Life after Cena.

[LegendKiller_RKO]

As all us WWE fans know, John Cena has been the staple of the program for quite some time now. Love him or hate him, hes easily the biggest draw in the company and one of the most popular wrestlers of his respective era. Now my question is as follows...

If John Cena were to pack up and leave the company tomorrow for some reason, (reason not important) how would the WWE respond and how would it effect the programming? Who would become the new face of the company?

I personally believe it would have a huge effect but short term. At first the ratings would remain the same because of people tuning in to see WWE post Cena and what direction the company takes. Then ratings would fall a little bit periodically until a new top face/draw is established. Orton would probably be shipped back over to Raw in the meantime to pick up some of the slack.

Anywho! Your thoughts?

 

[scomvp316]

This is the problem WWE has always created under VKM's direction except for the Attitude Era. In the AE there was balance even though SCSA was the face of the company. WWE has put too much stock into Cena as its not believeable of other talent being top draws if WWE allows Cena to bury that talent when Cena is the face of the company. I don't think Cena is the clear cut main draw as Orton and Punk have cut into Cena's dominance. You take a look at Sheamus run and at least half of the audience don't have faith in his character because of before he turned face he was losing every week. There was no build up with Sheamus unlike the build up of Cena over a two year period before he became the champion. Ratings will not suffer with the lost of Cena because the rating WWE gets know is the average they will always get. Just take a look at the ratings when Cena had a few injuries and was nowhere near the show because of his pectoral and neck injuries. VKM honestly believes no matter what he can make anyone a star!

 

[TUFFY54]

Sammartino and Backlund-Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage-Bret Hart, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels-Rock, Austin, Triple H-Angle, Jericho, Orton, Batsita, Cena,- (future) Punk, Sheamus, Bryan, ???


Thats a fairly decent flow chart of how the WWE has dealt with wrestler leaving throughout the years. If there's one thing Vince McMahon can do, its make new stars. There have been many times throughout history that the top stars have left or been injured. Sure, some haven't been as good as other, but no one wrestler is bigger than the WWE. Hogan, Savage, Hart, Rock, and Austin all left at one point, and the WWE kept moving right along.

I think the next faces of the company would be people we aren't even thinking about. When Hogan left in 93, Shawn Michaels was nothing more than a midcard guy. When Bret left and Shawn got injured, Triple H and Rock were upper midcard guys, but in no way top stars. When Austin and Rock left, nobody thought Cena, Ortan, and Batista would be the future of the company.

If Cena left tomarrow, the top guys now would hold things down for a while until somebody new was brought up to the main event. They might try a few before they find the right wrestler, but somebody will just become the new face of the company.

 

[JUSTINMFNBEEMER]

See the great thing about the past was there was a back up, now there isnt. Trips would have to pull double duty and take back the spotlight, other then that, whos left? Punk? The talent pool is so washed down it would be a huge blow to wwe, not fatal, but damaging

 

[SmattyG]

I think the WWE would be fine. Obviously the loss of Cena would have an impact, but I think the upper mid card and top drawer talent is pretty thick on the ground now.

Punk, Sheamus, Bryan, Barrett, Kane, Big Show, Alberto, Ziggler, Miz and Orton can and have all stepped up into the main event picture.

There is also a very solid undercard now with Cody, Swagger, Tyson Kidd, Titus O'Neil, Damian Sandow, Kofi, R Truth, Brodus Clay, Zack Ryder etc

And there is still guys like Dean Ambrose, Leo Kruger, Seth Rollins, Derrick Bateman and Richie Steamboat to come through.

Plus you still have Mark Henry and Christian.

It would hurt, but only short term.

 

[JaylisJayP]

I think they get past it in the short term by pulling "mark out stunts" like what Nexus did...Punk's pipe bomb. Something HUGE the IWC would mark out for that would elevate 1 or 2 new stars to top status.

All I can keep thinking about is Wade Barrett. The guy should be the top heel in the company by the end of the year.

 

[Mikechase69]

I think things will be bad for the WWE after Cena hangs it up. Simply for the fact they won't let anyone get a bigger buzz than Cena. He has to put a young talent over "CLEAN" at an upcoming Mania.

 

[NotoriousMEAT]

I gotta say, I think WWE would be pretty screwed if this were to happen today. To be honest, I think they'll be screwed when it does regardless. That's probably unfair to them, but I just don't see anyone on the horizon who can be THAT guy. No body who can be the next Hulk Hogan, The Rock, or Stone Cold. We might have some second level top guys like Bret and HBK were.. but no one on the current roster now who could transcend the business and take it to new heights. That's where the CM Punk & Daniel Bryan's of the world fitting in.. second level.

