When did wwe decide Cena was going to be “the guy”

[ChitownKnight]

Now I’d say his official coronation as face of the company was mania 22 when he beat HHH, but I think wwe always knew he’d be the guy over Batista. He was more marketable and he was about 8 years younger. But the Batista/HHH story was hotter leading into mania 21. I think they had their sights set on him as far back as Mania 20, after Brock left

[Chiral]

While he was definitely in the running in WWE for a while for the #1 guy spot, it feels like they fully decided he was The Guy® almost arbitrarily on this night:


And I'd argue the status quo reset feeling of Cena instantly ascending to the most #1 The Guy® that ever The Guy®'d here contributed to his reception for the rest of the year and into 06 and 07.

[ChitownKnight]

Sept 25, 2023 0:29:27 GMT -5 Chiral said:

While he was definitely in the running in WWE for a while for the #1 guy spot, it feels like they fully decided he was The Guy® almost arbitrarily on this night:


And I'd argue the status quo reset feeling of Cena instantly ascending to the most #1 The Guy® that ever The Guy®'d here contributed to his reception for the rest of the year and into 06 and 07.

I remember watching this as a 13 year old kid and loving it and being genuinely surprised (even though they kind of hinted at it). I just rewatched jt, I think it’s the peak of his overness and it was probably his best segment imo with him coming out, the rap against Christian ect

[Renslayer]

I would say by survivor series 2004 it felt like they were setting him up to be the future of the company going forward

[Mid-Carder]

When Brock left they decided it was Orton, then Orton flopped as the top guy. I'd say around Survivor Series 2004.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Sept 25, 2023 1:27:51 GMT -5 Mid-Carder said:

When Brock left they decided it was Orton, then Orton flopped as the top guy. I'd say around Survivor Series 2004.

Batista then became their top guy they swapped Cena and Batista to get star power on smackdown.

It's why Batista won the rumble and went on last at Mania and JBL VS Cena was cut short

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Yeah, it seemed like they went with Cena as the 1a to Batista's 1b in 2005. Cena went to RAW to be the top star while Batista had to go feud with JBL for the summer after he had already lost to Cena multiple times.

[4real]

Cena being drafted to Raw felt like the moment for me.

[OGBoardPoster2005]

Sept 25, 2023 8:54:18 GMT -5 4real said:

Cena being drafted to Raw felt like the moment for me.

This.

It was a huge deal as he had never been on Raw and at that moment Batista went from feuding with the top Heel in the company in the form of Triple H on the longest running show in the company and one that was live to feuding with a B version of that guy on a taped show that people were tuning out and Networks were less enthusiastic about.

Smackdown was a struggling brand when Cena won the title but only because the booking of 2004 had tanked the show as a whole. JBL while in retrospect a great Heel was not a good draw for the company and his feuds with Eddie, Taker and Booker did very little to boost the show.

By switching them they threw Cena on a live show that more fans watched with better heel talent around him in the form of Jericho, Kurt Angle, Edge, and Triple H, all of whom Cena feuded with that first year while Batista was sent to Smackdown to face a washed up JBL that just lost to Cena, Eddie, a rehash with Orton and eventually injured.

Looking back Cena got the better deal and surpassed Batista easily. Prior to that Big Dave was a big deal and could be seen as the guy having dethroned a 3 year run by Triple H but Cena at that Judgment Day 05 Main Event set himself up as a major star and no one talks about that anymore.

[Jindrak Mark]

The move to Raw in 2005 cemented it but I think in hindsight it should have been obvious from mid-late 03. Even when losing all his big PPV matches to Brock/Taker/Angle he would get more over each time. He got the biggest pop in the 04 Rumble which was stacked with names and as midcard champ he was already by far the top merch seller in the company.

The other "the guy" contenders had various issues that meant they probably couldn't be the top face long-term. Brock even if he stuck around was always going to spend most of his career as a heel. His face turn in late 02 was supposed to make him the guy but was a bust and they gave up after barely half a year. It wasn't until 2021 and cowboy Brock that he become comfortable playing a face. Batista's feud with HHH was huge but was never going to work the same once that ended plus he was pretty injury prone and up there in age for a new main eventer. Orton as IC champ on Raw like Cena as US champ on Smackdown was obviously being built up for the top spot but even if things went well and he dethroned HHH at WM21 instead of Batista he would still have been surpassed because he didn't have Cena's level of charisma or ability to carry a show. He was a 1B guy. They figured out a few years later that he was better suited as like an ice cold killer but in 03-04 it's like they thought he was a new Rock and could carry long promos as this cool arrogant guy but I don't think he had the right personality for that to work as a face of the company type.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

Sept 25, 2023 0:29:27 GMT -5 Chiral said:

While he was definitely in the running in WWE for a while for the #1 guy spot, it feels like they fully decided he was The Guy® almost arbitrarily on this night:


And I'd argue the status quo reset feeling of Cena instantly ascending to the most #1 The Guy® that ever The Guy®'d here contributed to his reception for the rest of the year and into 06 and 07.

