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Who do you think will be the next superstar to be a megastar like Cena, Rock etc?

7K views 71 replies 64 participants last post by  Chi Town Punk 
#1 ·
Who do you think will be the next superstar to be a megastar like Cena, Rock etc?
 
#19 ·
Cena isn't a mega star. When you find a mega star the industry grows like with hogan, austin, and rock. If the industry is receding then all you have is a wrestler that you tried to push to mega stardom but just couldn't do it. Cena will never have at least 75% of the crowd behind him at any givin time, and it's impossible to tell who could be next. Look at Austin! No one thought the ring master would end up being a mega star. The first thing you have to do is let the wrestler run with the ball first.
 
#65 ·
You can't create a megastar. What you can do, is create stars, or, better yet, give individuals the opportunity to run with the ball. Some will be modest successes, some will fail and some will become big entities.

As for the subject within the subject as to whether or not Cena's a megastar or not... What Cena is, is a manufactured megastar by default. This isn't to say he wasn't going to be big anyway. He was. By late 2003/early 2004, it was obvious he was going to be a huge star in WWE and very likely the guy to take over the #1 spot (Batista leap-frogged over him with the insanely hot angle of rising up against Triple H, but in the end that spot did become Cena's). Cena was responsible for approximately 24-25% of WWE's merchandise revenue for the year 2004, when he was still considered something of a prominent midcarder. So he definitely had what it took to become a legitimate main event superstar with just the right amount of careful massaging from creative and Vince.

What WWE did, though, starting in earnest with the Triple H tapout to Cena at Wrestlemania XXII and the Shawn Michaels tapout to Cena at Wrestlemania XXIII, through the movies, albums, sponsorships, licensing deals, move to TV-PG (though the situation with Cena is only a relatively considerable, not earth-shakingly huge overlapping component with that move), all the way through the surprise Royal Rumble return, all the way through the final battles with Batista in 2010 and the subsequent Nexus storyline, all the way to "Once in a Lifetime," is say to the world in an unapologetic and enthusiastically resounding tone, "This is our biggest star, he's 'the face of WWE,' he's the man around whom this world revolves."

In the end, Cena's going to get his win back against The Rock. His superpush, his ownership of the domain, so to speak, is not yet over and it will only be through turning heel that we are given the major hint that his time at the very top is reaching its final phase. Even then, he'll always be one of their top guys, obviously, but one would think/hope that Vince and others see the enormous potential in Cena taking over the role Triple H inhabited from 2003-2006, as the top kingpin who serves as ultra-gatekeeper for the next wave of true top stars.

Sheamus will be given the role of Shawn Michaels in 1996, though Shawn's role back then was accidental. He'll be the "bridge" between Cena and ?????, the way HBK was between Bret Hart and Steve Austin.

Again, though, you can't wholly create new megastars. You can nurture talents into becoming marquee stars as Cena was given the chance to come along eight or nine years ago, and you can go from there. WWE's status as the wrestling promotion of America gives them carte blanche to take that hot star and declare that they are a megastar. In the end, if Cena were to die in a car accident driving one of his '70s muscle cars next month, WWE would quickly transition into featuring Sheamus as the top babyface of the company and then take anywhere between a year and 18 or so months to establish who the new top star of WWE is. Booking plays an inordinately huge role in all of this. As does marketing and, simply put, propaganda. Back in mid-2010, if Cena were injured to the point where he could no longer wrestle, WWE would have rallied behind Orton and declared he was the top man, the undeniable top star in WWE. It wouldn't have been true, really, but they would have run with it as hard and as strongly and as persistently as possible, until the audience gradually became conditioned into accepting it.

As far as supernova-sized megastars like Hogan, Austin and Rock... Don't hold your breath waiting. WWE's proven that they are firstly entirely content with the status quo they feature today and secondly are in no position to harbor the meteor-like smash of a new star of that caliber. One day it will probably happen but it's a bit far off into the future, at least.
 
