The WWE has produced few superstars that have truly become legends of the business. Sure, they have created perhaps over a hundred wrestlers whose names will never be forgotten by the true wrestling fans, but very few of those wrestlers can join the elite list of wrestlers that every fan must now. Names like Funk, Flair, Race, Rhodes, these are some of the men that made their names famous around the world for their wrestling abilities that were not products of the WWE... but that's not to say the WWE hasn't created many itself. Hulk Hogan was probably the first wrestling megastar, a man that made American wrestling more profitable than ever before, and a man that people would put up hundreds of dollars to see live. Bret Hart brought Canadian dedication to the WWF and showed that you didn't have to be a giant to win the World Title. Dwayne Johnson, better known as The Rock cut promos that would only be rivaled by those of Ric Flair himself and could have the audience loving him or hating him in the wink of an eye... or the raise of an eyebrow.
However, the two biggest superstars to ever wrestle in America since Hulk Hogan embodied their era of wrestling perfectly. Each man was undoubtedly the biggest name in wrestling during their time in the ring, and both men managed to transcend wrestling and become household names even in homes that didn't watch wrestling. I am of course talking about Stone Cold Steve Austin and John Cena.
Stone Cold Steve Austin didn't burst onto the scene like John Cena. He spent four years in WCW where he accomplished little, especially compared to his time in the WWF. WCW didn't think Austin was a good enough star to promote, so they cut him loose. After spending one year wrestling for ECW, Austin went to the WWF, and this is where the real story begins to unfold. After being managed by Ted DiBiase for a few months, Stone Cold won the King of the Ring tournament by beating Jake the Snake Roberts. After he won, Stone Cold delivered his most famous line of all time. As an insult to Jake Robert's religious character, Austin said, "You sit there and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16... Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass!"
I could recap Stone Cold's entire career for you, but you know the rest of it. From feuding with McMahon to The Undertaker to The Rock to Triple H, Stone Cold took every opportunity and made it into something amazing. Furthermore, he represented the current wrestling product better than any other. In the late 90s/early 00s wrestling was one of the most edgy forms of entertainment. There was violence, cursing, scantily clad women, blood, and story lines that involved very controversial topics. Stone Cold was a cussin' drinkin' sonuvabitch who didn't care about his job, his fans, or himself. He was a true anti-hero in every aspect of the word, and the fans loved him for it.
John Cena burst onto the scene by nearly beating Kurt Angle, enduring both the Ankle Lock and the Angle Slam. It wouldn't take long for John Cena to become the company's champion and face of the WWE, becoming WWE Champion just about two years after joining the company. Since then he has feuded with nearly every major star the company has produced, including Triple H, Kurt Angle, Randy Orton, Edge, Batista, and Shawn Michaels.
Like Stone Cold, John Cena represents his era of wrestling perfectly. While Stone Cold's era was all about edginess, John Cena's era saw a return to the more family oriented product that fans saw during the days of Hogan. Despite being limited by the intensity of the feuds and amount of violence they can show on television under the PG-rating, John Cena has managed to flourish in the current WWE landscape. Though he has struggled with detractors for many years it would seem that the majority of fans have come around on Cena, realizing he is the real deal.
But how do these wrestlers compare? Is the rough-around-the-edges Steve Austin the greatest of all time, or is the clean-cut John Cena looking to take that title for himself? In 2009, when Stone Cold was inducted to the hall of fame, Vince McMahon said that Stone Cold was the best wrestler he had ever seen, but could he be saying the same thing in 15 years at John Cena's induction? When all is said and done, which of these men will be considered the better wrestler.
The answer is John Cena. It's a hard concept for any fan that has seen Stone Cold in action to wrap their head around, but John Cena is that good. They are possibly the two greatest wrestlers in the history of American Wrestling, but when all is said and done, John Cena will be remembered as the best.
Some might say Stone Cold made wrestling what it is today, but that accolade goes to Hulk Hogan, not Steve Austin. Stone Cold did, however, make wrestling what it was in the late 90s, an era where you could kick your boss in the nads and still have a job, an era where you could flip off the fans and still have them scream your name, an era where nothing was too sacred to be desecrated by professional wrestling.
But John Cena is the man that made wrestling return to what it was today. He almost personifies the metamorphosis that we saw in the WWE. Cena started out as a thug, a rapper with a foul mouth and no respect for anyone, but he transformed into a clean cut soldier, a guy who passed on the funny business and let his fists do the talking... though he wasn't afraid to mix it up verbally either. He would tell his opponents flat out that he was better than them and that he would beat them, and that's the formula we see for most top faces in the WWE today. Cena, Triple H, Edge, Big Show... all of them will throw a few jokes at their opponent, but when it's time to get serious, they are as somber as a wake.
Stone Cold has also delivered his fair share of amazing feuds. His most memorable will probably be his work with Vince McMahon. This was the feud that really helped Steve Austin exactly realize who Stone Cold was. He would flip his boss off, kick him in the gut, and fill his sports car up with cement. However, he has also had epic feuds with The Rock and Triple H, and even Bret Hart.
