2. There Aren't Enough Big Babyfaces To Take His Place
You can probably blame both the WWEs creative team and bad luck on this one. While it is true that good guy John Cena the character has been a prominent character in WWE for many years, its not like the WWE havent tried to find someone to eventually replace him as the king of the mountain. The creative problem in this case is that theyre not putting enough emphasis on other stars. For some reason, the creative team simply cannot allow John Cena to lose clean, so the only time his opponents, whether faces or heels, ever beat him, its either via disqualification or in some other unfair manner. This strategy does nothing to help build new stars. However, the creative rut that many fans are witnessing right now is very likely the consequence of the terrible luck that WWE had during the 2014 year. First, CM Punk, arguably the number two or three babyface in the company, quit the WWE and has not been in a wrestling ring since. Given how fanatically fans still chant his name, he was clearly someone who rivalled, or arguably surpassed Cena in popularity, and so his departure crippled the Creative team in terms of pushing another top star. Daniel Bryan is another example. Between 2012 and the first half of 2014, Bryan was given plenty of screen time and was placed in main event-level storylines, and his popularity exploded. His noted absence from the 2014 Royal Rumble match and subsequent fan reaction to this sent a clear message to WWEs top brass: Bryan was over big time. At WrestleMania XXX, he wrestled in two matches and won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. The crowd reaction was unbelievable, and this marked the zenith of his storyline rivalry with the Authority. However, Bryan announced that he needed neck surgery, and has been out of action since around June of this year. Most of the momentum he had after WrestleMania has since dissipated, though the Yes chants still persist. Then theres Roman Reigns. Many people think that he might be the next top man in WWE, and as such he was given a push throughout this year. Unfortunately, an emergency hernia operation put him on the shelf for a number of months. All of these cases were unexpected roadblocks in WWEs plan to push new stars to Cenas level. Without anyone of them capable of taking Cenas spot as #1 babyface, there is no way that he would turn heel without there being someone to become the hero that he represented. Of course all of this brings us to the conclusion that
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
