John Cena’s WWE Rise Linked To Departure Of 2 Legends
John Cena started as a nobody in the industry, but decades later, he stands at the top of the mountain with fans not wanting to let him go.
The Champ will retire from in-ring performance after his final match on December 13th. The final opponent is yet to be decided.
Currently, The Champ is booked to face AJ Styles at Crown Jewel 2025, which comes as a surprise since Cena had previously claimed that a match against The Phenomenal One was not a part of the Farewell Tour.
John Cena’s rise is credited to The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin’s departure
The Brahma Bull and The Texas Rattlesnake were the faces of The Attitude Era. However, following the peak of WWE’s most successful era, The Rock reduced his appearances to pursue a Hollywood career while Stone Cold Steve Austin went through multiple surgeries.
With Rock and Stone Cold slowing down their pace, Vince McMahon needed a new hero. This is when The Big Man decided to create a new sensation with John Cena.
Sgt. Slaughter revealed the situation during his conversation with Bill Apter.
John Cena was all by himself at that point because we had lost Stone Cold, Rock was off doing movies, and we really didn’t have a star, and I guess that’s where Vince saw the future. He said, ‘These guys are all leaving. I need to create a new hero.’ So, it took a while. The only way you become the best hero is to be the best villain. That’s how you do it.
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The fans had not immediately accepted John Cena, but he answered Kurt Angle’s open challenge on WWE SmackDown in 2002, which left everyone impressed. The Champ kicked off the ‘Ruthless Aggression’ era.