10 Shocking Times WWE Pulled The Plug On Mega Pushes
1. John Cena
John Cena didn't salvage a push during the now-famous Halloween 2002 edition of SmackDown - he saved his WWE career.
Retrospective looks back at his Vanilla Ice turn with Stephanie McMahon tell the story as the moment 'The Champ' finally came out of his shell on the blue brand, but deeper dives between the two have noted that his witty retorts were couched hail marys.
Cena's debut earlier that year saw him go measure-for-measure against wrestling machine Kurt Angle and get an on-screen acknowledgement from locker room leader The Undertaker, but he'd dropped off the map completely by October.
The spectacular start had sagged, with fans failing to gravitate to his spunky babyface aesthetic despite tights-and-boots combos that married up with whichever city the company visited and the million dollar smile that would later net him those exact riches. Far from being the full and complete package Vince McMahon had been searching for, Cena was suddenly half out the door.
A heel turn on part-time tag partner Billy Kidman would have gone completely without mention had it not been for the over-blown rap bit reminding crowds he existed, let alone was now a villain.