10 Reasons John Cena Is This Generation's Mitsuharu Misawa
8. He Became A Main-Eventer Due To Bigger Stars Leaving
One of the most longstanding rumors surrounding Cena’s career is that he wasn’t originally meant to become the iconic figure that he has become today. Despite Cena’s positive characteristics, he wasn’t the natural wrestler or unique athlete that Brock Lesnar was.
Thus, it’s believed that if Lesnar had never left WWE in 2004, he would be in the position that Cena’s in now, and that Cena’s only in his position because of Lesnar’s departure.
This is actually an identical situation to Misawa’s in the late 1980s. At the time, the top wrestler in AJPW was Genichiro Tenryu, while Misawa was, like Cena, working at the mid-card level as a gimmick wrestler. It wasn’t until Tenryu’s departure from AJPW that the bookers decided to pull the trigger on Misawa, ditch the gimmick, and present him as a real wrestler.
The results of both of these backstage situations have been staggering: Cena became a multi-time World Champion, and became the company’s most important regular wrestler. Misawa, meanwhile, went on to become AJPW’s biggest draw, and put on more clinics in professional wrestling than any other wrestler before or since.
If Tenryu hadn’t left AJPW and Lesnar hadn’t left WWE, it’s highly likely that both Misawa and Cena wouldn’t have gotten their crucial pushes when they did, and may not have become the legends they’re known as today.