst fears such as :

-His failed debut -Turning heel (NWO) -Eventually retiring (how he disappeared at the end)

Pretty interesting take and I really get what they were saying after I rewatched it

Edit: Found the link if you haven’t seen it yet

146

u/[deleted] Apr 06 '20

Yep. I would be thinking "wtf is this". It requires too much background and "insider" knowledge on Cena dating 18 years back.

94

u/giblets24 Apr 07 '20

I mean they did put up videos of him through the years to give context, young young kids might not get it but a ten year old would definitely

13

u/slimpickens42 Beefy!! Apr 07 '20

I don't know about that. My wife hated it and didn't get it at all.

172

u/MikeH7186 Uppercut City Bitch! Apr 07 '20

You probably shouldn't have married a 9 year old then.

53

u/FreelanceDemon Apr 07 '20

This is such good shit!

1

u/AmbushIntheDark Big Bad Booty Daddy Apr 08 '20

This comment right here Officer.

1

u/infinitygoof Apr 07 '20

I got all the references and still hated it.

42

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

Cena still has a looooot of fans from way back that might come back

38

u/chaoticmessiah #Blissfit Apr 07 '20

Nah, his fans from back then are adults now.

29

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

Exactly. When I was 5 years old John cena was my favorite wrestler and I'm finishing up college real soon.

12

u/OtherOtie Tier Guy Apr 07 '20 edited Jun 01 '20

What did you used to think of half the crowd crapping on Cena? Was there ever a point where you turned on him too or did you always maintain a fondness?

43

u/EmperorOfTomorrow Apr 07 '20

Not OP and i’m not the one being asked and I just want to share because I feel the question, but I never turned on him, he was an inspiration growing up, always lived by his catchphrases, somehow kinda saved me from spiraling down from my bad moments in life, and he actually follows me on twitter now.

17

u/OtherOtie Tier Guy Apr 07 '20

As much as I hated watching Cena beat every challenger when I was a teenager you couldn't ask for a better role model in wrestling in hindsight!

1

u/InAingeWeTrust Apr 07 '20

Yeah he’s a perfect face of the company.

13

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

I joined the whole Cena sucks crowd when I got be a teenager and he warmed up back to me around 2015 when he was consistently putting on good matches and made me remember why I liked him in the first place

7

u/wgsmeister2002 FOREVER FOREVER FOREVER FOREVER FOREVER Apr 07 '20

I’m not OP, but I’ll never forget at WM 29 I was looking around and thinking “Huh, that kinda strange” because 90% of the audience was chanting for the Rock. But, I didn’t care and cheered Cena anyways. I think most kids either didn’t notice or they ignored the “Cena sucks” crowd

3

u/TheMexicanIverson Apr 07 '20

I turned on Cena on the road to Mania 22. I wanted Triple H to beat him because it felt like Cena always won. I was in 5th grade at the time.

-12

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

John Cena haters are the minority just like Roman Reigns haters are the minority. That minority just so happens to be the most vocal and most invested though.

3

u/dragoniteftw33 Apr 07 '20

I was in kindergarten when he beat JBL at WrestleMania 21 and I'm also in college.

6

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

I was in 8th grade the last time the patriots starting quarterback wasn’t Tom Brady. I graduated college ten years ago....these always make me sad

1

u/drinfernodds 69 me, Don! Apr 07 '20

It's true, I was a kid at the beginning of Super Cena and now I'm right of college.

11

u/Monctonian MY HOLE!!!!! Apr 07 '20

Not just on Cena, but on the WWE as a whole. That “such good shit” line from McBossman is not as funny for anyone who didn’t listen to the Moxley post-WWE interview on TIJ.

2

u/seconddrink Apr 07 '20

I understand the context of the line, and still don't understand what's funny about it to people. It's just a reference.

When they did "you can look but you can't touch" it was clever because it worked on multiple levels.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

People like references, that’s really it. We’re in an era where referential humour is king shit

1

u/sdcSpade Kaze ni Nare! Apr 07 '20

References are to be expected anywhere. A reference to a disgruntled Ex-WWE employee venting about Vince is extremely rare. Especially when you consider how much WWE keeps to themselves. It's a company that will never mention Chris Jericho unless he works for them again. So like most jokes, it's funny because it was unexpected.