What might be more interesting about this delimma is seeing how Triple H fixes it since by the time this actually happens, he'll be fully in charge and taking WWE in his own direction. By then I figure Orton will be too old to actually build the company around, and I can only hope that by then, Triple H has lost whatever this infatuation with Sheamus is. We never know though.. the next face of the WWE could be sitting down in Florida as we speak. And no, I'm not referencing Dean Ambrose.

 

[Rayne]

Eh, Cena's been injured before. The WWE has carried on.

John Cena is beyond a doubt the top wrestler of the current era. But he isn't the whole show. Someone would elevate to take his place. The ratings wouldn't suffer too much, because people aren't tuning in for just John Cena.

I will say this, though- I once had comp seats to a show in Bridgeport where Cena didn't even show. (Live taping of RAW, 2008 I think it was?) Everytime he was shown on the Titantron, the crowd went apeshit. That's crowd hypnosis on a basis that no one else can compare to. He's the Hulk Hogan of this era; if he were to leave, the top guy would be a Randy Savage.

 

[drobs85]

Why would you wait for the top guy to leave before finding a new star instead of finding them now? That's always been stupid and that formula will backfire at some point.

 

[Headman]

It will be just like when the Rock and Austin left. Or when Hogan left in 93. The WWE will ride it out with lesser attractions like your Bret Harts or your Kurt Angles. A true face of the company doesn't come along very often. Hell, other than Bruno, Hogan, Austin, Rock and Cena there really aren't any other guys who can be called "The man" for their respective generation. So yeah, more stop gaps after Cena.

 

[NotoriousMEAT]

Why would you wait for the top guy to leave before finding a new star instead of finding them now? That's always been stupid and that formula will backfire at some point.

Well that has been their system. They had Hogan before getting rid of Backland, Stone Cold and Rocky in place before both Bret and Shawn left, and immediately built Lesnar knowing their Attitude gems were leaving them. Even when Lesnar suddenly split, it only took them a year to make Cena and Batista the leaders of a new era. I'm sure they'll have somone in place by the time Cena steps away. At least.. I hope so.

 

[Dmbfantomas]

Well that has been their system. They had Hogan before getting rid of Backland, Stone Cold and Rocky in place before both Bret and Shawn left, and immediately built Lesnar knowing their Attitude gems were leaving them. Even when Lesnar suddenly split, it only took them a year to make Cena and Batista the leaders of a new era. I'm sure they'll have somone in place by the time Cena steps away. At least.. I hope so.

They had Orton waiting in the wings also, and then they elevated cats like Edge, Eddie, Benoit and JBL as well. Plus always having Undertaker who when you really think about it, is probably the greatest WWE "Superstar" ever when you consider the scope of his career and dominance. HHH was a great transitional era guy, and of course HBK coming back helped everything. WWE will never hurt for "The guy" because kids will find someone regardless.

 

[JoeMallard]

John Cena is beyond a doubt the top wrestler of the current era. But he isn't the whole show. Someone would elevate to take his place. The ratings wouldn't suffer too much, because people aren't tuning in for just John Cena.

John Cena is not the best wrestler in the wwe!! He may be the best performer, but he cannot out-wrestle Daniel Bryan with his five moves of doom!

Back to the topic. If they can elevate guys like Cody, Barrett, Ziggler, Sin Cara farther up the top, they could easily be top stars. The wwe have let Daniel Bryan and CM Punk do their thing and they have proved they are worthy to be where they are.

 

[akrassikauda]

It will be like the New Generation Era average at best

You know why it will be that way because Cena is polarizing. Like Hogan,Austin,Rock those guys where polarizing and polarizing sells. Who else can say they are cheered and booed at the same time other than Barry Bonds. Yes I brought his name into it because if you look at what happened teams with no shot at the playoffs would market whenever the Giants where coming to town because they knew how much he was hated, they raised ticket prices and most times than not they sold out,they knew when he came to the plate everyone would boo the hell out of him then he would hit a home run about 500 feet then those same people would cheer and fight for the ball. Bottom line is they paid for that privilege just like Cena. If nobody cared nobody would show.

As much as I liked Bret and HBK they where not Hogan, no matter how much Vince tried they where not Hogan hell he even tried Lugar. They didn't have his charisma his showmanship they where not recognizable outside of WWE. When it comes to Cena,Rock,Austin these guys have charisma people want to see them, when they go on talk shows the ratings for those shows go up, the public loves polarizing figures whether it be in pro sports,entertainment or pro wrestling.

