300 days without Cena being champion, could someone pull this off?

[Ferreira]

Hi,

I have no problem with Cena whatsoever, the guys isn't perfect, he is not my favorite guy but I don't have anything against him, he works his ass off for the position he is in, so he deserves it.

But John Cena thanks to the long reing of CM Punk hasn't held the WWE Championship for almost a year, for as long as 300 days. In today's WWE that is a huge period, if you look closely in the history of WWE in the last years you will see the belt changing around and Cena being champion at least once a year, even last year, Cena was champion 2 times (he was champion when CM Punk beat him at MiTB, so you can count it as 3 times).

John Cena is the man. John Cena is the guy that everybody recognizes as the face of the company, you can talk about The Rock, CM Punk, Randy Orton, and everybody else but the bigger name is Cena, no doubt about that, at least in my view.

I rather watch a match with Punk than a Cena's match but the guy is the top guy not only of WWE but of this industry. With this big introduction I have come with one question: Considering that this is rather surprising in the recent history of WWE, do you think there is anybody else besides John Cena on WWE's top guys that could stay on top (if WWE depended on him) without carrying the belt for a full year?

Do you think Randy Orton, CM Punk, The Rock, Lesnar, Undertaker, etc., could be the MAIN superstar and not win the belt for a year or is just the way thinks work with Cena and Cena only? I'm not talking about the past, because there were a lot of wrestlers that weren't champions for a year and were the main guys, I'm talking about today's WWE.

 

[TheLoneCharles]

It's not like Cena is your average superstar that wins the title and gets shoved back down into the midcard. While Cena didn't have the title he had feuds with some guys that the younger stars could only dream of...and I'm not talking about Big Show and Kane. In back to back months, Cena faced both The Rock and Brock Lesnar. That alone kept Cena at a status that is equal to the WWE Champion if not greater.

I equate John Cena to the 1990s Dallas Cowboys. They won 3 championships, always in contention, and drafted poorly while riding Smith, Irvin, and Aikman until the wheels fell off. The Cowboys were never the same because they drafted like crap until Parcells came along and added many key pieces that are still on todays Cowboys.

Cena was at the top for so long that WWE didn't develop enough guys to believably feud with Cena. From 2005 to 2009, a series of improperly developing talent left the product incredibly stale. The Nexus had to exist in 2010 because the roster was thin all over the place.

Since the Nexus ended, it seems as though a flood of talent hit the WWE and there are alot of guys I would love to see pushed up the card. One such guy is Ryback. I know he isn't as technical as a Daniel Bryan, but judging from crowds and Vince himself, I can see Ryback at the top of the card by Royal Rumble 2014.

The only reason why we all hate Cena, is because he has no equal villain. I would have loved to see him feud with the 2003-2004 version of HHH, as at the time he was basically the heel version of Cena dominating everyone.

 

[Cereal Killer]

D-Bryan. He is a great wrestler, has decent mic skills and is big with the whole YES thing. He is better than CM Punk IMO but is still one of the top guys there today. He isn't the champ but still popular with the crowd/IWC.

WWE need to keep him set as a face and let him feud with more of the heavyweight division guys like HHH, Y2J, Mysterio, Cena etc. That would really do the trick. He doesn't have to win the belts but would still pull off the John Cena thing.

Top star of 80's is Hogan
90's Austin
00's(?) Cena
10's not CM Punk but Daniel Bryan.

 

[dtroppe]

Top star of 80's is Hogan
90's Austin
00's(?) Cena
10's not CM Punk but Daniel Bryan.

I think it was too early to tell if DB is the top star. For that he would have to draw huge- something he had not yet done. So far Cena is the 10's as well. As originally posted, he is a multiple time World Champion that has had the biggest match of the last 10 years with the Rock - and they will probably rematch at Rumble or Mania. Bryan has a long long way to go to measure up that. I don't see it happening. He doesn't have the look that will grab mainstream Americas attention like Hogan/Austin/Rock/Cena. More than likely if there is a massive star of the 2010's it will be Cena or someone that we have not seen yet.

 

[Headman]

D-Bryan. He is a great wrestler, has decent mic skills and is big with the whole YES thing. He is better than CM Punk IMO but is still one of the top guys there today. He isn't the champ but still popular with the crowd/IWC.

WWE need to keep him set as a face and let him feud with more of the heavyweight division guys like HHH, Y2J, Mysterio, Cena etc. That would really do the trick. He doesn't have to win the belts but would still pull off the John Cena thing.

Top star of 80's is Hogan
90's Austin
00's(?) Cena
10's not CM Punk but Daniel Bryan.

DB and Punk are as old as Cena, so why would either of these guys be the ones to replace him? Cena's replacement probably hasn't even debuted yet. And it looks like the "10's" will be dominated by Cena for atleast the first half.

 

[Mongoose McQueen]

The guys an 10 time world champion, he needs no belt. Because he is at that level of stardom that very few reach in their career. It's also good that Cena has NOT held the title thus far, it's been fresh and new to see someone else hold the belt. Hell I'll even go as far as saying, he doesn't need the belt at all in 2012.