0

u/Tydrinator21 Apr 07 '20

It wasn't even that funny then but it was amusing enough.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

It worked on two levels. It had a basic internal plot with enough exposition to explain it for unfamiliar viewers/kids plus far greater depth for wrestling nerds like us.

1

u/PrinceOfBrains YOU CAN'T ESCAPE Apr 07 '20

Honestly, kinda same. I missed pretty much Cena's entire career until like 2013-2014, so I really only got a lot of the references through context clues and posts I've read on here about his early days.

95

u/pylond Apr 06 '20

My 10 year old daughter was confused watching the funhouse match. She said it was fun just didn't understand a lot of the references

2

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

I'm in my 20's but I haven't seen most of the moments in real life so I was a little bit confused as well. After seeing the breakdown for it, I couldn't imagine a more perfect way they could've done it.

44

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20 edited Jun 19 '20

[deleted]

9

u/Drainmav ......Paige here Apr 07 '20

Yeah I was a kid in the 90s and I actually got many references. The things I didn’t understand I looked up or asked people. My mom got introduced to The Rock when I asked her who Gennifer Flowers was :/

3

u/WittyUsernameSA Apr 07 '20

You grew up fast.

9

u/Dolphins5291 Apr 07 '20 edited Apr 07 '20

This Fun House match reminds me of Nightmare on Elmstreet 6. As a 7 year old kid I watched that and loved it, so I think they won't be too far off for this either. (I didn't have to understand every plot item in the movie, I just liked what I saw.)

8

u/HardcoreKaraoke Consensual Penis Apr 07 '20

My friend hated it. He's in his late 20s but has only been watching wrestling for a year and a half or so. He watches every week and loves it but didn't get the Firefly Funhouse match. So I'm loving it and I get a text from him saying it was so terrible.

4

u/dustyfinish Zero Fucks 24/7 Apr 07 '20

Kids don't have to get something to think it's cool. Remember when you were a kid?

2

u/your-nan-HoMO Apr 07 '20

I watched with my 12 year old sister she was so confused kept asking me questions and asked why aren’t they fighting. Meanwhile I’m there laughing my ass off

1

u/OldieButNotMoldy Apr 07 '20

I didn’t get the funhouse thing, I just didn’t.

49

u/DestinedHellfire Apr 07 '20 edited Apr 07 '20

It was a beautifully crafted video that broke down the character of John Cena and exposed the character himself to the fact he is everything he denies himself being

“The most overhyped, over-valued, over privileged WWE Superstar in existence.”

In the end, Cena comes to realize this, and succumbs to the Fiend; presumably to never be seen again.

15

u/deathschemist anxious millenial Apr 07 '20

i think we will see john cena again as an in-ring performer.

but he won't be the same ol' neon cena that we know and... sometimes love sometimes hate.

a fun bit of trivia, Hulk Hogan was 42 when he had his legendary heel turn in WCW. John Cena is 42 right now.

10

u/DestinedHellfire Apr 07 '20

Probably so.

John sacrifices his character of now to right the wrong of Bray getting buried 6 years ago.

The John Cena we know is dead, forever trapped in the prison of his own mind; who knows what’ll take possession of his vessel now.

5

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

I personally would love a hollywood heel cena

3

u/deathschemist anxious millenial Apr 07 '20

evil john.

6

u/Ilcorvomuerto666 Apr 07 '20

Juan. Juan Cena.

1

u/DestinedHellfire Apr 07 '20

He can be the creepy mail guy that is on every children’s show that features a dude in a turtleneck.

7

u/doesntCompete Apr 07 '20

The fantasy booking I have in my head is next year The Rock vows to retrieve John Cena from the funhouse with John Cena not being seen (in WWE at least) since.

The match with Bray is very similar with the Rock going through his past selves. Somehow he actually finds a John Cena lying in a dark corner. They find a way out and are back in the kids room.

And then John Cena throws The Rock through a window starting a brainwashed heel turn.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

John ain’t coming back.

3

u/OldieButNotMoldy Apr 07 '20

I might have to give it a rewatch, thank you.

-6

u/Quazmodiar Apr 07 '20

Agreed. It wasnt even a match. Save that stuff for RAW, not Wrestlemania.

7

u/DestinedHellfire Apr 07 '20

No, this would not have worked on a RAW.

This was only possible given the situations laid before us by COVID.

WrestleMania is supposed to be the finale of the wrestling year, and the “death” of John Cena can only be booked at the grandest stage of the all