Dave Meltzer said Paul Heyman would've killed John Cena if he had his way

[braveh]

IF this is true the genius booker looks like a clown in this situation.

On sunday Dave Meltzer said Heyman wanted to bring Cena out of development and on tv way before Cena was ready. According to Meltzer, Cena, at this point in time, was so bad that his career would have been over if he was allowed to wrestle on tv.

So obviously someone inside the WWE. Perhaps Shane, or Hunter, or JR, or Vince had the brains to say "he is not ready yet Paul".

 

[MrMojoRisin]

If true... so what?

He was also only in OVW for what... a year or so? What's the time frame here? Did Heyman try bringing him up after a couple months? After half a year? When exactly? And did Cena become astronomically better within mere months that he would have been laughed out of the building when Heyman thought he was ready... but was the next big thing when Vince decided he was ready?

Besides... every 'genius booker' makes mistakes. Last time I checked, no one's perfect.

 

[Барбоса]

How does it make Heyman look bad? Because he recognised the talent and potential of John Cena from an early stage and wanted to capitalise on it?

Yeah, that really makes him look like a clown. And Cena was hardly the finished article when he first appeared on Smackdown. Apart from his debut against Kurt Angle, there was hardly anything of note up until he became the Doctor of Thuganomics. The likelihood is that it would have made little or no difference had Heyman called him up a handful of months earlier.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Sounds like Meltzer is just trying to build a story based on Heyman's reputation for pushing the business and talent too fast and too hard. I don't know or think John Cena would have self imploded if brought out too fast but there is certainly that possibility. He has always seemed like a pretty bright level-headed guy who could handle early failures. We will never know nor should we care.

 

[HBsam31]

I have to agree that this would have not made much of a difference anyway. I can't really believe that coming up a couple of months early would have killed his career. I suppose Heyman might have just been anxious to get the ball rolling with Cena and became overzealous, but killed him? I am not to sure about that.

 

[Foshinzo]

Name one booker that hasn't had at least one colossal screw up.

Even so, pushing John Cena too soon wouldn't have really killed his career. Look at Ryback; he's still getting pushed even after the Skip Sheffield thing. Even if Cena had floundered in his first attempt, he probably would have just gotten sent back down to OVW and then brought back up again, once he was ready.

I'm with everyone else in that this actually makes Heyman look better. If he was the first to say let's throw Cena in there, then that actually seems like a good thing. Sometimes a wrestler needs a few tries to get it right, so I don't think a rough start would have killed Cena's career. If failed pushes/gimmicks were all it took to kill a career, then guys like Bob Holly, Billy Gunn, Bradshaw, etc. probably wouldn't have lasted as long as they did.

 

[deslok]

I just recall the early comparisions to Sting when he arrived as just a new, nameless babyface on Smackdown. Kinda neat if you think about it.

 

[Pedigree1]

Name me one booker that is perfect and i swear i will sell you swamp land in Florida. If anything this makes Heyman an even more genius than he already is. What are we talking about here? A Few Months?

I really dont think this would have made much of a difference. Yah Cena would have had a rough patch or two but kill his career i dont think so.

 

[closet_fan]

From everything I saw of Cena when he was with OVW, he was ready. He had the look, he was good in the ring and, most of all, he was gifted on the mic. If he had been brought up to the main roster earlier, I wouldn't have "killed" him. Maybe it would have taken a bit longer to get over with the crowd, but it wouldn't have changed Cena's outlook.

Typical "Heyman is an idiot and everyone else is right" BS.

 

[bxbigshow]

Doesn't the story go that looked like Cena was heading to Midcard/Creative hell anyways if it wasn't for Stephanie seeing him, Junior Hebner and Matt Hardy freestyle rapping on an airplane?

When he debuted he had a good look, he had that months earlier when Heyman allegedly want him up. He was confident on the mic, same as a few months prior, and could go in the ring...I doubt 2-3 months made that much a difference.

But he only got "over" after that Halloween Smackdown when he was Vanilla Ice.

 

[Nada]

If Meltzer said it, then i believe it. He is one of the 2 only people who reports on wrestling that you can actually believe.

I still believe Cena would have made it out alive under Heyman and would actually become a better performer with a better gimmick.

Let us not forget that "Cena sucks" not because the guy playing the character sucks but because the people who have molded him and his character absolutely blow at their jobs. They could have written the Stone Cold character in a lame way, the Rock, Hogan etc.

John Cena is a legitimately charismatic, good looking guy with a great build. He isent a great wrestler but he can have good enough matches on PPVs when motivated. His character fucking sucks, and that cannot be fully blamed on him.

 

[justtxyank]

Wait a minute! Does this mean John Cena is a Paul Heyman guy?

I'm not sure why anyone would be surprised by Heyman liking Cena. Heyman likes guys he can use to make money.

In ECW Paul Heyman pushed 911, The Sandman, New Jack, etc. Guys with very little talent.

Cena has an obvious good look and has somewhere between basic and good skills in the ring depending on your view to go along with an exceptional work ethic. Every promoter in history would like Cena and would want to push him.

Now, I'd be surprised if Heyman was a fan of the booking decisions regarding Cena and his character over the years.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Cena would have been fine even if the story is true. Cena wasn't necessarily the best wrestler when he first won the title, his first 6-8 months as champion were hard to watch from a match standpoint as he didn't really carry himself well between the ropes at that time.

Nonetheless Cena would have still done very well on the mic, his charisma would still be there so it wouldn't have been that different if Cena came on TV in lets say 2001 or 2000. Looking at the talent pool at the time Cena would have wrestled opening and dark matches, very few people would have seen him and ultimately it wouldn't have mattered. Cena today would still be a good wrestler, have all the skills he acquired and would still be the face of the WWE.

 

[Limitless]

Cena Has never been a Great Wrestler, but he is Charismatic. Heyman knew that and probably saw potential... but Cena is still a Terrible wrestler.

6 months... 1 Year.... 5 Years ... Cena Still isn't going to out wrestle anyone, but he doesn't need to. Heyman is pretty smart at picking people, maybe it was too soon. Maybe not!

 

[Nate DaMac]

Cena Has never been a Great Wrestler, but he is Charismatic. Heyman knew that and probably saw potential... but Cena is still a Terrible wrestler.

6 months... 1 Year.... 5 Years ... Cena Still isn't going to out wrestle anyone, but he doesn't need to. Heyman is pretty smart at picking people, maybe it was too soon. Maybe not!

You need an education. Cena is not only a great wrestler, he's the best wrestler. Moron.

This whole thing is ******ed. I have half a mind to close this thread until someone provides a source. You know what? That's what I'm going to do. Someone send me a link to the article or report where this was said. If not, the thread will remain closed.