On his “Kliq This” webcast, WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash offered insights about why it was once deemed impractical for WWE to have John Cena turn villainous. Nash disclosed an episode on stage back in 2013 involving Cena and how people reacted differently to him being a hero.
Describing his live experience of witnessing Cena perform, Nash mentioned, “They would be engaging in the combined audience response of both ‘Let’s root for Cena! Cena is not good!’, and it had reached its zenith. I had just thought, ‘I’ve never in my lifetime encountered anything comparable.'”
Nash mentioned that the immense admiration for Cena, as shown through his merchandise sales and participation in Make-A-Wish activities, it was unrealistic for WWE to represent him as an adversary. He furthered his point stating, “John generated a significant amount of merchandise sales and made so many contributions to Make-A-Wish that it made it unattainable to represent him as an antagonist.”
Fans of Cena will be excited to see him challenge Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship at the 41st WrestleMania event, scheduled to take place on April 19-20 at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada.
On his appearance on the “Unlikely” webcast, Kevin Owens elaborated on how WWE uses social media as a promotional tool for its narratives.
Owens made reference to the recent attack on Cody Rhodes near his bus post the WWE Bad Blood 2024 event. Here are few highlights from the webcast:
Concerning WWE’s increased use of social media for narrative-building, Owens noted, “It’s definitely been a shift in mindset from people at the top. Our fans can remember things a lot better than others in charge previously thought…”
Discussing about the previous WWE mindset, he remarked, “Those are the days, when the bosses thought people’s memory was frail and that’s insulting. But Triple H knows the fans remember and applies that knowledge which improves the quality of the content, in my perspective.”