How Good Was John Cena Actually?
Cultural Significance
The majority of citizens in the U.S. probably know who John Cena is, even if that amounts to 51%.
Cena never led WWE through a mainstream boom. If anything, the opposite was true; he presided over softening business over a span of many years, although it’s clear things would have been worse without his presence. Cena is one of the most meme’d public figures of the 21st century. We’re sure about that. The extent of his visibility online is a decent enough indication that more people watch and enjoy pro wrestling than they may care to admit.
Cena is also a genuine mainstream crossover star. After unsuccessfully launching an acting career backed by the awful WWE Studios, Cena eventually broke through as he scaled back his WWE schedule. His turn in the modest comedy hit ‘Blockers’, the box office for which quadrupled the budget, was well-received. He didn’t lead the film, but was a vital part of its ensemble cast. He was more integral to ‘Bumblebee’, which was a veritable smash, generating $468m from a $135m budget.
Both pictures were released in 2018. It felt for a time like Cena was set to repeat Dwayne Johnson’s incredible Hollywood feats. That didn’t quite happen - movie producers are not desperate to cast him as the leading man of a majorly-funded project - but the success of ‘Peacemaker’ is almost as successful as it gets in this fractured, post-watercooler entertainment landscape. Cena is the unequivocal, eponymous lead of the TV show. SlashFilm reported that the season one finale broke highest single day viewership records for HBO Max, echoing reporting from Deadline that every episode generated higher viewership than the last - with the finale out-drawing the premiere by 44%.
Season two is less successful and might be trending towards ‘flop’ status. Streaming numbers are difficult to track. Superhero fatigue, the long gap between seasons halting momentum: both may be a factor there. In happier news for John, his 2025 vehicle ‘Heads of State’, in which he co-starred alongside Idris Elba, was one of the most successful iterations of Amazon MGM Studios’ Prime Video streaming project. While a hit is harder to define than ever, that was a hit.
Cena is still competing for a spot with Dave Bautista all these years later. Bautista opts for more critically-acclaimed fare in his improbably successful reinvention as a thespian; Cena is happy to be a popcorn guy. The public agrees with him. Call it a score draw.
The most succinct way of putting it is that John Cena is a not inconsiderably significant public figure outside of wrestling - a tier below the Rock, but more known these days than Steve Austin.
8/10