6. The Next Face Of The Company
Jericho says that in the modern era, the Mount Rushmore of WWE is Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, The Rock and John Cena, and asks who he thinks could be the next face of the company, or if it even matters anymore:
"I don't. With the dynamic now, I know that whoever even tries to inch into that spot will run into such a polarizing dynamic because the audience screams for 'new', but when you present 'new' to them, packaged company style it's immediately no good. And I use Roman as an example. I think he is excellent. I truly think his work is smooth, he has a great look, he's found himself more as a person. I like the fact that he's kinda set up in these polarizing situations where he has to deal with kinda getting it stuck to him every night. But...he's a star. This kid is an absolute star. You know, here they say they want 'new'...give them new and they say that's not good enough. From here on out it's going to be weird."
While Cena is spot on in many of his comments, what he neglected to mention was that when they were given someone new in Daniel Bryan and CM Punk, they didn't reject them. They only rejected Roman because they were given him in place of the stars they actually wanted - men like Bryan, Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler - and that's what led to the rejection. Jericho says that the company has built the brand so much that WWE is now the drawing card rather than the individual wrestlers, which has been Vince's main goal all along. Cena agrees, but says that every band still needs a frontman and the next frontman will be the guy willing to take chances. You can tell Jericho doubts the ability of guys to take chances in the current environment as he questions it for a second time here, with Cena saying you just have to believe in yourself. He portrays himself as a champion and motivator of the young guys but admits there's a disconnect there because they weren't around when he was the newcomer that nobody believed in and had to put his *ss on the line to get an opportunity.