Cena has had more than his fair share of great feuds as well. His feud with Edge is one of the best feuds of the past decade. Just this past year he had a great feud with Batista and an even more epic feud with Nexus. Furthermore, John Cena has no less than 5 years of wrestling left in him, probably more considering he's only thirty three. It's quite possible that some of his best feuds are in the near future.
So what makes me think John Cena will be better than Stone Cold when it's all said and done? After the analysis so far it would seem that they're about even, and if one of these men is better than the other it would be Stone Cold... but the future belongs to Cena.
One thing that makes me think Cena will surpass Austin in excellence is the fact that he is the uncontested face of American professional wrestling. When Stone Cold was wrestling he had to compete with The Rock, and Triple H was always trying to be the best in the world as well, and this is only after WCW was no longer competition. John Cena has the scene all to himself. The only other wrestlers right now that can even come close to matching Cena's popularity are Randy Orton and Triple H, but Triple H's time has passed and Randy Orton's character will never be as attractive to the casual fan as John Cena's will be.
John Cena has just as much of "it" as Stone Cold, and he's only getting more of "it" every appearance he makes. You know what I mean when I say "it", it is what separates the superstars from the wrestlers, what separates the Shawn Michaels and Bret Harts of the world from the unnamed masses, wrestlers we have long forgotten about. Nearly every wrestler has the ability to put on a decent match, and they all know how to talk, but some guys just have this thing that makes them more fun to watch wrestle and more fun to listen to than the rest. That's "it" and both John Cena and Stone Cold have an abundant amount of it. Nobody in the world could get a crowd to react better than Stone Cold back when he was wrestling, and John Cena has fulfilled that post now. However, John Cena has had to deal with something Stone Cold rarely had to deal with, smarks, and Cena has met the challenge perfectly. Whenever he encounters a hostile audience he manages to still come out looking like the good guy, like the a valiant prince in enemy lands. Furthermore, he's just about silenced his detractors by driving home the point that he is WITHOUT A DOUBT the most entertaining man in American Professional Wrestling, and he's done it through being charming, building up his character, and exuding "it".
Finally, I can't think of a better way to end than with the end. Austin's last match was a losing effort against The Rock at Wrestlemania 19, and he'd be fired the next night by Eric Bischoff, the same man who didn't think Austin was a marketable superstar in the first place. This is hardly a farewell worthy of a star of Austin's magnitude. Furthermore, Austin really became a difficult person to work with towards the end of his run in the WWE, making it difficult for creative to book him. One can only imagine Cena will get a hero's goodbye after the amount of life he's dedicated to the WWE. I wouldn't be surprised to see Cena booked strong to the end before he ultimately does the right thing and loses his last match at Wrestlemania. I can tell you this much, he won't be "fired" or used to promote some other storyline. When John Cena retires it will be about John Cena, not the GM, his opponent, or anyone else, just John Cena.
So what do you think? Do you think John Cena will one day be considered better than Stone Cold? Do you think he's already there?
However, the two biggest superstars to ever wrestle in America since Hulk Hogan embodied their era of wrestling perfectly. Each man was undoubtedly the biggest name in wrestling during their time in the ring, and both men managed to transcend wrestling and become household names even in homes that didn't watch wrestling. I am of course talking about Stone Cold Steve Austin and John Cena.
Stone Cold Steve Austin didn't burst onto the scene like John Cena. He spent four years in WCW where he accomplished little, especially compared to his time in the WWF. WCW didn't think Austin was a good enough star to promote, so they cut him loose. After spending one year wrestling for ECW, Austin went to the WWF, and this is where the real story begins to unfold. After being managed by Ted DiBiase for a few months, Stone Cold won the King of the Ring tournament by beating Jake the Snake Roberts. After he won, Stone Cold delivered his most famous line of all time. As an insult to Jake Robert's religious character, Austin said, "You sit there and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16... Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass!"
I could recap Stone Cold's entire career for you, but you know the rest of it. From feuding with McMahon to The Undertaker to The Rock to Triple H, Stone Cold took every opportunity and made it into something amazing. Furthermore, he represented the current wrestling product better than any other. In the late 90s/early 00s wrestling was one of the most edgy forms of entertainment. There was violence, cursing, scantily clad women, blood, and story lines that involved very controversial topics. Stone Cold was a cussin' drinkin' sonuvabitch who didn't care about his job, his fans, or himself. He was a true anti-hero in every aspect of the word, and the fans loved him for it.
John Cena burst onto the scene by nearly beating Kurt Angle, enduring both the Ankle Lock and the Angle Slam. It wouldn't take long for John Cena to become the company's champion and face of the WWE, becoming WWE Champion just about two years after joining the company. Since then he has feuded with nearly every major star the company has produced, including Triple H, Kurt Angle, Randy Orton, Edge, Batista, and Shawn Michaels.
Like Stone Cold, John Cena represents his era of wrestling perfectly. While Stone Cold's era was all about edginess, John Cena's era saw a return to the more family oriented product that fans saw during the days of Hogan. Despite being limited by the intensity of the feuds and amount of violence they can show on television under the PG-rating, John Cena has managed to flourish in the current WWE landscape. Though he has struggled with detractors for many years it would seem that the majority of fans have come around on Cena, realizing he is the real deal.