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#2 ·
Good question. I doubt WWE know yet to be honest, they'll squeeze as much out of Cena as possible. I honestly think an underdog face/goofy D-Bry (think Angle from the AE) or a returning, reworked John Morrison each have a shot. As far as developmental the only one I see with real potential to be the guy is Chad Baxter (Derek Foore). Great wrestling background, has the look and the size, just depends on charisma. Foore is 24, so say in 5 years he'll be 29 when Cena is on the way out, so he's a possibility.

So, those 3 for me, really 2: D-Bryan or Derek Foore
 
#3 ·
No one on this roster. Who WWE wants it to be and who the fans want it to be is a different person.
 
#4 ·
John Cena isn't a mega star. He's a very "super" superstar. To answer your question; maybe no one for a long time. The only real mega stars are Hogan, Rock, and Austin. WWE was lucky to get two at the same time. For all we know, that person may be a baby right now. No one on the roster will be a mega star with the way they book and use their talent.
 
#7 ·
An undiscovered talent, could be next month, could be 5 years, just have to wait. The likes of the "big 3", Austin, Hogan, Rock, they are one in a million talents. They just have the special crowd connection factor. Not to say the current Roster is talentless, but none of them have that big factor to transition massively into mainstream culture as much as the "big 3" do.
 
#8 ·
WWE have got their perfect guy in Cena. Hogan ditched them for WCW, Austin retired/quit just out of his peak, The Rock went off to star in movies, Brock left fairly quickly. Cena is a committed WWE employee who will only go when they tell him to. They aren't concerned with who's next just yet.
 
#11 ·
The way WWE books their smaller stars, absolutely no one right now.

Now I'd certainly love to see Punk or D-Bry become huge later in their careers but it's very very doubtful that will ever happen. Sad but true.

As others have said, that man for the job may not even be discovered yet.
 
#20 ·
Daniel Bryan.

It's a long shot but he's never really took a backward step since he joined the company again and he has also stated that he wants to be at Cena's level (which is important, there have been people who could have made it but just didn't want to). If the content goes slightly more adult after Linda's unsuccessful Senate campaign (here's hoping) Bryan and Punk are the two best setup for it. It'll be somebody nobody suspects and Bryan is the least likely out of all the current main eventers/high-midcard.
 
#21 ·
Ok, I'll pick somebody out of FCW based totally on look -- Jason Jordan. He's got a bit of a Rock look. Not sure if I've ever heard the dude speak. So he might suck. But I can see why WWE signed him. He's got a great babyface look and a Vince McMahon preferred physique.
 
#28 ·
And Rock, at this stage, really is in a world to himself. He's the only genuine movie star to come out of wrestling in the entire history of professional wrestling. So the odds of "another Rock" coming along are extremely low. It might never happen again.

(And, yeah, Hogan, Andre the Giant, Roddy Piper, and Jesse the Body had some classic movies -- but none became bankable movie stars with a long career like the Rock.)
 
#29 ·
My answer would've been Alex Riley if he were getting pushed right now, because he's the only guy on the roster who fits the same mold as Cena. Vince's prototype for a star looks exactly like Alex Riley. Unfortunately, because Cena is such a prick and couldn't handle the fact that Riley didn't like one of his ribs, Cena went to Vince and demanded that his career get ruined, so there's no hope for him ever getting a push at any level, regardless of the fact that he still gets reactions to this day on account of his charisma. Let that be a lesson to young talent, always lie. Never, ever tell anyone what you're really thinking. Not even to another low card talent, because that other low card talent will just rat you out to try and get a push themselves. It's a vicious circle.

It won't be anyone on the roster or on the way to a call up. It's somebody we're not even familiar with. The people who WWE actually thinks is going to be the guy is never the guy, they always end up getting bumped down to #2.
 
#30 ·
My answer would've been Alex Riley if he were getting pushed right now, because he's the only guy on the roster who fits the same mold as Cena.
When thinking about questions like this I always think "who is like Cena" because of exactly what you said. But then I realise, isn't that restricting it a bit too much? The last megastars were Cena's polar opposites, and there's a chance the next one might be too.
 
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