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Cena, Batista, Orton, and Lesnar all had some 'warts'
Cena, Batista, Orton, and Lesnar all had some 'warts'
Cena and Batista weren't the greatest in the ring, Orton was a prima-donna with a shitty attitude, while Lesnar's mic skills were quite sub-par. Although Lesnar was a tremendous wrestler obviously, his ring psychology and the "sports entertainment" side of things, etc. needed some significant work (perhaps like Cesaro does today).
However - despite the shortcomings of the aforementioned four wrestlers, all four guys were pushed extremely hard once the WWE deemed them ready. Why?!!? Because - The Attitude Era for the WWE had ended, and the company desperately needed new stars to replace Austin and Rocky.
Hence - despite Cena, Batista, Orton, and Lesnar being kind of 'green' and having various 'warts' as performers, the WWE bit the proverbial boner and pushed them hard......and all 4 men achieved great success.
-Orton and Batista became solid main-eventers
-Cena became the Franchise of the WWE (10 years and counting)
-Lesnar became a huge star in both the wrestling world and MMA world.
Was it all rosy? Of course not. Lesnar had the world handed to him, and then decided to leave. Orton became a huge pain in the ass backstage and his pushes were cancelled often times. Batista's ego also spiralled out of control for awhile (before Booker T knocked the shit out him backstage). Anyone with pubic hair disliked Cena's character post Spring 2005.
However - I would argue that the positives of pushing Cena, Orton, Batista, and Lesnar CLEARLY outweighed the negatives.
Fast forward to today, and I think the WWE is in a similar spot to where they were in 2002/2003. The John Cena era is in its twilight, and the company needs new stars to take the "reigns" (Roman Reigns!) so to speak.
Are Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins, and Cesaro perfect? No. All 4 wrestlers have their warts.......just as Cena, Batista, Orton, and Lesnar had their warts and shortcomings. However - I think it might be a wise strategy for the WWE to simply strap rockets to their chests and push the hell out of them.
Even though Rollins is heel - book him strong. Have him dominate his opponents with amazing speed, skill, etc. If the fans start cheering, good on them. Make Rollins look as amazing as possible. Ditto for Reigns. Have Reigns dominate everyone in site. If the fans don't like it, tough noogies. Hell - you can flip Rollins/Reigns if it gets real bad.
Wyatt and Cesaro - push them strong as well. Cesaro has paid his dues. Fans are ready to ejaculate their penises over Cesaro. Wyatt also needs to be booked strong again before fans start losing interest in his creepy promos (that almost never come to fruition).
Push
-Reigns
-Rollins
-Wyatt
-Cesaro
Strong as fuck, and make them this generation's version of Cena, Orton, Lesnar, Batista.
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