If Cena never got the Hogan push
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Batista maybe? Edge? Had Brock never left the keys more than likely were his.
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Keeping in mind atributes Cena has that regardless of what you think of him position him into the megapush he received, let us do some process of elimination.
Vince being the ultimate say and being notoriously bull-headed, no way does he waiver his prevailing philosphy of muscle = money/size is king, especially when not faced with a worldwide steroid scandal (If I recall there was a little flare up of a list of several prominant wrestlers on steroids around 2006 but this wasn't very big news at all for more than a day or two. While Edge has decent measurables at 6'3 (real height) 240, he didin't have near the muscle mass a non knicked up Cena had. This brings up another point that Cena in 05/06 had a pretty clean injury history, which further eliminates Edge, since WWE wouldn't bank on a man to be the franchise wrestler with such a severe previous neck injury like Edge or Angle. HHH had just come off a polarizing run especially in 03 where a great amount of product resources had invested him as the top dog of the flagship show which didn't match or surpass Hunter's legendary and acclaimed champion run from 99-00; with those facts in mind combined with possible grooming for his current role down the road, I don't think even with Cena out of the picture that HHH would reprise his top dog role ever again (though he still remained a main event guy obviously). Michaels and Taker were at the point of being beyond titles in their all time careers as their careers drew closer to te end. Vince has way too much of an ego to let a man who made a name for himself in another company be the absolute face, eliminating Booker and RVD (plus RVD's flaunting of being a stoner doesn't dictate well for uptight sponsors)
Love Cena or hate him, the man has a tireless work ethic, and in Vince's furtherment to get WWE to a more recognized global empire, this would be closer as would playing a face be better fincancially and in terms of sponsors in a softer society. Orton doesn't have the desire to fufill number one guy media/sponsor obligations nor is he very good at playing a moral driven, pandering face which separated him from being a top guy to THE top guy that Cena became. History tells us that Batista hates playing pandering face in a soft product, not to mention that while Cena isn't that phased by mixed reactions, Dave Batista has a very real reaction booing them right back and gets flustured even today by his current failed reaction, so I think that separated him from surpassing Cena (though to his credit early on he did match Cena). Obviously in a segment driven product, the top dog is going to be speaking a whole lot, which eliminated Benoit from the number one guy equation. They tried building Lashley as Lesnar 2.0, but Lashley turned out to be even less than a poor man's Lesnar and more of a beggar's pseduo Lesnar.
So the only man this leaves to be in Cena's position outsiide of John is Chris Masters, whom I fully believe could have taken the mantle if Cena never did. Guy if I remember correctly was even bigger muscle wise than Cena, a very marketable look certainly, had a tremendously low risk moveset, was a real young guy (I belive even if he signed today he would be only a few years passed 30), had a good presence, is a good guy, was improving in the ring his last run to where I think he was actually a decent worker, had a finisher that while Simple I think would've been very over with time (not to mention he would expand his moveset over time), and while I don't know Masters, I think that if invested in heavily could quit juicing. Sure Masters wasn't great on the stick, but I think he would've been servicible enough over time especially given his physical presence and natural charisma. I think he could've taken Cena's spot albeit I am unsure who to credit for this, but as I read one user say when discussing Cena there is an urbanization to wrestling factor that Cena brings that a guy like Masters couldn't.
Vince being the ultimate say and being notoriously bull-headed, no way does he waiver his prevailing philosphy of muscle = money/size is king, especially when not faced with a worldwide steroid scandal (If I recall there was a little flare up of a list of several prominant wrestlers on steroids around 2006 but this wasn't very big news at all for more than a day or two. While Edge has decent measurables at 6'3 (real height) 240, he didin't have near the muscle mass a non knicked up Cena had. This brings up another point that Cena in 05/06 had a pretty clean injury history, which further eliminates Edge, since WWE wouldn't bank on a man to be the franchise wrestler with such a severe previous neck injury like Edge or Angle. HHH had just come off a polarizing run especially in 03 where a great amount of product resources had invested him as the top dog of the flagship show which didn't match or surpass Hunter's legendary and acclaimed champion run from 99-00; with those facts in mind combined with possible grooming for his current role down the road, I don't think even with Cena out of the picture that HHH would reprise his top dog role ever again (though he still remained a main event guy obviously). Michaels and Taker were at the point of being beyond titles in their all time careers as their careers drew closer to te end. Vince has way too much of an ego to let a man who made a name for himself in another company be the absolute face, eliminating Booker and RVD (plus RVD's flaunting of being a stoner doesn't dictate well for uptight sponsors)
Love Cena or hate him, the man has a tireless work ethic, and in Vince's furtherment to get WWE to a more recognized global empire, this would be closer as would playing a face be better fincancially and in terms of sponsors in a softer society. Orton doesn't have the desire to fufill number one guy media/sponsor obligations nor is he very good at playing a moral driven, pandering face which separated him from being a top guy to THE top guy that Cena became. History tells us that Batista hates playing pandering face in a soft product, not to mention that while Cena isn't that phased by mixed reactions, Dave Batista has a very real reaction booing them right back and gets flustured even today by his current failed reaction, so I think that separated him from surpassing Cena (though to his credit early on he did match Cena). Obviously in a segment driven product, the top dog is going to be speaking a whole lot, which eliminated Benoit from the number one guy equation. They tried building Lashley as Lesnar 2.0, but Lashley turned out to be even less than a poor man's Lesnar and more of a beggar's pseduo Lesnar.
