The Cena almost being let go story

[ChitownKnight]

How much of this is exaggerated and how many people told the story in the first place? I know Cena was jobbing to D von clean around October, but even guys like Luther reigns, Jindrak, and Orlando Jordan atleast lasted a year or two before being let go.

[Deleted]

Yeah they were very obviously grooming this guy for big things even before the rapper gimmick.

The debut match, Taker giving him his respect etc.

I don’t believe he was ever at a danger of being let go, personally.

[ellisdee]

Mar 17, 2019 14:06:59 GMT -5 @negan said:

Yeah they were very obviously grooming this guy for big things even before the rapper gimmick.

The debut match, Taker giving him his respect etc.

I don’t believe he was ever at a danger of being let go, personally.

All of this.
They had Taker show him a sign of respect on his first ever TV appearance and have him go up against Angle. They were behind him from the start.

[The Thread Barbi]

Mar 17, 2019 14:12:29 GMT -5 ellisdee said:

Mar 17, 2019 14:06:59 GMT -5 @negan said:

Yeah they were very obviously grooming this guy for big things even before the rapper gimmick.

The debut match, Taker giving him his respect etc.

I don’t believe he was ever at a danger of being let go, personally.

All of this.
They had Taker show him a sign of respect on his first ever TV appearance and have him go up against Angle. They were behind him from the start.

Well to be fair, Undertaker was putting over Maven and Orlando Jordan as well around the same time and look what happened to them.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

You gotta keep in mind what they did with him after the Angle stuff and before he became a rapper.

...A whole lot of nothing. Think of how many guys get their push killed because the company lost interest and are never given a real chance before getting cut.

It’s really not hard to believe that WWE quickly got bored of the Cena project and were gonna cut him. It’s happened to countless other guys. Sometimes, it really is the little shit that saves your whole ass

[nickcave]

Mar 17, 2019 14:30:38 GMT -5 Magic knows Black Lives Matter said:

You gotta keep in mind what they did with him after the Angle stuff and before he became a rapper.

...A whole lot of nothing. Think of how many guys get their push killed because the company lost interest and are never given a real chance before getting cut.

It’s really not hard to believe that WWE quickly got bored of the Cena project and were gonna cut him. It’s happened to countless other guys. Sometimes, it really is the little shit that saves your whole ass

Yeah by all accounts from people who worked backstage at the time Vince saw absolutely nothing in Cena initially and the rapper gimmick most likely saved his career.

[TGM]

He defeated Jericho on PPV then didn't appear again on PPV until Armageddon(?) rapping with Buchanan.

I doubt he was ever in any real danger of being let go.

[Spider2024]

Mar 17, 2019 14:32:25 GMT -5 TGM said:

He defeated Jericho on PPV then didn't appear again on PPV until Armageddon(?) rapping with Buchanan.

I doubt he was ever in any real danger of being let go.

Speaking of Jericho, his 1st year with WWF kinda mirrors Cena's 1st year with WWE. They both kind of sputtered at the start, and for too long. I guess one of the differences would be that almost everyone knew Jericho had the goods within him to be big time. Oddly, Vince himself was the only higher-upper to be needed to be convinced of all that, until eventually he was.

[2coldMack is even more baffled]

Mar 17, 2019 14:30:38 GMT -5 Magic knows Black Lives Matter said:

You gotta keep in mind what they did with him after the Angle stuff and before he became a rapper.

...A whole lot of nothing. Think of how many guys get their push killed because the company lost interest and are never given a real chance before getting cut.

It’s really not hard to believe that WWE quickly got bored of the Cena project and were gonna cut him. It’s happened to countless other guys. Sometimes, it really is the little shit that saves your whole ass

Yeah, people forget that Smackdown in particular was a real meat-grinder for talent in that era. Lots of guys came in with big potential that just fell off a cliff into future endeavors.

[ellisdee]

Mar 17, 2019 14:30:13 GMT -5 The Thread Barbi said:

Mar 17, 2019 14:12:29 GMT -5 ellisdee said:

All of this.
They had Taker show him a sign of respect on his first ever TV appearance and have him go up against Angle. They were behind him from the start.

Well to be fair, Undertaker was putting over Maven and Orlando Jordan as well around the same time and look what happened to them.

I fully expect Maven to be in next years HOF.

[nickcave]

Mar 17, 2019 14:32:25 GMT -5 TGM said:

He defeated Jericho on PPV then didn't appear again on PPV until Armageddon(?) rapping with Buchanan.

I doubt he was ever in any real danger of being let go.

