Bigger Future Star at WM21?

[Kaptain KnicKy]

Ok, a question to debate a little - who did you guys think, and who do you think WWE thought, was going to be the bigger star right now between John Cena and Batista?

Both men ended up the last two in the Rumble and had that little bit of controversy, and both men went to the Mania MEs, to win the titles. But, they had Batista win the Rumble, ME Mania itself, having (what I believed) a better match up with HHH to the Cena/JBL match.

But looking at things now, Cena is the go to guy, the Superman of the WWE ... and coincidentally, Batista is challenging for the US Title this SD!

so what are you thoughts on:

-who you thought would be the bigger star right now? and
-who did you think WWE were thinking would be the bigger star?

 

[The Rated R CMStar]

I think obviously Batista. Make no mistake, both were being pushed as the face of their brands, but the whole buildup for their WM wins was better for Batista than to Cena.

In the end, Cena got red hot as a face, and WWE was forced to do the "draft", that had no other intention in my view than to get Cena on Raw.

 

[Enigma22]

well batista was obviously bigger at that time or he was atleast better... cena was probably more popular but batista was pushed a little more at the time... the pushed cena pretty quick imo and i wasnt really ready for him to be a big star yet...

 

[THE Brian Kendrick's Biceps]

batista was thought to be the bigger star, as shown by him winning the rumble and all the big build up with hhh not wanting to face him

 

[Montana]

No way, Cena all the way.

The reason HHH vs Batista main evented, was because #1 it was HHH, #2 it was on raw. Batista quickly jumped to the b show right after. Cena had to face JBL, although he had a good run, he didnt have much credibility. I still think Batista was more in the right place at the right time. Cena made himself. He didnt need evolution to get over.

 

[C4]

Batista was the better guy at that time, he won the Royal Rumble Match and the plans were obvious that they will push Batista to the edge. The storyline "Evolution ends" and Smackdown/RAW it was much better than John Cena/ JBL. I guess it's the mic skills that got Cena ahead of Batista and the draft played a major role as well. If Cena would have remained on Smackdown, then today Batista would have been the top babyface of the company on Monday Night's but Batista went to Smackdown and Cena came to RAW which is one big reason that Cena became the superman of WWE.

But the writers didn't want to push Batista because of his backstage attitude at that time of the draft, McMahon said he was like a future Ultimate Warrior. That might be one reason that Batista was left behind and Cena went ahead.

 

[rosewt01]

I wouldn't consider Batista left behind. he had the worldheavyweight for a while.

 

[Wrestling Station]

Ok, a question to debate a little - who did you guys think, and who do you think WWE thought, was going to be the bigger star right now between John Cena and Batista?

Both men ended up the last two in the Rumble and had that little bit of controversy, and both men went to the Mania MEs, to win the titles. But, they had Batista win the Rumble, ME Mania itself, having (what I believed) a better match up with HHH to the Cena/JBL match.

But looking at things now, Cena is the go to guy, the Superman of the WWE ... and coincidentally, Batista is challenging for the US Title this SD!

so what are you thoughts on:

-who you thought would be the bigger star right now? and
-who did you think WWE were thinking would be the bigger star?

I think its Batista, no doubt as everyone said.

But due to the injury Batista suffered early 2006, made his momentum get a little slower and this made Cena as we see these days.

But also we can talk about the age, Batista is older than Cena, so he had to be pushed bigger at the very beginning and then later its time for the younger "Cena" to get that very same push for today.

 

[The Rated R CMStar]

I don't agree with the perception of the draft you have, you make it seem so random, but I think that WWE saw Cena hotter as a face, and then decided to make the draft, all to cover this trade, because, really, who else got traded in an important manor? Orton, who had not been on PPV since WM? Christian, who was on the way back to midcard? Carlito....

At the very beginning, WWE, and going way back, WWE thought of Randy Orton as the biggest face, their go to guy, but he failed as a face, and the whole Evolution breakup and go on to be a main eventer failed, so, then they went with Batista. Of course, they needed someone on SD, and Cena was popular from way back, so he got his push, but Batista was the main card. HHH is the ultimate stepping stone, and if Cena was the guy, he would have won the Rumble, jump to Raw and challenge HHH.

However, when they both won their belts, Cena got even more popular, more than Batista, so the WWE send him to Raw and pushed him above all their main eventers

 

[C4]

However, when they both won their belts, Cena got even more popular, more than Batista, so the WWE send him to Raw and pushed him above all their main eventers

John Cena got popular when he went to Monday Night Raw, before that he was a joke. When he went to RAW, the flagship show of WWE.... it was like he is the Champion of WWE. Cena was involved with bigger superstars like HHH and Jericho in major storylines but Batista just faced JBL, Mysterio and Edge on Smackdown, then Cena got more popular!

 

[Headfirst For Hardcore]

John Cena, now and Batista back then.

Cena - Now he's the biggest star WWE's had in a while. He's only had one injury since his WWE Championship win and gets a reaction. Whether it's a loud boo or a total cheer, John Cena draws a reaction. He's grown as a wrestler since WM21, and he got moved to Raw because he was getting so popular. He is getting popular in the mainstream too, and if you said that this would happen after WM21, you would be seriously doubted.

Batista - Of course Batista was going to be the bigger star back three years ago. He got the clean victory over HHH and was being groomed to be Raw's next big star. But all his success was do to Evolution, like said before in this thread. He was moved to the B Show, Smackdown and he struggled with injuries. He doesn't have the "outside wrestling" success that Cena has and he's just a big guy that got friendly with the boss' son in law.

 

[the dark knight]

they were both jobbers to me. and again Mr. Cenamark, this is exactly why i hated WM21. 2 worthless boring jobbers became champions. one of them over...TRIPLE H!!!!

but if i had to choose, i'd pick cena all the way. batista's never been remotely entertaining in the ring or on the mic. at least cena can talk and his wigger gimmick wasnt bad really.

before anyone calls me out, i meant jobbers as in midcarders.

 

[Montana]

Im telling you guys, they knew Cena was goin to be a huge star. Cena is marketable, batista is not. Why would the wwe put all their eggs in the basket of the older Batista. Again, he was simply at the right place, at the right time. No Brock/Goldberg, oh well we will just have Batista fill that role.

 

[CenaMark54]

I agree with Montana. The WWE knew all along that Cena would be the next big star. Thats why they flip flopped him and Batista and put Cena on Raw.

The original plan for Wrestlemania 21 was always for Cena to go over JBL. On the Raw side, Orton was supposed to make a comeback and take the belt off of HHH at Mania. Unfortunatley, Orton's face turn went horribly wrong and by the time January rolled arounf no one really cared if Orton beat the evil HHH. Batista was never really in the picture and had to basically be used as an back up plan.

The plan the WWE wanted to use was to have Cena and Orton come out on top at Mania 21. Basically a passing of the torch to the future faces of the WWE. Batista was basically an afterthought for most of 2003 and 2004, whereas Orton and Cena were given the push to superstardom.

 

[the last gunslinger]

Which in parts makes sense as to why Batista got the push that he did. WWE are not as stupid as some of you may think, they saw the mistake that was made in pushing Orton so fast, people reacted to Cena (I'm having DejaVu right now) for the most part positively but not for Orton, the face turn for Batista was inevitable because there really wasn't anyone else on Raw at the moment that was young enough to be pushed.

John Cena was an obvious choice
Batista it's been said right place, right time