John Cena: Top Face or just THE Face...

Been seeing alot of comments focusing on John Cena of late and the role he holds within WWE which has got me thinking, where does John Cena actually stand right now?

Way back when, the guy getting the biggest pops and the loudest cheers was always the top guy in the company, whether it be Rock, Austin, Hogan, Taker, hell, even HHH had a purple patch where he was adored. With Cena that's not quite the fit.

For a long time now Cena has been receiving predominantly mixed reactions. You could argue that certain lesser names within the WWE get bigger pops for being a heel (Daniel Bryan) yet Cena never seems to be away from the limelight. Even now, he's main eventing in a nothing feud against The Big Show and the WWE title takes a backseat, so is Cena no longer the top face in the company rather, just THE face of the company.

Historically, the WWE has been blessed during the era's and always had an abundance of stars to turn to. Hogan/Hart/HBK > Rock/Austin/Taker/HHH/Lesnar > Cena/Edge/Orton/Batista/Eddie, but where are we now? Cena and who?

Punk? Well, for all the furore THAT promo caused, he's not exactly ascended to thet top? If you look at the opening sequence to the shows and the catchphrases that are used, you have classics from Austin, Rock, JR, Vince, and Cena, yet 'Do i have everybody's attention now' has only recenlty started to be used. His matches are on before Cena's. He very rarely headlines a show, or closes it.

It's all about Cena.

Is it just that regardless of how well loved he is, he's always gonna be the #1 guy? Is anyone ever going to step out of the big Cena shaped shadow and become the next go to guy?

What do you guys think?

There's no denying that Cena is the biggest star currently in the WWE, that's why he's in the main storylines, however Punk and Bryan's rise to the top is clear to see, they are up there, just not above Cena.

And in my opinion that's how its going to stay until taker, Lesnar or Rock return. As for superstars who can make the leap? I think the WWE are doing a very good job in giving a variety of superstars more and more TV time, but I'm not sure who can really make that jump just yet!

I'd probably say he is the face chosen by wwe, but he'll always be a top face to the younger members of the audience

At the end of the day Cena will sell merchandise and make VKM more money than I'd see in several lifetimes so as long as that's the case he'll be the top guy in the company, even of it means devaluing the wwe title to make way for a Cena johnny ace main event (FML)


I would argue though that certainly in hogans era and to certain degree the attitude era that Austin and hogan were the top merch sellers and were also the face of the company but just turned to be top faces as well

The guys who boo (well the majority) are those that were brought up with Austin and rock so I would say its only natural for them to boo the obviously less talented Cena, but I'm sure the Cena generation who stick with wwe for years to come may well boo the 'face' of the company in 10 years time for being constantly pushed by wwe

But does he need to be main eventing? Surely just his presence on the card is enough to draw in money?

As for top merch seller, i'm sure he's been behind Punk for a while now?

I agree that Cena is THE face of the company, there isn't anybody even close to him as much as we'd like there to be. If there's one person WWE would not want to lose it's Cena.

The strange thing for me is that the WWE seems perfectly happy to let Cena be the only one at that level, it's almost as if they have forgotten how to really push people. Most of the time it's perfectly natural in the beginning and then the machine gets behind it, Austin, Rock and even Cena were all popular THEN the WWE got behind them.

Yet, when Punk got stupidly popular last summer, for the first time in a long time WWE became relevant again and WWE botched it, they half-heartedly pushed him. Almost begrudgingly pushed him, because the fans wanted it not them. It makes no sense why they wouldn't push Punk to the moon, especially when he was selling more merchandise, getting better reactions and more non-wrestling media coverage than their main man Cena.

It seems WWE aren't going to push anybody until Cena leaves, which is very worrying.

Crimey wrote:
It seems WWE aren't going to push anybody until Cena leaves, which is very worrying.

This bothers me too.

And I always wonder just how much of a part Cena plays in this.

Backstage he's known to be very protective of his spot, and alot of his booking is very much similar to the same political power that Hogan had.

CeNation: The new Hulkamania? Wouldn't be surprising. If he has Vince's ear then he'll be convincing him that Cena v Big Show IS what the people want. Not to see a proper wrestling match.

Cena's speech after Extreme Rules seemed to indicate he was going away, and yet, 2 months later, he's headlining yet another PPV. Against an opponent nobody cares for, nobody wants to see.

