Reason why John Cena did not join Evolution with Batista and Randy Orton

In 2002, the WWE roster was bolstered by the additions of Batista, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, and Randy Orton from developmental. While Lesnar and Cena originally made their mark as singles Superstars, Batista and Orton joined Ric Flair and Triple H in the Evolution faction.

WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson worked as a producer in WWE around that period of time. He said on the latest episode of his ARN podcast that Batista, John Cena, and Randy Orton were earmarked as long-term stars of the future. The decision was made for Batista and Orton to join Evolution because they needed more guidance than Cena at that stage of their careers.

“So Cena was gonna be split off by himself, and I think the company saw an opportunity to take Dave [Batista] and Randy, who needed to have more seasoned talent guiding them, which would be Hunter [Triple H] and Ric, and they saw an opportunity because those guys looked like a trillion dollars together when they came through that curtain. All four of them.

“Dressed to the nines, and it was just a good combination of old and new, and you had a good chance to get a couple of new guys over really quickly. I thought that concept worked, I thought those guys worked really well together, and it worked.”

Please credit Arn Anderson’s ARN podcast and give a H/T to SK Wrestling for the transcription if you use these quotes.

John Cena and Evolution’s success

John Cena had a memorable WWE debut against Kurt Angle on SmackDown in June 2002. The rookie Superstar had a difficult few months after that match – so much so that he almost received his release later in the year.

As the years went on, John Cena established himself as one of the top attractions in WWE history. He is now a 16-time WWE World Champion and he is considered to be the most successful Superstar of his generation.

Around the same time that John Cena turned his fortunes around on SmackDown, the Evolution faction formed on RAW. Randy Orton and Triple H both held the World Heavyweight Championship during the group’s two-and-a-half-year run. Batista and Ric Flair also held the Tag Team titles, while Orton and Flair had Intercontinental Championship reigns.