December 13th marked the end of an era for the WWE. It marked the end of the in-ring career of one of their biggest superstars ever, John Cena. With Cena’s loss to Gunther at “Saturday Night’s Main Event,” Cena’s in-ring career is over. This was indeed the final time fans got to see all of the colorful shorts and his statement jorts take part in a match.
It was indeed an iconic moment for an abundance of reasons. Love him or hate him, Cena is perhaps the most important wrestling superstar in history, regardless of any promotion. Cena has long crossed over into the mainstream media. In fact, Cena may be the last superstar to truly crossover to come from professional wrestling, making him the “last real superstar.”
Is John Cena Professional Wrestling’s Last Real Superstar?
Twenty-six years. The “Never-Seen 17” world championships won, and an immediate Hall-of-Fame inductee. Add in his record-breaking Make-A-Wish appearances, and John Cena is a foundational piece of professional wrestling history. When historians and people talk about sports entertainment and professional wrestling in the future, Cena is a name they’ll have to mention, just like they will the likes of Hulk Hogan, Vince McMahon, and Andre The Giant.
Cena will easily be mentioned among the most important names in the business, but he’ll have an interesting distinction when fans and experts alike look back at his career. He will also be known as the last true superstar to come from the world of professional wrestling and sports entertainment as we know it today.
WWE throws the word “superstar” around quite a lot to describe performers on their roster. It’s a word though that means so much more. There are a few performers who’ve stepped out of wrestling and truly crossed over into the mainstream. Hulk Hogan, for better or worse, is the first name to come to mind when thinking of this list. Then there’s the likes of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and even Dave Bautista in recent years. This list of performers are actual superstars is quite short, and Cena stands to be the last to add his name to that short list.
Now this isn’t to say there aren’t talented performers around today. For example, individuals like Bianca Belair and MJF jump off the page and have already had some crossover opportunities. But not only is the business of wrestling much different then it was a generation ago, but celebrity within our society has changed in so many different ways.
The first part of this conversation swings in the direction of WWE’s parent company, TKO Group Holdings. Under Endeavor, TKO is taking steps to reshape the WWE in a similar way it did to reshape UFC after its purchase of the largest MMA promotion back in 2016. One thing the company was successful in doing was making sure that the brand was always bigger than the individual fighters. Gone are the days of performers like Conor McGregor or Ronda Rousey growing into household names. Instead, Dana White is, and has been, the most popular name in the UFC. Nobody should be shocked to see Triple H being positioned in the same way, as his face and voice continue to show up at the forefront of all things in the company.
In layman’s terms, what this does is limit the ability of performers growing “too big for the brand.” McGregor and Rousey were the last fighters to do just that. This led to opportunities outside the UFC in more areas than one. Did they use the UFC to get in those positions? Yes. However, afterwards it became harder and more expensive for the UFC to be able to convince them to come back.
In the world of professional wrestling, Mercedes Mone was able to do the same thing with WWE. Now she’s become one of the biggest women’s stars in the business. Roman Reigns may be the last name on the WWE roster who has the opportunity to step out of the ring and into the limelight coming from the big screen. Part of this is due to his family connection to The Rock. He even came out as Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i at The Game Awards. He’s already taking steps to separate himself from the name that made him famous.
Overall, the word “celebrity” means something much different today. Gone are the days where musicians and actors were immediately seen as the biggest celebrities. Now, we have people like IShowSpeed or Mr. Beast who have massive star power, all due to the following they’ve amassed via streaming on their online channels. Logan Paul, and his brother Jake, have been able to leverage their online fandoms into massive opportunities within the sports realm. Just being on television week-after-week doesn’t translate into stardom like it once did.
John Cena is a superstar in every sense of the word. He’s going to go on to bigger and better opportunities. As his acting abilities continue to get better, fewer and fewer people will think of him as a professional wrestler. He’ll be the last individual who makes the move from the ring and transitions to a mainstream star. The business is different and John Cena is truly a one-of-one.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
– Scott Mitchell
You can follow me on X (Twitter) and Instagram @Scott44Mitchell