Will they survive without Cena, as long as they don't have a serious competitor YES. Lets not kid ourselves here who else can captivate people like not only Cena but the other guys I mentioned.

Punk: No, he's a great in ring guy but does he look larger than life.

Ziggler: He looks like a frat boy who's trying to be larger than life no matter how much he over sells, No.

Daniel Bryan: See CM Punk

If you do some sort of Attitude Era it's going to average you know why, where is the larger than life guys coming from that made that era. Austin,Rock,Undertaker,Foley where the guys and they're gone. And until you find one of these guys your going to hurt.

Love him or hate him Cena puts asses in the seats, and because he puts asses in the seats and you either love him or hate him makes him polarizing.

Polarizing sells.

 

[Dmbfantomas]

John Cena is not the best wrestler in the wwe!! He may be the best performer, but he cannot out-wrestle Daniel Bryan with his five moves of doom!

Back to the topic. If they can elevate guys like Cody, Barrett, Ziggler, Sin Cara farther up the top, they could easily be top stars. The wwe have let Daniel Bryan and CM Punk do their thing and they have proved they are worthy to be where they are.

Here's a dirty little secret: almost every top guy ever has a "five moves of doom".

Cena is the top guy in WWE, but his standing isn't as strong as it was before the elevation of CM Punk. That showed that guys could take over for him, and even sell more merchandise than him.

 

[NotoriousMEAT]

John Cena is not the best wrestler in the wwe!! He may be the best performer, but he cannot out-wrestle Daniel Bryan with his five moves of doom!

And you just proved that you know NOTHING about wrestling. No body on here should be declaring who is good or not good at wrestling if they themselves have never stepped in a ring or wrestled a match. You can say who you THINK is good, or who you enjoy. Wrestling is more then head kicks and holds. The reason I love Daniel Bryan is because of his wrestling ability. But just because John Cena wrestles the way he does, doesn't mean he sucks. It means he's a PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER! It means he's smart. John Cena brings an entire arena of people to their feet just by lifting somebody up on his shoulders. Yeah.. he's the best PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER on the planet.

 

[Pegusus Fill_T]

The obvious choice is Randy Orton since he is the 2nd biggest star, face of SD and their best wrestler (overall, not only technical aspect) Him and John Cena were the heirs apparent to Triple H & Lesnar during the 2003-2004 period, before Orton screwed up with backstage issues and bad attitude while Cena took the ball home. Anyhow, it will probably be Orton. He gets the biggests pops/reaction around after Cena (and maybe Rey Rey) and is still very young given he's only 32. He can pull that larger than life character and the WWE Universe (not the IWC) loves the guy.

But the risky thing about the whole deal is that he's on 2 strikes so it will require WWE and Randy coming to an understanding that he wont screw up again and not be careless in taking supplements/medications etc like what happened 2 months back (Think he carelessly took a tainted supplement) and take everything under WWE supervision. Also another added fact is Orton's arrogance and temper . Sure he doesnt seem to play backstage politics and keep others down and seems to be willing to put other talent over, but he is not and will never be the perfectly good cookie cutter Cena is. Orton seems to be someone who would even argue and stand up against Vinnie Mac which I dont think Vince will prefer that much. But SCSA did the same thing so guess Vinnie will be used to it.

So it will probably be Orton to Raw and Cm Punk to SD. However this is assuming Cena retires tomorrow If it is in 10 years time I highly doubt WWE will build around Orton since he'll be 42 and maybe make him the face in a transitional era like the Triple H/Evolution & Lesnar 2002-2004 period. I think Randy will be face for about 2-3 years and WWE will build around a younger guy who IMO is not in the roster at present because TBH given the current roster, Cena/Orton seems to be lightyears ahead of 'younger' (when I mean younger 30's is considered young in wrestling too) guys in terms of starpower.

 

[Dmbfantomas]

Randy isn't the #2 guy in the company any more. I love Randy, and I think he's the best in-ring guy they have...but he's not the #2 anymore. It's Punker, by a pretty easy margin. Kids got behind him like he was Ronald McDonald during his face run. While Randy still gets the ladies wet when he comes out, he just doesn't have that speaking ability to be THE #1 guy.

 

[smizzy]

Begs the question though, who is the next guy to be the face of the WWE? Nearly everyone on the main roster is too old to take that place after Cena's done, which isn't anytime soon. Therefore it would conceivably have to be a developmental talent either currently or still to be signed and they'd have to fit that "larger than life" profile.

