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A couple of weeks ago, when John Cena revealed the huge lump on his elbow to the world, it was obvious that he needed to undergo a surgery to remove it.
As days rolled by, there were reports and rumours that he’d be taking some time off after SummerSlam, which at that time added to the jubilation of the fans. After all, that meant Cena wouldn’t walk out of SummerSlam with the WWE title.
Instead, fans were happy about the possibility and the certain inevitability of Daniel Bryan becoming the new WWE champion. While that did happen, Randy Orton cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase as Triple H turned on Daniel Bryan. In the end, there was indeed a title change.
Next night, John Cena confirmed the reports and rumours and dropped a bombshell, saying he’d be out for the next 4-6 months. The fans greeted that message with loud cheers which brought a smile on Cena’s face.
Indeed, we won’t have to sit through the monotonous promos of John Cena, or watch him dominate the entire roster. For the next few months, we will have people like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan being the number one and two faces respectively of the WWE.
Looking at it on a neutral basis, I’m not so sure that is something that will influence the WWE Universe in a positive way.
I’m the biggest supporter of Punk and Bryan, and if you had told me 5 years ago that this would happen someday in the WWE, I wouldn’t have believed you.
But there is a reason that Cena has been the face of the company for the past 8 years. John Cena, whether you like him or not, is one of the hardest working individuals in the WWE. Although you cannot see it often in his in-ring abilities, one shouldn’t forget that the Superstars’ duties aren’t just confined to one night’s performance.
These superstars perform 300 days a year, whether it is on TV, PPVs or house shows, and Cena has never missed a show before (unless he was injured). John Cena isn’t just marketable because of his looks, and his “corporate presence”, but because he’s dedicated and doesn’t complain about the work he does.
John Cena has been the most requested personality by the kids from Make A Wish foundation, and has gone out of his way on many occasions to build the brand; think of another guy who’d be willing to travel from 7 in the morning till evening, then perform in the night and get on a plane to do the same thing all over again the very next day!
Not only will there be very few people who’d be willing to work as hard as John Cena does, but Cena has been effectively doing it for the past 8 years. Although we moan and complain about Cena the character, John Cena the person has been everything a company could ask for and more!
Next comes the most important part for an organization, the revenues. Cena has been the top seller in the WWE and has been responsible for the gates and revenues for most of the shows.
WWE has made its shows family friendly, and the one person who was catered to the direct fanbase of the WWE has been John Cena. In Cena’s absence, think of someone else who’d be catered to the kids!
The reality is, there is no one who can directly replace John Cena in the current scheme of things. Aside from the “We don’t like Cena” remarks, there is a reason why Vince McMahon and the management hasn’t made anyone who can be direct competition for Cena in terms of being the face of the company.
Even when Punk was going through his best phase from 2011-2012, he was still the number two guy in the company!
Now that Cena won’t likely be seen on WWE TV for the next half year, the Daniel Bryan experiment has to succeed if WWE wants to gain something out of it.
Daniel Bryan, like CM Punk, is a smark favourite. Bryan and Punk are what the passionate wrestling fans want as the faces of the company, but one has to wonder how the direct fanbase would react to this change. Am I implying that Bryan can’t/isn’t being catered to the kids at the moment?
Not at the slightest, but replacing a main stay who has been the biggest hit with the kids isn’t an easy thing to do.
We will get our answers within the next couple of months whether Cena’s absence will have any major impact, but until then, we can only hope that Bryan will be the answer to WWE’s questions for a major draw, who can be on the same level as Cena has been in the past decade.