The only reason he beat Jericho I believe is that Jericho went to bat to put him over because he believed in Cena. Vince wanted Jericho to squash him.

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

I seriously doubt he was in any danger of being let go. Other then a brief rough patch in the fall before his heel turn and gimmick change, there was nothing that would indicate he was in any danger of being fired. Just a few months before he was beating Jericho on PPV and taking Angle to the limit. Highly unlikely they would book against top guys like that just to wash their hands with him after a few months.

I think a lot of times people who made it and became big stars will exaggerate in interviews about how they were close to getting let go and how the office had given up on them and blah blah blah because they had like two bad months or something. It's just something they say to make themselves look better in that it comes off like they had a long climb to the top and had to pay a lot of dues to get there when in reality they really didn't. He wasn't in danger of being fired but it's similar to how rough Triple H had it after the Curtain Call when in reality he just did jobs to top guys for like two months and then won the IC title. Even recently Alexa Bliss was saying the same thing in one her interviews about being close to being fired when she was in NXT. Good looking girl, charismatic, very similar to their be all and end all Trish Stratus. Yeah I'm sure you were big time on the chopping block. In the case of people like Cena and Bliss it's not even like there are things out there about them having a bad attitude or having a tendency to rock the boat, so it just makes it more ridiculous and just makes you just roll your eyes more when you hear it.

[nickcave]

It seems to me that Cena had a lot of people who supported him in high positions in the company that saw his potential to the point where even veterans like Jericho wanted to work to put him over, however he had yet to convince Vince he was worth anything so I can see him sputtering out if he wasn't given a chance to change his character to the rapper that he got over with. White meat babyface Cena would probably have gone the way of Jindrak, Reigns and Orlando Jordan of languishing in the midcard until he is cut in a couple years rather than he was going to be fired immediately.

[A damn road sign]

This guy was losing to generic pre-FBI Chuck Palumbo and Albert on Velocity at one point, let’s not act like he was handed the keys to the kingdom from day one. He had an impressive debut and got to brush shoulders with the ‘SmackDown Six’ in the weeks that followed, but then he was stuck in a nothing makeshift tag team with Billy Kidman shortly after and going nowhere. He was clearly their third choice of that OVW class after Randy Orton and Batista, even Shelton Benjamin to an extent. By the time Stephanie heard him rapping on a bus to pop the boys on an overseas tour he was floundering hard, I’ve got no problem believing he may’ve been one of the guys who they were looking at thinking he was another overhyped Jim Cornette guy who ‘creative had nothing for.’

[Deleted]

Mar 17, 2019 14:30:13 GMT -5 The Thread Barbi said:

Mar 17, 2019 14:12:29 GMT -5 ellisdee said:

All of this.
They had Taker show him a sign of respect on his first ever TV appearance and have him go up against Angle. They were behind him from the start.

Well to be fair, Undertaker was putting over Maven and Orlando Jordan as well around the same time and look what happened to them.

[ChitownKnight]

Mar 17, 2019 15:40:40 GMT -5 A damn road sign said:

This guy was losing to generic pre-FBI Chuck Palumbo and Albert on Velocity at one point, let’s not act like he was handed the keys to the kingdom from day one. He had an impressive debut and got to brush shoulders with the ‘SmackDown Six’ in the weeks that followed, but then he was stuck in a nothing makeshift tag team with Billy Kidman shortly after and going nowhere. He was clearly their third choice of that OVW class after Randy Orton and Batista, even Shelton Benjamin to an extent. By the time Stephanie heard him rapping on a bus to pop the boys on an overseas tour he was floundering hard, I’ve got no problem believing he may’ve been one of the guys who they were looking at thinking he was another overhyped Jim Cornette guy who ‘creative had nothing for.’

I’m not saying he was always the golden child, but to say he was almost about to be let go is ridiculous. Worst case scenario he stays for a year or 2 and becomes a jobber or one of Kurt angles henchman before getting released

[Deleted]

Cena, Batista and Ron Waterman (who went into MMA I believe) were the three from that OVW class that many were raving about. I suspect had he not come up with the rapper gimmick he'd have lasted several years but peaked at IC level.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Vince apparently wasn’t a fan when he first met him and told Prichard to take the walking billboard to Steroids out of his building.

Interesting enough, Cena was supposed to slap Vince the week after the ruthless aggression promo but Triple H argued against it.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Then without the interaction with Vince, they just forgot about Cena.

[Juice]

I believe he faced being cut. Lots of people from that era were given pushes out of the gate to be released. Jindrak, Maven, Reigns, Matt Morgan etc. Batista was Deacon Batista.

Have to remember the chosen one was Brock at this time.