I'm going to quote the great Vince McMahon here:
"I could have picked ANYONE to play the Hulk Hogan character!". And he could have. He could have done the same with the John Cena character, because he knows that people for some reason love Mary Sue characters. If someone MUST replace John Cena, just have him be a face, win every match, possess physical power that would make Superman jealous, eat up screentime like the Big Show at a buffet, and viola! The NEXT John Cena! It's a formula that has been tried and true over the ages, and it would work with anyone on the roster. So, in essence, they only need "a John Cena" not necessarily "John Cena".
And yet there's only one Cena who has broken revenue records at multiple manias at the gate, only one who has moved millions of merch to the point Austin and Hogan did and will have a clothing line launched just for him, only one Cena who does unprecedented ambassador work, and only one Cena on the roster right now who doesn't force channel changes. Face facts he's cut from a different cloth than the rest of the current full time litter.
And very well, it could have been true before Benoit and Signature, but its not now as the others haven't done it with more titles to their names, stables, and everything than Cena had going into WM21. This isn't a golden age of talent; that was there when we had Austin, Rock, Angle, HHH, Taker, and Kane as our top 6. This isn't the silver age, that was when we had Cena, Dave, Edge, HBK, Rey, Jeff, HHH, and Taker main eventing. In terms of results, as in what theyve done to go with all their screen times, managers, ppvs, twitter, and resumes; the next 6 totem pole talent behind Cena can only be labeled as bronze because while their resumes glitter, none of them lay an egg that is worth anything.
We all won't ever agree because people think its insulting to call Sheamus, Orton, Punk, Rio, Dolph, and Bryan failures. Its not a talent knock its just what it is, they are a bunch of Wii Us or Sega Dreamcasts, fun and entertaining in their own rights, but all lack the umph to be taken serious by consumers.
That is why I'm just saying let Cena get the belt, reestablish it, and concentrate on making 3-5 stars to cash in on a year and two years from now. I'm not saying in that 1-2 year period stick Bryan, Punk, Sheamus, Dolph, ADR, and Ortom away from the title scene, just don't let them win it and bloat their resumes. Let them line up and lose, same way Booker T and RVD and Jericho and Kane all lined up in 04 and 05 to take losses in world title matches.
Nothing is gained from them holding the belt, they hurt the belt and company credibility when they touch it, so let them chase it and be interesting that way only to fail. Then have a new 6 man guard climb the ranks piling up wins, maybe securing a mid card title, tag title, chamber, mitb, or rumble wins along the way so that when WM31, Summerslam 14, and WM32 we have guys like Cody, Sandow, Wyatt, Langston, Reigns, and even the Goldberg wannabe Ryback matter going into their first title win. It should only take one.
It shouldn't be this incessant lets try to recreated Edge shit when Edge was legit whereas Punk, Bryan, Rio, Dolph, and the like werent well before they cashed in or were made champs. There shouldn't be a point where you are trying to make Orton the man of WWE, well 1/2 the face as the heel of the company when he was a 9x champ, as he should have already been made a be a star by now. You don't try to recreate Brock with a rapid rise because a guy is a gym freak and looks unique but lacks the credentials to be legit like Sheamus. These guys the 6 behind Cena, the ones he should be able to depend on to sell out arenas, keep viewers, and deliver on ppv while he rests and rehabs like past generation mega stars could theirs were just made all wrong and they are all beyond salvaging when you look at it from a business not idealist but realist standpoint.
They can be useful hands and offer some help, but it has to be billed against Cena, with Cena coming out on top like Trips did versus the Kane, Booker, RVD, and Jericho types. When the next 5-6 come out and rise up in 14 and 15 they can actually fill boots that HHH, HBk, Taker, Edge, Batsita, Rey, and the like left ... Yes they won't truly fill them all the way, much like those guys didnt fully fill attitude era boots, but it won't be a case of utter fail if you make the new cast fully credible starting now and don't fast track them as world champs in the hope a belt makes them believable simply because Flair, Austin, and Cena won it and main evented across the world with it
