“The Next Ric Flair” – Jim Cornette On WWE Icon
Wrestling manager extraordinaire Jim Cornette has explained why a celebrated WWE icon could have been wrestling’s next Ric Flair.
June was a special month in WWE as the company celebrated the 20th anniversary of the man Vince McMahon called the greatest WWE Superstar of all time, John Cena.
Cena was part of the famed OVW Class of 2002 alongside the likes of Brock Lesnar, Shelton Benjamin, Randy Orton, and Batista. And it is there where Jim Cornette got to work with the young Cena before he burst onto the WWE stage.
Speaking on the Jim Cornette Experience, Cornette explained why – despite famously being an all-round good guy for most of his WWE run – John Cena could have lived up to being the next dirtiest player in the game:
“[John Cena] was a heel as The Prototype. He came into Ohio Valley Wrestling as a heel. He was a heel when he first got in the business. He’d had a handful of matches in California, I guess for he came out here, but because he was a heel because he had the great body and he was well spoken and cocky. And I thought honestly, this guy could be the next Ric Flair.”
“He’s got the physique, the voice, and the promo ability. He’s a quick learner, he’s, I mean, the only way he wouldn’t have been like Flair is in the personal bad habit category, because John was also I mean, I’m not saying he’s never drunk a beer, but you didn’t have to worry John was going to have any bad out of the ring habits that were either going to affect his work or cause newspaper headlines.”
“[…] 20 years later, he’s still wearing the shorts. But in an alternate universe, John Cena would have been a cocky robe-wearing long type wearing, bumping, incredible promo heel, that you pushed to the top and fed him baby faces because he would be there like a Ray Stevens in California, in my opinion. That’s how good he was at that stage of the game.”