There would be no point what so ever. WWE has so much talent to use right now and the roster is becoming more muscular again, which is healthy for tha company. Cm Punk might aswell keep the belt for the rest of this year or have Cena win at summerslam. Cena holds until royal rumble, that's 5 months, Cena faces the rock at rumble loses to the rock and then you have cm punk facing the rock at WrestleMania, cm punk wins the belt back.

Cena could then faces taker at mania.

 

[thebarber]

Undertaker Im pretty sure went nearly 6 years without having to hold the WWE Title(won in 1991 from Hogan, didnt win again until March 1997 from memory). He certainly was the constant in the company through that time in the main event ranks.
To asnwer the OP, any guy who is situated in that spot could easily go that long without a title run. When Cena had his over 1 year reign, HHH, Orton, Michaels all went without the belt. Hell Micahels went from December 2002 through to his retirement without holding the World or WWE Title, as he did not need it. Like Cena, he is beyond needing the belt. Cena is the man for WWE, he doesnt need the title. What he needs to do is have that Mania match with Undertaker, and HE NEEDS TO TURN HEEL, endless storyline options and fresh feuds, instead of dull as dishwater, not putting over guys like Lesnar as scripted(yes he got the pin, but didnt afhere to the script to make Lesnar look strong).

 

[thebarber]

D-Bryan. He is a great wrestler, has decent mic skills and is big with the whole YES thing. He is better than CM Punk IMO but is still one of the top guys there today. He isn't the champ but still popular with the crowd/IWC.

WWE need to keep him set as a face and let him feud with more of the heavyweight division guys like HHH, Y2J, Mysterio, Cena etc. That would really do the trick. He doesn't have to win the belts but would still pull off the John Cena thing.

Top star of 80's is Hogan
90's Austin
00's(?) Cena
10's not CM Punk but Daniel Bryan.

Austin the star of the 90's???? He didnt hit the main event until Bret Hart made him at Mania 13......thats two and a half years of a decade that he was white hot. Sure he was the next superstar to have Hoganesque levels of popularity, but Hogan defined a decade, as has Cena so far, Austin was huge 1997(yes he won KOTR in 1996, but he was still in the mid card and that only got him from being borderline Su nday Night Heat fodder to meaning something).

 

[Tadgie]

I dont have a problem with Cena,but he cant go round doing moves to wrestlers that nobody else cant seem to do,also you're right he does'nt need the title,it'll show the kiddies that he cant always be champ,finally most top wrestlers have someone they could'nt get past,&i think if Cena becomes champ before the Royal Rumble,then he should'nt beat The Rock,Rock becomes the one that not even SuperCena could get by!

 

[OutsiderDX]

The WWE is a machine.

Once Cena is done or injured, they will throw their money, creativity, tv time, and promotional power behind the next guy.

I am wholely convinced it doesn't matter who it is. It's the great or horrible thing about scripted entertainment, they can make anyone into anything.

They can take a guy who was a failed body builder, who has limited wrestling ability, zero creativity, and zero mind for business, and turn him into the "face of the company" See: Cena

The WWE isn't going to fold once Cena is done, they are will simply move on. Vince learned a long time ago, its bad business to rely on one person. He likes to own a person/character now, so he can make them and break them. Hogan taught him those.

Having the Machine behind someone like Cena works adequatly.

But when the Machine is behind someone who is actually respected / talented / creative it transcends and becomes amazing. See : Austin. See : Rock

 

[JaylisJayP]

It's the great or horrible thing about scripted entertainment, they can make anyone into anything.

I generally agree with this, but they still have to get over, whether they get over themselves or whether the gimmick creative gave them gets over, it still has to click with the crowd.

I'm sure there have been many wrestlers who have come and gone that WWE thought were going to be huge, and put time, effort, money into developing into a character, only for that spark to just never catch for one reason or another.

Cena has the look, the mic skills, and got wildly popular with his timely hip hop gimmick and humorous lyrics. He was and is entertaining. I suppose WWE could've hired someone to write to lyrics for Cena but I'm pretty sure he came up with most of that stuff himself...and he just pulled it off because he has charisma and screen presence.

Punk, Bryan, and say for arguments sake John Morrison, all have most of that package but not all of it. Punk is a hell of a wrestler and probably the best at keeping his thoughts together on the live mic while still staying himself...which makes him believeable - thus people can focus on what he's saying and not how he's saying it and it ups the entertainment value. But he'll never be as "larger than life" of a wrestling persona as Cena.

Who else on the roster is that "next guy?" Like others have said, it might be someone who hasn't even debuted yet. My early guess maybe last year was Wade Barrett, but I'm sure in this day and age, the next guy will be someone who's more kid-friendly right off the bat and then they'll try to build him up from there.

Of course, the only guy that ever really worked for was Hogan. Austin, Rock and Cena all became popular appealing to the older wrestling fans first and then it trickled down as they became more mainstream.

