Kobe Bryant is a better basketball player than Lebron James
I’m not saying Bryant would beat him in a one on one game, though I would still favor him because of how he competes, but because of how he makes everyone around him better.
For years it was asked if hockey’s great one Wayne Gretzky was better than the dynamic Mario Lemieux, and the general feeling was yes, not because of on ice performance but again how he improved the play of his teammates. It was only when Lemieux figured out this factor he got the respect simply dominating on the scoreboard couldn’t give him.
This brings me to wrestling’s great one, The Rock. Any prolonged interaction with the rock generally gets a performer a better reaction. We saw it with The Hurricane, we saw it with Christian, and we saw it with Booker T. He makes everything better because he’s so good, and it creates a buzz around those he’s working with, unless they’re Billy Gunn (in Rock’s defense what could he do, his name was Billy and everyone knew he absolutely sucked).
This has happened with John Cena, just not in the way the WWE has expected.
After the horrific terrorist attacks in September of 2001 American Olympic gold medallist Kurt Angle was immediately seen by the wrestling fans as a patriotic national hero and the belt was put on him. When it came time to turn him heel all they did was have The Rock say to him backstage that he knew Angle was really an asshole. Next time Angle came out, boom, instant heel. That’s the power of The Rock.
And The Rock has done much more to Cena than simply call him an asshole.
So of course Cena is a heel, and that’s what has and should happen, so go with it. And I know your afraid of who will sell merchandise but the truth is you can’t tell. When many stars left to WCW in the 90’s you didn’t know then either, but that time saw Rock, Austin, DX, etc step up and sales weren’t a problem. Maybe Randy Orton can sell merch if he was pushed as the top babyface without Cena looking over his shadow. Or maybe it’s someone we haven’t even considered.
And when a wrestler goes heel then turns back he’s often more over than ever. If done correctly that’s what would happen with The Rock & Cena after next Wrestlemania.
For now Rock has already turned Cena, recognize it, use it, make money with it.