I was going to analyze the FCW talents and give a couple probables that could fit the bill, but that would be rediculous.

The new face will be unexpected and not a person here could correctly predict who it will be.

 

[Mikechase69]

Well if you really want get into Cena himself we can. Compared to the past WWE top guys Cena is most likely the worst of the all. Cena is very and I mean very bad on the mic he is either trying too hard or just not caring enough. I mean if you look at his feud with The Rock most of the time Cena no sold what Rock said he just tipped his hat and smirked Cena did his best to bury the Rock but he failed. Cena just isn't that talented he is another product of the WWE machine. You strip that all away from Cena and tell him to get himself over he most likely couldn't do it he doesn't have the pure charisma of a HBK or Dwayne Johnson.

And what does having to wrestle a match have to do with anything? Thats a very mark thing to say.

 

[#BabyFace]

I gotta say, I think WWE would be pretty screwed if this were to happen today. To be honest, I think they'll be screwed when it does regardless. That's probably unfair to them, but I just don't see anyone on the horizon who can be THAT guy. No body who can be the next Hulk Hogan, The Rock, or Stone Cold. We might have some second level top guys like Bret and HBK were.. but no one on the current roster now who could transcend the business and take it to new heights. That's where the CM Punk & Daniel Bryan's of the world fitting in.. second level.

What might be more interesting about this delimma is seeing how Triple H fixes it since by the time this actually happens, he'll be fully in charge and taking WWE in his own direction. By then I figure Orton will be too old to actually build the company around, and I can only hope that by then, Triple H has lost whatever this infatuation with Sheamus is. We never know though.. the next face of the WWE could be sitting down in Florida as we speak. And no, I'm not referencing Dean Ambrose.

See, this is the problem I have. Sure, you don't see anyone in wwe that could take the place as "The Man" in WWE.
But do you think ANYONE thought Stone Cold would be the top draw in the WWE, when he was barley winning matches as "Stunning Steve Austin?" Do you think anyone thought "Hmm, that guy Rocky Maivia is going to be one of the best Superstars in WWF history?

When Cena is gone it will be a big deal. But like Vince said straight to Cena last year...He can make another John Cena. That is the truth. Anyone could take the top spot. Hell, nobody really knows.


Hell....Someone like Michael McGillicutty or Tyson Kidd could be the next big draw in WWE.

 

[Infinity]

I think even John Cena would admit that the machine that is the WWE would churn out another person to carry the load. We always think WWE would be screwed if a top guy was suddenly out, but it never is. Stone Cold has sustained long term injuries AND walked out on the company, nothing happened. Rock left, nothing. WWE survives no matter what.

The only departure I think ever legitimately hurt the WWE was Hulk Hogan jumping ship to WCW, but even that was a short lived consequence. WWE has also shown zero fear in talent jumping ship, letting top stars like Kurt Angle & Jeff Hardy go to TNA with little fight. John Cena goes to TNA tomorrow, WWE would still destroy TNA in every number that matters.

 

[Bernkastel]

Well if you really want get into Cena himself we can. Compared to the past WWE top guys Cena is most likely the worst of the all. Cena is very and I mean very bad on the mic he is either trying too hard or just not caring enough. I mean if you look at his feud with The Rock most of the time Cena no sold what Rock said he just tipped his hat and smirked Cena did his best to bury the Rock but he failed.

Wow, way to bury other guys like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, because neither of them can get close to touching the passion or excitement that Cena brings to the ring every week.

Do you even know what charisma is? Last time I checked it was the ability to get people to care what you said or did. John Cena has been doing this on a weekly basis for nearly seven years now. He's by far and away the most interesting man in the business today.

Cena just isn't that talented he is another product of the WWE machine. You strip that all away from Cena and tell him to get himself over he most likely couldn't do it he doesn't have the pure charisma of a HBK or Dwayne Johnson.

2 words: Rapper Cena

 

[Mikechase69]

Honestly the only interesting thing about Cena is the fact you wonder if he knows how corny he is. Cena just isn't that talented, If a guy like Cena can be the top guy I'm sure anyone can. Hell CM Punk could surpass Cena if they would let him be a tweener and if HHH didn't kill his push and the momentum he had at that time Punk could easily be the top guy in the WWE.

Another guy like Orton who as a heel is one of the best performers in the WWE could be the top guy right now if we just get his head straight. Cena is nothing special, Also how did Orton get caught juicing and Cena doesn't?