WWE Superstar John Cena is clearly the biggest star in WWE today. No one comes close to the stardom he brings into the company every day. He is WWE’s golden boy who can literally do no wrong. Honestly, he is the best ambassador WWE has ever had and many hope he stays in a similar role when he finally does retire. However, his retirement is not coming any time soon. Or is it?
WWE has been using “old man” to describe John Cena lately in his rivalry with Rusev. Clearly Cena is not as young as other stars in the WWE today, but he is only 37 and can pass for younger than that in most eyes.
According to Daily Wrestling News , many within WWE think that portraying Cena as an “old man veteran” is a very bad idea. One source noted it as “shockingly bad” as far as the direction WWE is taking his character, the source claims that they are shocked Cena is even going along with it. Cena is a WWE yes man, so he will do whatever they ask him to do up to a point.
If they ask him to job out to a lesser talent, he’ll do it if WWE tells him he has to do so. Obviously Cena does have pull, but he also wants to give back and help the new guys out. He is a 15 time World Champion. He has the most WWE Championship wins in company history and is only one away from breaking Ric Flair’s all time record, which is universally recognized as the record due to where he worked when he won them.
Due to Flair winning most of them outside WWE, Cena clearly beats his WWE Championship win total, though.
So what is next for Cena? The idea for the last few years has been to involve him less and less in the main event scene. This is especially true during WrestleMania season. WWE feels having a match with Cena is a big deal for any talent. That said, people like Bray Wyatt and Rusev richly benefit in working with Cena at the event. This is why Rusev will most likely face Cena at the event despite also facing him at WWE Fast Lane at the end of the month.
Cena was the consistent WrestleMania main eventer each year, but WWE wants to put in new blood while also utilizing him. That is why rumors have begun again around the internet claiming that Cena might finally go heel in order to help push programs with new main event stars like Dean Ambrose, Daniel Bryan, and Roman Reigns. The idea may now be even more possible because WWE needs to find a good main event heel to work with young talent.
Cena is the top star they have, and similar to Hulk Hogan in WCW, his age is actually what helps benefit him. Many were tired of the red and yellow Hogan and wanted to see a new age guy that we had never seen before. The NWO was born from the idea that top stars were taking over WCW. A new thing can be done for Cena to take back his position in the company by any means necessary.
The only drawback is that WWE knows Cena still sells highly to kids. While he also sells to women, many of them know the difference between staged and real. Children do not have that ability most of the time.
That means Cena’s merchandise sales might go down for kids. However, for men they might rise if he’s a convincing bad guy. WWE might lose Cena to Hollywood eventually. He is getting more and more offers and his roles in films are seemingly getting larger. Eventually he’ll land a big role that will get him a ton of attention and, just like The Rock, he’ll get too many great offers to turn down.
So then he’ll work a part-time schedule until he retires. WWE needs to experiment now while they have him at his best rather than down the line when he’s going to attempt to promote his outside work. Now that WWE wants to push him out of the top babyface role, it only makes sense to build someone else through Cena. He is “the face that runs the place” as he keeps saying. Eventually when someone runs through him, it’ll be one too many. While rumors are just that, Cena is certainly taking a less role these days.
Whether or not that will continue is yet to be determined. Many think Cena is too big to keep out of the main event picture because when he shows up on a card, his name alone sells people. Therefore he is a main event when he wrestles. We’ll have to wait and see what WWE plans to do with Cena. Do not be surprised if WWE does pull a major trigger in the future. It only makes sense.
[IMG Credit: CAQ, FanSided, Sports Keeda]