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What If: John Cena gets fired before developing the rapper/thuganomics gimmick?


C.S.

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I love these "What If" threads, and I think this is a good one. According to lore, John Cena was almost fired before he impressed Stephanie McMahon by doing freestyle rapping on a bus. Whether bullshit or not, everything about WWE changes if that happens.

 

Who becomes the "face that runs the place" instead of Cena?

 

Can anyone match Cena's longevity, merchandise sales, years of great matches, etc.?

 

Does Cena end up as "just another face in the crowd" in TNA, where he makes no difference at all? Between the trainwreck management and the fact that Cena wasn't yet a main eventer and "Super Cena," he's unlikely to get the WWE nostalgia act World Title push most others received. See: Punk, CM.

 

Do we get several more years of Triple H on top?

 

So many "what ifs" and potential ramifications.

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First thing to come to mind would be that Batista takes Cena's place. I don't think he'd ever get quite as over as Cena did but he certainly has an opportunity too. He might just end up having the same spot as Cena now in 2017--taking time off to make Marvel movies then coming back for four or five PPV matches a year. Wondering if Orton might have been better protected or still have his momentum killed by Triple H in late 04.

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WWE makes a lot of mistakes, but for the most part, the company always makes sure there are people coming out of development that have a five year plan. Even with Cena fired, Batista, Orton, Edge, Benjamin, and Lesnar were all there. Batista would have definitely been the man with Orton and Edge playing number 2 and three respectively. Cena would have been picked up by TNA as TNA loves anyone in WWE, but overall Cena would not develop even close to the level he is now as TNA has shown that the company has no idea how to properly elevate its wrestlers. I remember one year (6-7 years in) TNA was still marketing Sabin, Daniels, Kazarian as 'young lions looking to establish themselves'. Cena would have eventually been released from TNA when Nash, Booker T, Angle, Sting, Steiner, RVD, Hogan, etc. all showed up. I could see Cena doing some touring and getting a buzz and eventually being back in WWE. How would that play out? That' is anyone's guess.

 

The scary thing to really think about is Batista's frequency of injury and him going into movies. It would essentially leave us with what we have today with Orton running around at the top with the title. John Cena however would be the 'Daniel Bryan' (to an extent obviously) as he would be a guy coming in from ROH, PWG, etc. who knows how to work and is a 'fresh face' compared to the over-stale Orton, Kane, Big Show, etc.

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I think that Cena would have sooner gone into acting than independent wrestling. Without the WWE exposure, I don't think he would have gotten the kind of roles that he is getting now though. Nathan Jones' career is sort of comparable to what I am imagining, though perhaps with more CollegeHumor type skits to his credit.

 

On the WWE side, I think it was so important for them to prove, mostly to themselves, that the OVW experiment could yield a top star that they would have forged ahead with that so I agree that Batista or Orton would have been cast into top babyface roles. I also think that a lot of the call-ups that followed would have gotten more main event consideration, at least as far as gimmicks go. If they had worked as hard as they worked to build both Lesnar and Cena and ended up with nothing to show for either, I have a hard time picturing them wasting those same resources on something like The Dicks. Once they had taken Cena from nothing to the top, I think that gave them the attitude that that is a thing that they can do and since they had already done it, they did not necessarily need to do it again right away. I don't believe there would have been nearly as many Shelton Benjamin or Dolph Ziggler types that are kept around long past the point they could realistically be expected to be in main events. If they had cut bait with Cena, they would have cut bait with a lot of others too. I could imagine a lot more short-term character types populating the midcard ranks with guys being brought in with a specific program in mind and then drummed out once that program was over.

 

At every level on the card, it would have been a lot tougher to get and stay over if the attitude was that pre-rap Cena was not worth repackaging. That is an incredibly high set of standards.

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This is reality I shudder to think about it and glad we don't live in.

Word.

 

Although the idea of Cena being endeavoured and becoming an indy super worker to eventually get back into WWE a la Bryan is something to behold.

I don't think pro wrestling is just worse off; I think the world is worse off. A really great role model for adults & children in a tough world.

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Even heavier reliance on HHH, Michaels, Jericho, Van Dam, and Taker as the legends of the company, which hurts them all the more in a post-Attitude slump. They inevitably come to terms with Orton being better suited as a heel than a face, leaving Batista as the man, albeit in the same amount of time circa '05. Edge arguably gets pushed to main event/ace status a year earlier.

 

A huge "What If" in this would be whether WWE feels more inclined to overlook Angle's issues for a longer period, with the feeling that they need him as the workhorse of one of the brands. Maybe they even try to hold on to Rock or Goldberg for longer? The original Cena debut came from that moment in '02 when Vince was openly asking on TV who the next generation were going to be, and one can imagine him getting disenchanted and doubling down even more on aging 90s stars.

 

The other enormous "What If" would be if they feel the need to find a different handsome square-jawed jacked dude with a similar look and end up giving someone like Masters, Matt Morgan, or Rene Dupree an actual run at the top.

 

Cena likely goes to TNA/ROH and becomes a top talent there. I could even see him pulling a Marco Corleone around '02-03 and doing some international dates in Mexico or Japan until TNA becomes a real destination with the Fox Sports deal in '04. In hindsight he seems undeniably superior to anyone they had at the time as a total package, but would it have been appreciated and cultivated, especially if he's coming off a run as a Velocity-level talent who just got fired? To say that TNA recognizes what they have with him would give them credit when they so obviously missed the boat on Danielson, Ki, Okada, Tanahashi, Nakamura, Nigel, KENTA, every luchador on Earth, and everyone else they failed to utilize. In a time dominated by Sting, Jarrett, and eventually Joe, Angle, etc, there's a risk that he becomes an AJ Styles or Christian situation where he's recognized as very talented, but has the taint of TNA on him for so long that fans and bookers alike undervalue him. Even during what's now thought of as the peak of TNA as a viable #2, the best workers in the company were being booked as equal or lesser than Abyss, Sting, Rhyno, Petey Williams, an immobile Scott Steiner, and a highly unmotivated Team 3D.

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Batista wouldve continued to be the top guy except on Raw like Cena was. If Cena did go to TNA , he would have atleast gotten a run as a top guy, especially by the time Cornette came in. Honestly I see WWE eventually hiring him back like the did Masters and Cryme Tyme even though he probably wouldnt have been pushed so hard the second time around.

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