But how do these wrestlers compare? Is the rough-around-the-edges Steve Austin the greatest of all time, or is the clean-cut John Cena looking to take that title for himself? In 2009, when Stone Cold was inducted to the hall of fame, Vince McMahon said that Stone Cold was the best wrestler he had ever seen, but could he be saying the same thing in 15 years at John Cena's induction? When all is said and done, which of these men will be considered the better wrestler.
The answer is John Cena. It's a hard concept for any fan that has seen Stone Cold in action to wrap their head around, but John Cena is that good. They are possibly the two greatest wrestlers in the history of American Wrestling, but when all is said and done, John Cena will be remembered as the best.
Some might say Stone Cold made wrestling what it is today, but that accolade goes to Hulk Hogan, not Steve Austin. Stone Cold did, however, make wrestling what it was in the late 90s, an era where you could kick your boss in the nads and still have a job, an era where you could flip off the fans and still have them scream your name, an era where nothing was too sacred to be desecrated by professional wrestling.
But John Cena is the man that made wrestling return to what it was today. He almost personifies the metamorphosis that we saw in the WWE. Cena started out as a thug, a rapper with a foul mouth and no respect for anyone, but he transformed into a clean cut soldier, a guy who passed on the funny business and let his fists do the talking... though he wasn't afraid to mix it up verbally either. He would tell his opponents flat out that he was better than them and that he would beat them, and that's the formula we see for most top faces in the WWE today. Cena, Triple H, Edge, Big Show... all of them will throw a few jokes at their opponent, but when it's time to get serious, they are as somber as a wake.
Stone Cold has also delivered his fair share of amazing feuds. His most memorable will probably be his work with Vince McMahon. This was the feud that really helped Steve Austin exactly realize who Stone Cold was. He would flip his boss off, kick him in the gut, and fill his sports car up with cement. However, he has also had epic feuds with The Rock and Triple H, and even Bret Hart.
Cena has had more than his fair share of great feuds as well. His feud with Edge is one of the best feuds of the past decade. Just this past year he had a great feud with Batista and an even more epic feud with Nexus. Furthermore, John Cena has no less than 5 years of wrestling left in him, probably more considering he's only thirty three. It's quite possible that some of his best feuds are in the near future.
So what makes me think John Cena will be better than Stone Cold when it's all said and done? After the analysis so far it would seem that they're about even, and if one of these men is better than the other it would be Stone Cold... but the future belongs to Cena.
One thing that makes me think Cena will surpass Austin in excellence is the fact that he is the uncontested face of American professional wrestling. When Stone Cold was wrestling he had to compete with The Rock, and Triple H was always trying to be the best in the world as well, and this is only after WCW was no longer competition. John Cena has the scene all to himself. The only other wrestlers right now that can even come close to matching Cena's popularity are Randy Orton and Triple H, but Triple H's time has passed and Randy Orton's character will never be as attractive to the casual fan as John Cena's will be.
John Cena has just as much of "it" as Stone Cold, and he's only getting more of "it" every appearance he makes. You know what I mean when I say "it", it is what separates the superstars from the wrestlers, what separates the Shawn Michaels and Bret Harts of the world from the unnamed masses, wrestlers we have long forgotten about. Nearly every wrestler has the ability to put on a decent match, and they all know how to talk, but some guys just have this thing that makes them more fun to watch wrestle and more fun to listen to than the rest. That's "it" and both John Cena and Stone Cold have an abundant amount of it. Nobody in the world could get a crowd to react better than Stone Cold back when he was wrestling, and John Cena has fulfilled that post now. However, John Cena has had to deal with something Stone Cold rarely had to deal with, smarks, and Cena has met the challenge perfectly. Whenever he encounters a hostile audience he manages to still come out looking like the good guy, like the a valiant prince in enemy lands. Furthermore, he's just about silenced his detractors by driving home the point that he is WITHOUT A DOUBT the most entertaining man in American Professional Wrestling, and he's done it through being charming, building up his character, and exuding "it".
Finally, I can't think of a better way to end than with the end. Austin's last match was a losing effort against The Rock at Wrestlemania 19, and he'd be fired the next night by Eric Bischoff, the same man who didn't think Austin was a marketable superstar in the first place. This is hardly a farewell worthy of a star of Austin's magnitude. Furthermore, Austin really became a difficult person to work with towards the end of his run in the WWE, making it difficult for creative to book him. One can only imagine Cena will get a hero's goodbye after the amount of life he's dedicated to the WWE. I wouldn't be surprised to see Cena booked strong to the end before he ultimately does the right thing and loses his last match at Wrestlemania. I can tell you this much, he won't be "fired" or used to promote some other storyline. When John Cena retires it will be about John Cena, not the GM, his opponent, or anyone else, just John Cena.
So what do you think? Do you think John Cena will one day be considered better than Stone Cold? Do you think he's already there?
