John Cena Received Brock Lesnar's Push

[PlayTheGame]

I believe that Brock Lesnar's push went directly to John Cena after Lesnar left the company. In the early 2000's, Lesnar was dominating the WWE on his way to becoming the definitive face of the company. Some, including me, believe that he was the stand-out, defining star of the short-lived "Ruthless Agression" era. There's no doubt that the WWE was investing heavily in Lesnar, painting him to be a dominant champion, going over the likes of Hogan, Rock, and the Undertaker, and just about anyone who stood in his way. They obviously expected him to be "the guy" for years to come.

However, Lesnar quite abruptly left the company shortly after WM20, and the WWE needed a new direction to go in, a new star to push to be the face of the company, a spot that Lesnar left wide open. At WM20, Lesnar had his infamous Goldberg match that turned into a mess. Hyped to be a great match, it ended up being anything but, as the crowd was aware that he was leaving. But, as poetic justice would have it, the first match on the card that night featured a young, hopeful John Cena (the rapping version) go over Big Show to capture the U.S. Title, his first WWE belt. The company began to focus on bringing up John Cena, heavily involving him in the U.S. Title picture. Out of the first 8 reigns of the newly-revived championship, Cena had an impressive 3 of those.

So as Lesnar left, Cena began to rise to the top, and he got over big. Between WWE's strong push of him and Cena's own ability, he quickly became the face of the company, going on to win numerous world championships, main event Wrestlemanias, and everything else.

As you can see from my argument, I firmly believe that Cena received the push that Lesnar left behind when he left the company. I see it like this: As soon as Lesnar left, Cena rose. Now, I'm sure Cena would've become pretty big in his own right even if Lesnar had stayed to this day, but I don't believe he would be the face of the company, or quite as big, because I think that spot would be Lesnar's. In other words, Cena got Lesnar's push and took his spot.

Agree/Disagree?

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Never bought it and never will so you're out of luck on that front. Brock Lesnar was pushed out the gate when he first came to the WWE so let's not act like he was some guy coming up the ranks and finally got his chance. Lesnar was an intimidating force but I wouldn't have classified him as a big draw. If Lesnar were still around, why wouldn't have Cena still rose to the top? It might have been Cena vs. Brock at WM 21 with Cena still being drafted to Raw. It wasn't like Brock was going to Raw anytime soon while HHH was there.

 

[PlayTheGame]

Never bought it and never will so you're out of luck on that front. Brock Lesnar was pushed out the gate when he first came to the WWE so let's not act like he was some guy coming up the ranks and finally got his chance. Lesnar was an intimidating force but I wouldn't have classified him as a big draw. If Lesnar were still around, why wouldn't have Cena still rose to the top? It might have been Cena vs. Brock at WM 21 with Cena still being drafted to Raw. It wasn't like Brock was going to Raw anytime soon while HHH was there.

Yeah, HHH did own Raw at that time, but Lesnar dominated Smackdown. When Lesnar left, Smackdown was left wide open, and a couple guys stepped up and took over Smackdown, but none more than Cena. Cena rose up through the ranks of Smackdown, first holding its lower tier title, then eventually becoming the WWE Champion, holding it for a long time. I highly doubt Cena gets those opportunities with all the talent that was still around back then AND with Lesnar there. And to call Lesnar not a big draw... give him a break, he was only in the WWE for a few years, not many guys are big draws in the first few years. He could've developed in that sense, Lord knows the WWE was pushing him to be. I think Cena directly took over for Lesnar on Smackdown. Lesnar was becoming the face of the WWE & Smackdown, and when he left/because he left, Cena took those roles. They would've been occupied if Lesnar were still there. But Cena took the opportunity.

 

[Jdulemba1001]

Cena was going to break out eventually. If Brock would have stayed, one of them would have become Smackdowns biggest star. The other would have went to RAW. Randy Orton would have spent his time chasing one title or the other. If anything, I think it benefited Orton that Brock left.

 

[justinept]

I disagree completely. Just as Steve Austin captured the WWE Title nearly a year before his biggest opponent The Rock did ... just as Bret Hart won the WWE Title 3 1/2 years before his biggest opponent Shawn Michaels did ... Brock Lesnar simply won the title a few years before John Cena did. But make no mistake about it, Lesnar and Cena were supposed to fit right into that mold.

