What’s The Story?
John Cena was almost fired from the WWE within two months of his main-roster debut on the June 27th SmackDown episode way back in 2002, and the only reason that he wasn’t let go by the company is because WWE royalty Stephanie McMahon took a liking to Cena’s in-ring abilities and mic-skills.
Veteran professional wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer revealed on a recent episode of the Wrestling Observer that ‘The Leader of The Cenation’ was almost released a few weeks after his WWE main-card debut and his career was saved by none other than the big boss’ daughter herself. Here are a few excerpts from Meltzer’s discussion on Cena’s early days in the company-
“[John Cena] worked OVW for a while which is where he really learned his craft. He was called up too soon, which everyone knew, and there’s political reasons why that happened, and it nearly cost him his career. If it wasn’t for Stephanie McMahon taking a liking to him after they’d just about decided to let him go, he could’ve been gone.”
“Imagine that. Imagine this business in the last 11 years with John Cena as the top guy and John being out of the picture. Obviously they would’ve gone with Batista as the top guy, and Batista wouldn’t have been as good in that situation as John Cena, and he wasn’t as versatile as John Cena. He would’ve been okay, and it’s not like the business would’ve collapsed, but it would’ve been a lot worse off.”
Woof! Imagine Batista as the global ambassador of the WWE, scary isn’t it? Nevertheless, Cena has retained his job and stayed with the company for about 15 years and counting.
In case you didn’t know...
Considered to be one of the greatest athletes in pro-wrestling history, John Cena is a 16-time WWE World champion, 2-time WWE tag-team champion, 5-time United States champ, the 2012 Money In The Bank Winner and the 2008 and 2013 Royal Rumble winner.
On the other hand, Batista is a 6-time WWE World champion, tag-team champ (4x) and the 2005 and 2014 Royal Rumble winner.
The heart of the matter
Cena was one of the best prospects in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) and was making waves on the independent circuit since his pro-wrestling debut in 1999, however, as Meltzer emphasised Cena was rushed into the WWE for reasons that were later hushed up by WWE management.
Here are a few highlights of Cena’s WWE SmackDown debut against Kurt Angle:
Well, as long as you’re on Steph’s good side, it’s all good!
What’s next?
On SmackDown’s most recent episode, Cena and his real-life girlfriend Nikki Bella were victorious in a squash match against James Ellsworth and his girlfriend friend Carmella, after which The Miz and Maryse attacked the ‘Nena’ duo alluding to a potential face-off between two of WWE’s most famous power couples at Wrestlemania 33 on the 2nd of next month.
Sportskeeda’s take
Bravo Steph! Bravo! I mean just think about it: Dave Bautista grunting over the microphone at a WWE promotional event in Japan or the UK, Damn! Stephanie McMahon once again proves her business acumen and far-sightedness by giving Cena a spot on her company’s main roster and fast-forward to 2017 and the WWE still depends on the Leader of The Cenation being the global face of the company.
After all, a McMahon always does ‘What’s Best For Business’.
