WWE News: John Cena replaced as the top merchandise seller in WWE 

What's the story?

Current WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns has replaced John Cena as the top seller of merchandise.

In case you didn't know

For years, John Cena has been the number one seller of merchandise in WWE, only being demoted to number two on rare occasions, such as the summer of CM Punk in 2011.

Despite receiving mixed reactions from the crowd throughout the majority of his career, Cena has been a consistent seller of merchandise, including T-shirts, action figures, and other accessories.

Cena's role on WWE TV has been consistently shrinking in recent years, as the 16 time World champion has been focussing more on his acting career.

At Summerslam 2018, Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar to capture the Universal championship, the first Summerslam Cena hasn't competed at, since his debut Summerslam in 2004 where he defeated Booker T.

The heart of the matter

According to the Wrestling Observer, Cena's decreasing status as a WWE superstar has been partly responsible for Reigns' overtaking.

Despite the mixed reaction the Big Dog has received from fans, analyst Dave Meltzer said how WWE learned from Cena that superstars who receive mixed-reactions can still sell merchandise.

"They learned from John that people booing you on TV doesn't mean cr*p so no matter how much you boo, as long as you buy your tickets... as long as he's gonna sell more merchandise than the other guy."

When asked about Reigns' status, Meltzer said how despite his critics, Reigns will outsell all the other superstars.

"People hate to hear that it's true."

What's next?

As much as people may not like Roman, no-one can deny his star quality. As a four-time World Champion, with several main event victories under his belt, it makes sense that the Big Dog is the big seller.

This week on RAW, Roman reunited with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, with the Shield preventing Braun Strowman from cashing in the Money in the Bank contract.