Since the implementation of monthly ppv's gave us what used to be three years of story lines in the span of one year, the WWE has operated best with two stars taking turns as the face of the company. Consider this: John Cena has been the sole face of the company since 2005 when he won his first World Title. That's 7 years of JUST Cena at the top without a break ... Factoring in that the WWE had branded ppv's for a while, that's the equivalent of roughly 18 years worth of story lines under the Big-4 model. You think people have gotten a little tired of that? I'd say so. Look at the ratings ... look at the buy rates ... listen to Cena's crowd reaction for the past 5-6 years. Brock Lesnar would have suffered the same fate if he didn't have a guy like Cena to help him switch things up.

Now, that previous paragraph wasn't meant as a knock on John Cena. In fact, it was meant to be the opposite. John Cena has more charisma than anyone else in the company, a level of charisma that is on par with Hogan and The Rock. That, coupled with his look, guaranteed his spot a top the company long before Lesnar decided to hang up his wrestling boots. The previous paragraph was simply a way to explain what would've happened to Lesnar had he not had a yin to his yang ... And anybody watching SmackDown in 2003 knew that yang was going to be Cena.

The true "winners" of Lesnar's departure were the guys that got a shot to be the "yang" to what became John Cena's yin. Unfortunately, none of them were able to match Cena's charisma and give him a break from the top spot. (NOTE: The jury is still out on the ultimate success of Punk as Cena's yang.)

I think of a guy like Randy Orton, who I've long been a fan of. He's got a great look. He breathes life into his character. He's believable. But he isn't a "top" guy in the mold of Austin or The Rock. He never has been, never will be. He's over, but he's nowhere near over in the way Cena is ... or Lesnar was ... nowhere near over enough to be a face of the company or a main attraction. In a perfect world with Lesnar/Cena battling it out for the top spot, Orton would have held down a Mick Foley spot in the rotation, a perfect spot for a guy that was entertaining and over enough to carry the belt for a few months and get you from point A to point B. But without Lesnar, Orton took on the role as the main challenger to John Cena, and I doubt many people want to see that feud restart anytime soon.

 

[SacredMesa]

The true "winners" of Lesnar's departure were the guys that got a shot to be the "yang" to what became John Cena's yin. Unfortunately, none of them were able to match Cena's charisma and give him a break from the top spot. (NOTE: The jury is still out on the ultimate success of Punk as Cena's yang.)

I would disagree with this. There was a brief moment where someone did in fact rise up to be that "yang" to Cena the issue was how he was handled. When Edge first beat Cena by cashing in that money in the bank that was the moment for WWE to really get behind him and give him a damn strong world title reign and make it look like there was finally someone or something Cena couldn't over come. If Edge would of kept that title for say 6-8 months, or even a year, with Lita beside him beating guys like Cena, Jericho, Angle, HHH, Orton, etc etc over that time span it would of really freshened up the WWE main event scene. After a while of this would of been when they bring Cena back into the picture and have him beat Edge for the title. While Edge still came out of the whole deal well I feel if they gave him an almost HHH like run with the first time he beat Cena it would of done so much more for the company, and Cena.

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

I totally disagree with this. I just do & I don't even like John Cena. But giving credit where credit's due, Cena did then, as he has done now, busted his ass to get to where he's at. He's just an annoying character at this point who's quickly approaching Hulk Hogan/WCW lore where the fans are turning against him & a turn is a must---BUT that's NOT the subject at hand. Just pointing that out.

The reason I disagree with this is because Lesner & Cena are obviously two different people with two entirely different appeal settings. In Lesner you have this legit badass man who fits into a certain type of demographic---that being the male demo. In Cena, you have a man who can appeal to various groups including children, women and some younger men---but not many younger men. Cena's push was NOT because of Lesner and not really in spite of Lesner, it's because of Cena being who he was. I highly doubt Lesner's departure had anything whatsoever to do w/Cena being pushed to the moon, but more so because of the depeleted roster and the way the company was going. The company was changing the way it was being shown and what the content was featured as. Lesner may or may not have fit into that particular content (as you can see, since he's in UFC).

WWE tried to go more PG and they needed a babyface quite like Hulk Hogan of the mid to late 80s to transition. Lesner couldn't be that guy with the tats, the build, the monster look. They needed a man, IMO, who didn't look extremely imposing, had no tats, etc etc, because they wanted to market to a broader group. Nothing wrong with that. Sure, they had other stars but Cena had to be THAT guy. Now that it's kinda getting to a point where some are clammoring for another transition and change, Cena's act has grown stale and dare I say, someone like Lesner is needed NOW vs. almost 9 years ago.