Interesting thing about this. While Cena was obviously a massive star already, the reasoning seemed to boil down to Batista actually being the bigger star at the time (sounds insane now but people shouldn't forget how white hot Batista was coming out of the HHH program) and as such, Smackdown needed him more as it was the weaker show on paper (plus, Cena had basically ran roughshod over the entire Smackdown heel roster by that point already). 

That said, by like 2006 when Batista is on the shelf? Yea, that's when they obviously put all their eggs into the Cena basket.

Mans tapped out HHH CLEAN and he didn't have to carry his bags for two years to have HHH justify it. That alone says a ton. 

[HIM]

Sept 25, 2023 0:29:27 GMT -5 Chiral said:

While he was definitely in the running in WWE for a while for the #1 guy spot, it feels like they fully decided he was The Guy® almost arbitrarily on this night:


And I'd argue the status quo reset feeling of Cena instantly ascending to the most #1 The Guy® that ever The Guy®'d here contributed to his reception for the rest of the year and into 06 and 07.

Yeah this. I wasn't up to date on all backstage news then but even I knew that things shifted when Cena went to Raw. Like you knew he was HIM.

[ChitownKnight]

Sept 25, 2023 15:38:37 GMT -5 Magic knows Black Lives Matter said:

Sept 25, 2023 0:29:27 GMT -5 Chiral said:

While he was definitely in the running in WWE for a while for the #1 guy spot, it feels like they fully decided he was The Guy® almost arbitrarily on this night:


And I'd argue the status quo reset feeling of Cena instantly ascending to the most #1 The Guy® that ever The Guy®'d here contributed to his reception for the rest of the year and into 06 and 07.

Interesting thing about this. While Cena was obviously a massive star already, the reasoning seemed to boil down to Batista actually being the bigger star at the time (sounds insane now but people shouldn't forget how white hot Batista was coming out of the HHH program) and as such, Smackdown needed him more as it was the weaker show on paper (plus, Cena had basically ran roughshod over the entire Smackdown heel roster by that point already). 

That said, by like 2006 when Batista is on the shelf? Yea, that's when they obviously put all their eggs into the Cena basket.

Mans tapped out HHH CLEAN and he didn't have to carry his bags for two years to have HHH justify it. That alone says a ton. 

I think that even though Cena was being prepped up as THE Guy, 2005 was Batista’s year. Even after he got drafted to Smackdown, Batista would headline the joint PPVs over Cena and he technically held the title
Longer than Cena did

[4real]

Sept 25, 2023 16:30:47 GMT -5 ChitownKnight said:

Sept 25, 2023 15:38:37 GMT -5 Magic knows Black Lives Matter said:

Interesting thing about this. While Cena was obviously a massive star already, the reasoning seemed to boil down to Batista actually being the bigger star at the time (sounds insane now but people shouldn't forget how white hot Batista was coming out of the HHH program) and as such, Smackdown needed him more as it was the weaker show on paper (plus, Cena had basically ran roughshod over the entire Smackdown heel roster by that point already). 

That said, by like 2006 when Batista is on the shelf? Yea, that's when they obviously put all their eggs into the Cena basket.

Mans tapped out HHH CLEAN and he didn't have to carry his bags for two years to have HHH justify it. That alone says a ton. 

I think that even though Cena was being prepped up as THE Guy, 2005 was Batista’s year. Even after he got drafted to Smackdown, Batista would headline the joint PPVs over Cena and he technically held the title
Longer than Cena did

Batista was definitely more over as a face in 05. Cena probably had the better matches but Batista seemed always over with crowds. That didn’t really seem to change until his comeback from injury in 06

[The Captain]

I think when he got his customized US Championship belt was when he was being prepped for "the guy" status. They wouldn't do that for anyone they don't see as a future megastar.