For decades, WWE has always chosen one man to be the star of their company.
Whether it was Hulk Hogan, to John Cena, or Roman Reigns, the company has always had the mindset that one superstar should be the face of their product; however, with today’s landscape of the business being so rich with diverse athletes from different backgrounds, former 16-time World Champion John Cena thinks the company’s model is outdated, a view he expressed during a Q&A session at BookCon (transcript courtesy of fightful):
“I think the dynamic of the program is changing. For the longest time, I think, if you consider WWE a band, there’s been one front person of the band. I think that dynamic is changing and it’s because the audience is too diverse. I think older males are watching it, younger kids are watching it, females are watching it. The audience is so diverse so with a diverse audience, it’s tough to universally please someone."
"In the 80s you had a family-oriented program and Hulk Hogan was the front man. In the 90s, you had 18-35 year old males, in comes Steve Austin and Dwayne Johnson because they hit right down that wheelhouse, and then there was me, but even myself as you know, went through a polarizing stage where half the audience likes you and half the audience doesn’t so I don’t think there’s a universal figure that will lead the company forward. I think as the company grows and especially expands globally, you’re gonna have a super-friends of the WWE which is like, people who are essentially fighting for equal share of popularity. I think the band essentially will have ten lead singers of every different race, creed, color, sex, ethnicity. So, I believe that I was kind of the last of that, and I think the landscape has changed so much that’s more of group effort rather than a individual effort.”