So the only man this leaves to be in Cena's position outsiide of John is Chris Masters, whom I fully believe could have taken the mantle if Cena never did. Guy if I remember correctly was even bigger muscle wise than Cena, a very marketable look certainly, had a tremendously low risk moveset, was a real young guy (I belive even if he signed today he would be only a few years passed 30), had a good presence, is a good guy, was improving in the ring his last run to where I think he was actually a decent worker, had a finisher that while Simple I think would've been very over with time (not to mention he would expand his moveset over time), and while I don't know Masters, I think that if invested in heavily could quit juicing. Sure Masters wasn't great on the stick, but I think he would've been servicible enough over time especially given his physical presence and natural charisma. I think he could've taken Cena's spot albeit I am unsure who to credit for this, but as I read one user say when discussing Cena there is an urbanization to wrestling factor that Cena brings that a guy like Masters couldn't.
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Cena is 100000000 x better than brock on the mic. He would of still of gotten the push. Batista wouldnt of been anything. Mason Ryan ring a bell?
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Orton and Batista were on RAW when Brock left....If anything Cena would've beaten Lesnar at WM21...sigh, the hate the smarks have here blinds them from fact
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Edge is too "skinny"
Batista wtf are you talking about? It was Dave who got the push as the face of the Company Before Cena. Batista won the Rumble in 05, got a lenghty Main event match with the top heel of the Company at WM wehre he got put over big tim byt Triple H. Cena on the other hand, defeated JBL for the WWE Championship in an rushed match at the same WM, in favor of Batista and Triple H to get more time. Batista was the face of the Raw brand while Cena was that on the Smackdown brand. and it is a common knowledge that Raw is the flag ship show of WWE
But cena sold more merchandise, and Batista got a bad attitude backstage and they (WWE) eventually Went with Cena as the face of the company
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It doesn't matter if you're a fan of not in regards to Cena, none of these that are mentioned have the all round appeal that John Cena does, it's been gone over and over really has this, but the truth is there hasn't been anyone in the company that has been able to replace Cena in the spot he's in and I don't think the other guys would have done it.
Lesnar doesn't have that all friendly appeal that people draw to like Cena does, you have the remember the face of the company needs to be very marketable to outside media too, which Cena is 100%.
Lesnar doesn't have that all friendly appeal that people draw to like Cena does, you have the remember the face of the company needs to be very marketable to outside media too, which Cena is 100%.
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Batista never got the face of the company treatment. They swapped shows after winning their respective titles and Cena was off and running. If Batista did get the ball(he didn't but let's pretend he did) it was extremely brief.
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Batista or Orton most likely.
But such a push would eventually failed with them. Batista was already pushing 37 (older than HHH) by the time he got his big break, so the mileage the WWE could get out of him was limited and Batista wouldn't have known how to deal with the boos that he would have surely started to get, mid way through his push.
Orton was still immature apparently at the time. So he surely wouldn't have been able to handle such responsibility at the time.
John Cena was the ONLY and the BEST answer.
But such a push would eventually failed with them. Batista was already pushing 37 (older than HHH) by the time he got his big break, so the mileage the WWE could get out of him was limited and Batista wouldn't have known how to deal with the boos that he would have surely started to get, mid way through his push.
Orton was still immature apparently at the time. So he surely wouldn't have been able to handle such responsibility at the time.
John Cena was the ONLY and the BEST answer.
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He didn't get the Hogan push, his push is way more than what Hogan got.
And there have been plenty of guys along the way that would have been alot better in this spot, Lesnar, Batista, Edge, Jericho, exc. exc. exc. So just take your pick.
And can someone please prove that Cena has a tireless work ethic and all this. I mean the guy works hard, but everyone does, does anyone actually have proof that he works like a million times harder than everyone else like everyone says, or can that narrative just be chalked up to the WWE propaganda machine.
And please don't bring up make-a-wish, he spends an hour with a kid here & there, and for all I know he does it for the recognition.
And there have been plenty of guys along the way that would have been alot better in this spot, Lesnar, Batista, Edge, Jericho, exc. exc. exc. So just take your pick.
And can someone please prove that Cena has a tireless work ethic and all this. I mean the guy works hard, but everyone does, does anyone actually have proof that he works like a million times harder than everyone else like everyone says, or can that narrative just be chalked up to the WWE propaganda machine.
And please don't bring up make-a-wish, he spends an hour with a kid here & there, and for all I know he does it for the recognition.
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Anyone with a decent amount of charisma and a nice build. That's not a knock on Cena either. I genuinely believe anyone with those two attributes could have taken the push and had the same kind of success.
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Look at your avatar & signature. He would have been a much better option.
Then had Eddie not past away (RIP), and Brock not left, those 2 would have been ahead of Cena as the next guy.
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Cena got a title match within a year (he faced Brock at Backlash 2003 for the WWE title). He was also feuding with Undertaker and Kurt Angle the same year, along with being the highlight of a Survivor Series elimination match that included Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and Big Show. Cena was going to be big regardless. As far as being as big as he is now, I think there's something to be said about that not being the case if Brock hadn't left.
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Well spank my ass and call me a bitch. Acording to Wikipedia, Chris Masters is still 30. Was he like 22 during his first run then? I say, resign him non. He was a really good wrestler during his second run.
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