Details of backstage meeting where Vince McMahon gave instructions to push three WWE Superstars

WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson recently opened up on the beginning of the Ruthless Aggression Era in WWE on the latest edition of his podcast. The era kicked off way back in 2002, as a string of new talents were being brought up from OVW, while megastars like Steve Austin and The Rock had stopped competing on a regular basis.

Anderson said that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon held a meeting at the time where he declared that WWE is going to move on and focus on building some new stars. He went on to announce that John Cena, Batista, and Randy Orton would be the three guys they were going to push.

We had a production meeting, McMahon said ‘guys we’re gonna move on. Here are the three guys that I want you to look at.’ It was Batista, Cena and Randy Orton. ‘And it needs to be one of these guys, or all of these guys. But these are the guys we’re going to go with.’ And I thought they were pretty good choices.

Cena, Batista, and Orton all came up to the main roster in 2002, soon after WrestleMania 18 was done and dusted. Brock Lesnar was another hot prospect from WWE's developmental territory who came up at the time. The company pushed him to the moon immediately upon his arrival on the main roster.

All four competitors went on to become sure-fire first-ballot future Hall of Famers and held several World titles over the course of the decade that followed.