John Cena On WWE Releases – “Unless Your Name Is Vince McMahon, Everyone Is Replaceable”

WWE legend John Cena has given his thoughts on the string of releases that the company carried out throughout 2021.

In April 2021, WWE began regularly releasing groups of Superstars from their contracts throughout the year. This was reportedly done as a way to make “budget cuts.” In total, over 80 names were let go in the last 12 months. These included the likes of Mickie James, Braun Strowman, John Morrison, and Ruby Soho.

The cuts have continued into 2022, with NXT suffering a number of backstage releases including veterans such as Samoa Joe, Road Dogg, and William Regal.

16-time WWE World Champion, and star of DC’s new Peacemaker series, John Cena, was asked about the releases while making an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show. Cena gave an in-depth response, comparing the current situation in WWE to his own early days.

“There’s a lot to unpack there, I will say this. When I started in the WWE, the WWE had just absorbed WCW and ECW, and also had two developmental territories. The rosters were…abundant is probably a good word. When I started in WWE, there were releases twice a year.

“It created stakes for developmental talent and it created stakes for talent to try and make a name for themselves. Because we just knew. We knew in a calendar year, shortly after WrestleMania and either before or after the holidays, there would be cuts. There always were. And that seemed to stop right around when we really began to redefine ourselves with our new school, Ruthless Aggression era style of characters of me, Brock [Lesnar], Randy [Orton], Dave [Bautista].

“When those guys began to anchor in and develop programs going into the next decade or more, and we started to expand our reach, we started to have more programming. The talent rosters started to get big.

Cena also speculated that WWE’s hiring policy in the years before the cuts was defensive as the company wanted to make the most of the new wrestling boom.

“I think a lot of it, WWE’s hiring strategy, I think a lot of it might’ve, and once again I’m not thinking for the WWE. This is just me posing a different perspective. I think a lot of it might have been a little slightly defensive hiring.

“Because there was, and still is, a giant boom right now in sports entertainment. People are absorbing this content, they’re engaging. People are making a name for themselves outside of the WWE, it’s no longer a one stop shop.

“So I think with this flux of passionate people who love sports entertainment, people do get a name for themselves outside of WWE. If the WWE feels that maybe they can be a fit in that world, they’re going to try to give that person a shot. They’re also really bullish on continuing to hire new talent.”

He also spoke about the WWE Performance Center and his feeling that it is currently at maximum capacity and, at the end of the day, WWE is a business. John Cena went on to discuss being at the show in 2002 that led to the firing of the iconic Stone Cold Steve Austin, saying that if they can get rid of him, then the only man who is truly safe is Vince McMahon himself.

“The NXT Performance Center is, I don’t want to say overwhelmed, but they’re at max capacity. So you have all of these performers, and a lot of them aren’t getting a chance to perform. And I think that’s the real frustrating thing, both to the WWE and the stance of the performers. And unfortunately at the end of the day, it is a business.”

“I remember when I started in WWE, I want to use the word fortunate. I was fortunate enough to be at the show in Atlanta where Stone Cold Steve Austin was fired. And that moment right there, it shot through me like a cannon. Because I got the impression ‘if they can fire Stone Cold Steve Austin, unless your name is Vince McMahon, everyone is replaceable.”

The former “Doctor of Thuganomics” finished by speaking about the situation faced by those released, saying it’s a sad thing when people have talent that they are no longer able to use.

“I know obviously this a touchy subject and it’s going to elicit perspective from everyone, and everyone is entitled to their perspective. I think the sad thing here is people who have this gift aren’t being allowed to use it and people are out of a job. And that is the absolute saddest thing, that people no longer can work for a company they called home for a period of time.”

“I feel for everybody who’s had to go in that direction. But all of us, myself included, our journey will eventually have an end. And when you’re in it sometimes, you don’t always have that perspective.”

“I personally, from my early days in the WWE, always had the perspective that it could be over tomorrow for any or all of us. Because if they can fire Steve Austin, there’s no way I’m even close to his ability. And that means they can fire me. But that’s just the culture I was brought up in. I was brought up in biannual cuts and it happened all the time.”

“I think that WWE went through such a long period of not releasing anybody, and now they’re kind of getting back into that rhythm again. And it’s a really abrupt shift to someone who’s not familiar with that. And my heart goes out to everybody who has to get that sad news because that’s a tough conversation to have.”

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the above transcription.