[D17]

It's been obvious that Cena has been a borderline household name and eaisly WWE's biggest and most marketable star for a few, but since when?
Because when he first won the strap in 05, he wasn't nearly as well known on a worldwide scale, exactly the same when WM 22 rolled around. If anything, Trips, Batista(?) and Taker were arguably alot more well known than Cena by WM 22, and even for about a year after that he wasn't quite the main face/poster boy of the comapny (DX, Batista wre still very very big).
In my opinion after Wrestlemania 23 was when he really became the Cena of today, and in retrospect that's when Batista's star wasn't shining (nearly) as bright as what it once was. As from then if you asked someone to name a wrestler they would say Cena more than likely, and when his merchandise was getting hot. But I still find it hard to kind a clear idea of when he truely became the Cena of nowadays.
(I'm not saying in 05-06 he wasn't big he was certainly one of E's faces and biggst star's but not up to the level he's worked up to now)
So 2007 ;D

 

[Nexus One]

Re: When did Cena really become a (somewhat) household name and the face of the compa

Some might say when he got swapped to Raw but no one was really convinced he was gonna keep the title for the majority of the next 4 years..it was when HHH tapped out to him at WM 22 in Chicago that it became apparent that they weren't gonna depush him or kick him down like they USUALLY do when they build up a new guy on top(CM Punk, Sheamus, RVD, Jeff Hardy, etc).

 

[Starbuck]

Re: When did Cena really become a (somewhat) household name and the face of the compa

Some might say when he got swapped to Raw but no one was really convinced he was gonna keep the title for the majority of the next 4 years..it was when HHH tapped out to him at WM 22 in Chicago that it became apparent that they weren't gonna depush him or kick him down like they USUALLY do when they build up a new guy on top(CM Punk, Sheamus, RVD, Jeff Hardy, etc).

I'd agree with this. Some common sense here. Nice change of pace.

 

[The Caped Crusader]

Re: When did Cena really become a (somewhat) household name and the face of the compa

I'd say the likes of Taker, Batista and Triple H were bigger names until 2006. But in 2006, the transition kind of began and the first signs were at Wrestlemania 22. He tapped out Triple H in the midst of a huge backlash and it was WWE's way of showing he was here to stay.

I ignore people who try and claim he was the biggest star when he came to Raw because anyone watching at the time - a big face of the WWE being booed out of arenas - wasn't going to actually believe that. It's also why so many folks in the IWC thought he was losing at WM22.

The transition began at WM22, and the subsequent feuds of Sabu, RVD, Edge, Kevin Federline and Champion of Champions, his momentum grew to an all-time high.

By late 2006, I'd say he was basically considered the top man in the WWE. And Batista was close to being his equal, but now behind him, unlike in 2005. Triple H and Undertaker also were in the backseat to the two.

Then at Wrestlemania 23 and through that year long reign, he cemented his status as "The Man" and everyone basically dropped a lot lower on the totem pole compared to him, especially Big Dave who was once a bigger name when they first went to the top.

By 2008, I'd say Cena's status was cemented to the point of having no threat, and Batista's status dropped behind Triple H's also (in part due to not really accomplishing as much as Cena between 2006/2007 and kind of taking a backseat in booking).

But Cena transitioned into the role in 2006, starting with WM22, and the victory at WM23 was the fullstop that he was the biggest star in the entire industry.

 

[#BadNewsSanta]

Re: When did Cena really become a (somewhat) household name and the face of the compa

TBH, I'd say he was the man in the company after Batista got injured. Before that I always saw Batista as the man on top, but afterward the momentum switched to Cena. However it wasn't Cena alone, Taker (who was on Smackdown so you could make the argument he wasn't) and Triple H were at that same level. By the time WM22 came around, Cena and Triple H were equals, titans in a sense going at it for the WWE Championship. Triple H had been the guy who was on top for the past several years and needed to get back to that level by beating Cena after his loss to Batista at Vengeance.

Cena was on a roll, fought off the likes of Christian, Jericho, Angle, and Edge, though booed always (unless he was facing Edge) and at WM22 Cena needed to cement himself by beating Triple H. Had Triple H won we would have gone through another (imo boring) reign of terror by Triple H. What we got however was Cena winning, and later on in the year winning the title from Edge in his own match.

From there as his year long title reign went on, we entered one of my personal least favorite times in Raw, PPV after PPV wanting Cena to lose the title so badly and he never did. He was injured and forced to surrender the title. But as much as I hated that time period much like I hated the Evolution time period, 2002-2005 allowed Evolution to flourish and become the best faction of the last decade (not much competition tbh, but I digress) but nevertheless they were still a legitimate looking faction. As for Cena's 06-07 era, it helped him become a huge star, household name in a sense, and made him the true man to beat in the WWE.

So to answer your question, I would say it was during Cena's year long WWE Title. And before people jump on me, I'm aware him losing to Triple H cemented his status at the top (which previously wasn't). In other words, Trips made sure by losing, Cena wasn't going back down on the card ever.

 

[dave 1981]

Re: When did Cena really become a (somewhat) household name and the face of the compa

TBH, I'd say he was the man in the company after Batista got injured. Before that I always saw Batista as the man on top, but afterward the momentum switched to Cena. However it wasn't Cena alone, Taker (who was on Smackdown so you could make the argument he wasn't) and Triple H were at that same level. By the time WM22 came around, Cena and Triple H were equals, titans in a sense going at it for the WWE Championship. Triple H had been the guy who was on top for the past several years and needed to get back to that level by beating Cena after his loss to Batista at Vengeance.

