Why John Cena is one of the greatest in WWE history

John Cena has been the face of the WWE for over a decade now, which is quite a long time compared to top stars of the previous eras. In the Attitude Era, the two top stars -- Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock -- were arguably as big a star as the other was. When both Austin and Rock were on top of the mountain in the wrestling world, they were only on top for about 5 or 6 years.

The amount of time both men had at the top was only half the amount as Cena. Cena remains the face of WWE to this day, despite appearing on WWE television on a less frequent basis, due to his TV and movie commitments taking over his WWE work.

Cena was officially known as the face of the WWE in 2005, due to WWE grooming him to become the next big star after Austin and Rock left, which was beyond no doubt, big shoes to fill. Most fans would argue that Cena never became as big a star than Austin, Rock, and Hogan did to WWE, and to a degree this is true.

But keep in mind, Cena had to carry the WWE on his back in a time when wrestling fans were switching off from the product. The fans turning away from WWE would become fans of UFC, along with other wrestling companies such as TNA/Impact Wrestling, ROH, New Japan, and the indies.

Ever since WWE was brought into a mainstream audience, the face of the company was around for no more than a decade at the most. The Golden Era of WWE began when Hulk Hogan defeated The Iron Sheik back in 1984 to claim his first WWE Championship, kicking off a phenomenon known as Hulkamania.

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Not too long after this was the creation of WrestleMania, the biggest event of the year for WWE. The first WrestleMania was a huge success due to Hulk Hogan, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, and others. Hogan would stick around for the rest of the 1980’s until he left for WCW in 1993. WWE had to reinvent themselves after Hogan left, and it took several years for Vince McMahon's promotion to create two megastars as big as Hulk Hogan ever was.

The biggest name in the late 90’s was “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, who was portrayed as an anti-hero and disregarded authority, for which the fans loved every minute of it, due to the fans relating to someone who didn’t like authority figures as well. Austin was only on top for about five years, and in my opinion, there won’t be another guy who will make that big of an impact as Austin did.

In the mid-2000’s, WWE changed their target demographic to aim towards more women and children. More families were coming along to see WWE shows, and Cena was positioned to be the star of the show.

Attendance records show the average attendance is higher when Cena appears on a WWE show. According to the Wrestling Observer, Cena recently became the 10th highest live event draw in wrestling history.

The list includes Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, Buddy Rodgers, and Ric Flair. A lot of families would only go to WWE shows if John Cena appeared. Some WWE shows without Cena would sell half of the allocated capacity of the arena, which shows Cena is a huge draw to WWE.

In a time when WWE were struggling to create the next big star, the WWE put all of their eggs in one basket with John Cena, and financially, he turned out to be a big success for WWE. He will go down as one of the biggest names the WWE has ever had, due to the amount of people who came to shows, bought his merchandise, and watched WWE because of the Cena factor.

Most people who don’t even watch wrestling know who John Cena is, due to attracting kids to watch WWE, along with his recent movie and TV work as well. WWE will always do well, but they will struggle to find another megastar who has had as much of an impact than John Cena did to attract new fans to watch WWE.