By no means has Punk stepped from beyond Cena's shadow, but he has opened a door. Bryan is starting to step through it and I'm begging for Sheamus to be allowed to show a true personality because he looks the part to me.

There will be a time when Cena is ready to be eclipsed, its just the right combination of wrestler and character is needed to break out.

As long as Cena is around I can't see anybody being given the opportunity to be THE top guy in WWE. Over the last couple of years only Randy Orton and CM Punk have had the kind of popularity and momentum that should have propelled them to being the number 1 guy in the company, but both of them ended up being overshadowed by a certain John Felix Anthony Cena.


Barring the Royal Rumble, Cena has closed out every pay per view this year, and it looks as if he'll do the same at No Way Out. Fair enough, the Rock & Brock Lesnar matches pretty much demanded to be headliners, but did Cena / Kane, Cena / Laurinaitis & now Cena / Big Show (probably) really need to be the main event?


Hell, I thought CM Punk was the one feuding with John Laurinaitis? The fact that every feud Cena is involved in gets top billing tells you all you need to know.


And he ain't going anywhere any time soon.

You've got a point about Punk, and Tensai as well? He was sposed to be Ace's henchman, then supposedly feud with Cena. Next he'll be writing poems and repackaged as a Japanese Heidenreich.

Eventually the kids who stick with the WWE will tire of Cena, and the new kids will not buy into the old routine. It happened to Backlund, Hulk and Hart the last three top WWE guys who were pushed so whole heartedly as "Heroes". When Cena's time comes to an end, someone or maybe two or three guys will really catch fire. Its how things work, mainly because its how Vince likes it, but Cena won't be on top forever. He's already been there 6 or 7 years depending on how you look at it. His run will come to an end, its "when" rather than "if".

The way fans have taken to Punk showed the WWE that there is a large enough group of fans who want something different. Punk wasn't the guy to replace Cena, and was never going to be, thats what a lot of the IWC didn't realise.

One thing that surprised me is that Cena is now 35 (the fact he dresses like a 5 year old probably), he's probably not that many years where he will be able to stay at the top as he won't physically be able to do as much of the strongman stuff and he just won't relate as much to the younger fans, they will move on eventually to a younger model.
3-4 years tops I reckon for Cena being THE top dop.

It seems wwe are very stubbon in moving away from Cena as top guy, because they never fully got behind punk. But on the other hand I did read somewhere that Vince is on the lookout for the next face of wwe and he wants something special about him because this will be the last one Vince chooses.

bretmeharty wrote:It seems wwe are very stubbon in moving away from Cena as top guy, because they never fully got behind punk. But on the other hand I did read somewhere that Vince is on the lookout for the next face of wwe and he wants something special about him because this will be the last one Vince chooses.

That confirms it will never be Punk. He's a Paul Heyman guy.

Won't be Shamoose, he's a HHH guy.

Ryback? Didn't Vince say he saw him as the next big babyface? Even though he looks like a boulder?

Cena 35? Jeez, i didn't know that. But when you think about it, he's been in or around the top now for 8 years!

If they had any sense it would be one of Miz, Rhodes, Ziggler.

Rhodes or Ziggler.

It needs to be someone new, who hasn't headlined a WM or won the big one.

From what I have heard across forums and dirtsheets is that Rhodes is being primed as the next big one, he's certainly bulked up of late and he's spent a lot of time basically following Cena in his day to day business and seeing exactly what is required to be the poster boy.

King Beer wrote:Rhodes or Ziggler.

It needs to be someone new, who hasn't headlined a WM or won the big one.

I agree, but I would go for Ziggler, due to his look and move set, which I think the crowd loves. He would be an excellent face in my opinion, but not quite yet, first he needs to drop Vickie (Not with a dropkick) and continue as a heel for a while, before turning to babyface and have a run with the belt.

Hero wrote:From what I have heard across forums and dirtsheets is that Rhodes is being primed as the next big one, he's certainly bulked up of late and he's spent a lot of time basically following Cena in his day to day business and seeing exactly what is required to be the poster boy.

I read an interview with Rhodes recently that said he learning alot from Cena, I should of put 2 and 2 together

No Way Out will be his 4th PPV main event in a row with no title invovled.

Are we all presuming that John Cena v Big Show will be the main event or do we know for sure?

It's John Cena? And all the dritsheets have the main event down as Cena v Show.