What Will Happen to WWE Raw's Ratings Without John Cena?, WWE SummerSlam was arguably one of the best professional wrestling pay-per-views of the year.
CM Punk helped Brock Lesnar finally deliver the violent wrestling match that fans have been waiting for since his return. Daniel Bryan achieved his dream of becoming WWE Champion. And Randy Orton finally turned heel in cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase to defeat Bryan, with an assist from Triple H.
John Cena
But perhaps the biggest news in the aftermath of SummerSlam involved none of the aforementioned major WWE players. John Cena, the face of the WWE, will miss the next four to six months as he recovers from his impending surgery on a torn triceps. After dropping the WWE Championship to Bryan, Cena will do what he never does. Cena will actually take an extended leave from the WWE to deal with a serious injury.
Unfortunately, there are wrestling fans out there who are glad that John Cena will not be on WWE Raw or any other WWE program for the next several months. As the most polarizing wrestler in WWE history, Cena is the bane of many adult wrestling fans. There are also "former" wrestling fans out there who loudly proclaim on a number of different platforms that they no longer follow the WWE because of John Cena.
On the August 19 edition of Raw, John Cena opened the show with a promo announcing that he will be out for the next four to six months dealing with his injury. Cena then called out Daniel Bryan, handed him the microphone, and walked out the ring. In fact, what Cena really did was pass the torch to the WWE's most popular current wrestler. Now we'll finally see if Bryan and the other wrestlers are up to challenge of carrying the WWE in Cena's absence.
If you listen to the aforementioned John Cena haters, this must be the greatest moment in the WWE since the Attitude Era. The wrestler who caters to the kids, sells t-shirts and cereal, and grants wishes to dying children is off of Raw for the foreseeable future. If all these fans are correct, then we can expect everyone who switched over to MMA to tune back into Raw and the ratings will start climbing again.
Although I do not consider myself a John Cena fan, I respect him for reaching the height of the top wrestling promotion in the world and for what he does for the kids. And in my humble opinion, the net effect of Cena's WWE absence will not result in a sudden increase in Raw's ratings. There may be a small, temporary ratings increase over the next couple of weeks. But by December, WWE executives will be praying for the return of John Cena.
The reason that Raw's ratings will not increase in John Cena's absence are twofold. First, if there really are millions of wrestling fans who refuse to watch WWE Raw because of Cena, I seriously doubt those fans will enjoy the rest of the TV-PG product on the three hours of Raw. R-Truth is still rapping, Fandango is still dancing, and Hornswoggle still has a job. John Cena is just a scapegoat or fall guy for an entirely new and different WWE product.
The second reason why Raw's ratings will not increase is because of all the John Cena WWE fans who do look up to him. If those kids become bored with Raw without Cena and choose to stop watching, their parents may finally do what they've been dreaming of doing since their kids were born: change the channel. And this would be the perfect time to find something new to watch on Monday nights as the NFL regular season is just a few weeks away.
For 10 years, John Cena has been the face of the WWE. Well, the WWE is about to get a facelift. And now a portion of the WWE Universe is getting an early Christmas present. But, sometimes, you should be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it.
CM Punk helped Brock Lesnar finally deliver the violent wrestling match that fans have been waiting for since his return. Daniel Bryan achieved his dream of becoming WWE Champion. And Randy Orton finally turned heel in cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase to defeat Bryan, with an assist from Triple H.
John Cena
But perhaps the biggest news in the aftermath of SummerSlam involved none of the aforementioned major WWE players. John Cena, the face of the WWE, will miss the next four to six months as he recovers from his impending surgery on a torn triceps. After dropping the WWE Championship to Bryan, Cena will do what he never does. Cena will actually take an extended leave from the WWE to deal with a serious injury.
Unfortunately, there are wrestling fans out there who are glad that John Cena will not be on WWE Raw or any other WWE program for the next several months. As the most polarizing wrestler in WWE history, Cena is the bane of many adult wrestling fans. There are also "former" wrestling fans out there who loudly proclaim on a number of different platforms that they no longer follow the WWE because of John Cena.
On the August 19 edition of Raw, John Cena opened the show with a promo announcing that he will be out for the next four to six months dealing with his injury. Cena then called out Daniel Bryan, handed him the microphone, and walked out the ring. In fact, what Cena really did was pass the torch to the WWE's most popular current wrestler. Now we'll finally see if Bryan and the other wrestlers are up to challenge of carrying the WWE in Cena's absence.
If you listen to the aforementioned John Cena haters, this must be the greatest moment in the WWE since the Attitude Era. The wrestler who caters to the kids, sells t-shirts and cereal, and grants wishes to dying children is off of Raw for the foreseeable future. If all these fans are correct, then we can expect everyone who switched over to MMA to tune back into Raw and the ratings will start climbing again.
Although I do not consider myself a John Cena fan, I respect him for reaching the height of the top wrestling promotion in the world and for what he does for the kids. And in my humble opinion, the net effect of Cena's WWE absence will not result in a sudden increase in Raw's ratings. There may be a small, temporary ratings increase over the next couple of weeks. But by December, WWE executives will be praying for the return of John Cena.
The reason that Raw's ratings will not increase in John Cena's absence are twofold. First, if there really are millions of wrestling fans who refuse to watch WWE Raw because of Cena, I seriously doubt those fans will enjoy the rest of the TV-PG product on the three hours of Raw. R-Truth is still rapping, Fandango is still dancing, and Hornswoggle still has a job. John Cena is just a scapegoat or fall guy for an entirely new and different WWE product.
The second reason why Raw's ratings will not increase is because of all the John Cena WWE fans who do look up to him. If those kids become bored with Raw without Cena and choose to stop watching, their parents may finally do what they've been dreaming of doing since their kids were born: change the channel. And this would be the perfect time to find something new to watch on Monday nights as the NFL regular season is just a few weeks away.
For 10 years, John Cena has been the face of the WWE. Well, the WWE is about to get a facelift. And now a portion of the WWE Universe is getting an early Christmas present. But, sometimes, you should be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it.