 

[Kelso1ftw]

Cena was at the top for so long that WWE didn't develop enough guys to believably feud with Cena. From 2005 to 2009, a series of improperly developing talent left the product incredibly stale. The Nexus had to exist in 2010 because the roster was thin all over the place.

Since the Nexus ended, it seems as though a flood of talent hit the WWE and there are alot of guys I would love to see pushed up the card. One such guy is Ryback. I know he isn't as technical as a Daniel Bryan, but judging from crowds and Vince himself, I can see Ryback at the top of the card by Royal Rumble 2014.

I completely agree with what you said here, they had talent there for sure that looked promising but due to injuries and people not really being 100% invested in the company due to whatever reasons kind of killed everyone behind Cena. We had Batista who wanted to go try and be an Actor, Edge left due to his neck injury, Jeff Hardy left, Lesner left, Lashley left, and many countless other big stars. And up until the nexus angle, who did the WWE really try and invest in and actually not drop the ball with all the way through? We had Jack Swagger, Carlito, Kozlov, Chris Masters, MVP, Mr. Kennedy, etc otherwise we were basically stuck with the same people time and time again like Cena, Orton, Taker, HHH, HBK, Big Show, Mysterio and Jericho... and out of that list only 3 of them are going to for sure be in the WWE in some role in the next 5 years and HHH won't be wrestling. The WWE really only built a couple of legit contenders that are finally coming to show their true potential, such as CM Punk showing from last summer how great he can be, and Sheamus who got a monster push early and WWE didn't drop the ball on. Sure you can make cases for people like Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler who were in the WWE before that, but until The Nexus were they really given the amount of TV time like some of the young talent now? In the past year we have gotten a number of big names coming into the WWE and all look impressive and can possibly make a statement in the future like Ryback, Sandow, Brodus Clay, Cesaro, PTP, and even more that are still in FCW and will soon probably make their way to the main roster. I think WWE finally realized they have to keep things interesting and get younger and newer names because soon they will only have Cena and Orton and kind of be stuck with no one behind them.

 

[vampxx24]

The WWE is a machine.

Once Cena is done or injured, they will throw their money, creativity, tv time, and promotional power behind the next guy.

I am wholely convinced it doesn't matter who it is. It's the great or horrible thing about scripted entertainment, they can make anyone into anything.

They can take a guy who was a failed body builder, who has limited wrestling ability, zero creativity, and zero mind for business, and turn him into the "face of the company" See: Cena

The WWE isn't going to fold once Cena is done, they are will simply move on. Vince learned a long time ago, its bad business to rely on one person. He likes to own a person/character now, so he can make them and break them. Hogan taught him those.

Having the Machine behind someone like Cena works adequatly.

But when the Machine is behind someone who is actually respected / talented / creative it transcends and becomes amazing. See : Austin. See : Rock

i am by far no cena fan but he does deserve some credit and some slack. WWE dumbed down his move set , is he the level of a punk,bryan,hart,beniot no but just because we see the 5 moves of doom doesnt mean thats all he has, from whats said wwe limited his moveset. ZERO creativity, did you forget his rapper gimmick...that wasnt wwe that was HIM. cena was known for rapping backstage and he tookt he idea and ran with it...thats what got him hot with the crowd. cenas demise was when he became the marine supporter and he never changed, obviously people would get tired of his stale character... if you look at the undertaker,sting guys who had the same gimmick for almost 20 years, while they kept the basic character they always found a way to evolve it....cenas issue is hes stuck as wwe doesnt want to change as hes stuck being a face because of the kids.

 

[whoopin' ass]

right now, no for most but this 300 days has shown something - Cena and the belt don't need each other. now if Punk lost the title, he could stay relevant like Daniel Bryan has without the title. Cena not having the title proved that you can have the title on someone else and neither are hurt by it. think of it this way - the Rock is a 6 time champ(i think) but i heard somewhere that his total days holding the title is less than a year. people can lose the title and not have it for a long time and still be relevant as long as they are pushed that way. problem was until now, they kept dumping the title back onto Cena because they didn't think anyone could hold it. they way they treated guys in the past, no most couldn't go that long without a title because the moment they lost it, they were dumped down the card. but if wwe actually sticks behind people, a lot of the former champs would not be hurt by it.

 

[theBec2101]

I don’t think too many others could not have the belt and be main event stars for long. I mean CM Punk was up there but he even knew he couldn’t do it that long and needed the belt remember the "pipe bomb" moments.
I think Orton could pull it off. Also Kane if he had a better storylines to go with. I think if some people had better story to work with they could do it or at least for several months. I mean I think Edge could of done it. Just a year of him trying to get the belt back and him trying to cheat or take people out of the competition and being manipulating would be entertaining.

 

[Teddy Irving]

To answer your question yes there is someone that could do it on the roster right now and that persons name... Randy Orton.
Know how I know he could do it? Because he has, the last time he held the title was Night of Champions 2011 when he lost it to Mark Henry. I know he was out for a while with the suspension but he came and is still one of the top guys in the company, so yes someone other than Cena could and has done it.