Originally Posted by Heyman
Kids still love Cena. I remember way back in 2007 when Cena was getting booed loudly, I contemplated the idea of a Cena heel turn. That year, I ended up moving abroad and lived in South Korea for one year, and I saw first hand as to how much kids loved him over there. Was unreal.
I'm not sure if I quite agree with this. Bryan has(d) been wrestling for many years, and shit can happen at anytime when you push yourself to that extreme. By that logic, Edge and Austin weren't truly main-event calibre since their careers were ultimately cut short by injury.
As far as Reigns goes, I definitely agree with you that he has "the look" (much like Cena), but unlike Cena, Reigns isn't particularly "insanely over" with one particular demographic.......like Cena is with kids for instance. With that in mind, I'm inclined to agree with TPWW poster Noid that the WWE needs to be careful in how they re-push Reigns if they choose to go this route.
Another topic of discussion as far as "the look" goes: I think at some point, the WWE has to make a conscious decision to change this outdated philosophy for two reasons:
1) The Age of Social Media: As you and Noid point out, in today's wrestling world, most fans are confident in their own belief of "what's really going on," due to Social Media, dirt sheets, etc. Therefore - if the fans feel like a guy like Roman Reigns, Dave Batista, or whoever is only getting pushed because of their "look" or if they're "Vince's boy," then it could result in massive backlash.
2) Wrestling morale backstage (i.e. "the brass ring" speech): One thing that guys like Vince and Jim Ross often point out, is that most wrestlers these days are just happy to be on TV, whereas in the Attitude era, most wrestlers were driven to be "the guy" and the alphamale superstar of the company.
My personal feeling is this: One major reason why we're seeing less guys trying to grab "the brass ring," is because wrestlers now know that there can only really be one, maybe two, alpha male superstar(s) of a given era, and that often times, a large determining factor has to do with "the look."
If the WWE can somehow get away from this philosophy, I think you'll see more guys getting hungry and going after "the brass ring" as wrestlers did during the attitude era.
Society today, as a whole, is far more liberal and accepting of people's differences than it was back in the day (i.e. gays getting legally married, less bullying in school, a black man being President, etc., etc.). I know those are weird analogies to bring up, but the point I'm trying to illustrate is that society is far more "liberal" and "accepting" than it once was.
In other words - if the WWE were to push a guy like Dean Ambrose or Bray Wyatt to the top (i.e. guys that don't necessarily have "the look,"), I think the fans would be far more accepting of this in this new age.
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