I don't think that Batista was seen as the main man over John Cena at any point at all despite his push being the main focus of WWE going into WrestleMania 21, for me up until the draft in 2005 i would have said that Shawn Michaels, Triple H, The Undertaker and Kurt Angle were the four main men in the company. None of them were ever really ahead of each other in terms of status and were the four people who the company seemed to revolve around in the main event scene and for the top feuds.

I don't think Batista would have even have got so over had he not had the hardest push in WWE from late 2004 and mid 2005 or if he had feuded with anyone else other than Triple H who really made a star of him. I would say that outside of his work with Shawn Michaels the feud with Batista was the best work Triple H has done since he returned from his first major injury in mid 2002 and because of their friendship and the fact Batista was Triple H's pet project he really went all out to turn him into a star.

John Cena on the other hand was working with JBL and had nowhere near as much put into his feud going into WrestleMania 21 but yet was just as popular with no build up towards his main event status. When you really think about it John Cena had only worked with JBL from the first SmackDown after No Way Out until WrestleMania 21 which is around a six week build up whilst Batista and Triple H was built up from the latter stages of 2004 and was really hot going into WrestleMania and for why Batista was so popular.

The fact though that John Cena stayed as popular if not even more so than Batista without having as much emphasis put into his WWE title feud with JBL as what Batista had with his feud with Triple H is probably what stood out in Vince McMahon's eyes in regards to what John Cena could go on to do. I have seen a few bits from John Cena's DVD from a couple of years ago and i remember Vince McMahon saying something like John Cena was born to be a major star and had more drive and determination than anyone else which is why John Cena and Batista were traded.

Look at how HUGE a pop John Cena got when he was traded to Raw and made his debut on Chris Jericho's Highlight Reel because in my opinion it was probably the biggest pop's WWE had seen since Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock were around and from that moment onwards John Cena just never looked back. WWE did a great job of building him up as a major star by having him go over Chris Jericho and then Kurt Angle which made him believable going into 2006 and that inevitable feud with Triple H which was always going to be the measuring stick for John Cena back at that time.

When John Cena had lost the WWE title to Edge at New Years Revolution the first thing i thought was that WWE didn't have enough confidence in John Cena to main event WrestleMania 22 and that they would be going with a Triple Threat match with John Cena, Edge and Triple H and that was the reason that John Cena and Triple H had been kept apart but as soon as he won it back at The Royal Rumble i had changed my mind and saw John Cena as a major star for the present and an even bigger star in the future.

Going into WrestleMania 22 we saw Triple H completely take liberties with John Cena in all of their promo's and i believed that Triple H was going a bit too far as he was making John Cena look really weak and as if was going to get buried which i had began to get annoyed about as i thought Triple H had no reason to do that on top of winning the WWE title from him as well which i was sure would happen. I was astounded that John Cena won at WrestleMania 22 though and i give full props to Triple H as he really put John Cena over as a bona fide mega star in that match and from that minute John Cena was believable in being the biggest star in wrestling.

I will say though that i believe that feud with Edge was also a major part as well because within a month or so of being the main man John Cena was presented with that career defining feud which every top star needs in their career. We saw Hulk Hogan had Andre The Giant, Shawn Michaels have Bret Hart, Sting had Ric Flair and Steve Austin had The Rock and those feuds made them all bigger stars so for me Cena/Edge was where John Cena became the biggest star in the industry and carried on getting bigger and bigger but Cena/HHH was the moment he became believable as the main man.

 

[Amsterdam]

Re: When did Cena really become a (somewhat) household name and the face of the compa

2008

3 years of dominating the WWE Championship made John Cena the poster child, but it came at a price. Everybody knows who he is, but half of them hate his guts.

 

[LegendofBaseball]

Re: When did Cena really become a (somewhat) household name and the face of the compa

When he got drafted to RAW.

When he won at WM 21, no one was sure that it was going to last, speaking of the fans that is. But, there was just that inevitable aura about all they booked his big debut on RAW. And well, we all know what happened afterwards.

 

[Cowabunga]

Re: When did Cena really become a (somewhat) household name and the face of the compa

They were already building him as the face of the company in 2004, he was already selling more merchandise than any other Superstar at the time.

Batista was more popular than him in early 2004 due to the Rumble win and mein eventing WrestleMania but once they swithced brands it was obvious that Cena just became the face of the company.

 

[just1988]

Re: When did Cena really become a (somewhat) household name and the face of the compa

When they released the Cena album and started putting him in movies. At the same time they had him come out with his own title belt which had previously been exclusive to top talent.

 

[Shock]

Re: When did Cena really become a (somewhat) household name and the face of the compa

They were already building him as the face of the company in 2004, he was already selling more merchandise than any other Superstar at the time.

Batista was more popular than him in early 2004 due to the Rumble win and mein eventing WrestleMania but once they swithced brands it was obvious that Cena just became the face of the company.

You mean 2005, right?

I agree with what just1988 said about when Cena became a household name.

 

[Cowabunga]

Re: When did Cena really become a (somewhat) household name and the face of the compa

You mean 2005, right?

I agree with what just1988 said about when Cena became a household name.

Ups you're right, I meant 2005 I pressed the wrong key fpalm