With the announcement that John Cena will likely be hanging up his boots after a retirement tour subsequent yr, the punditry has all of the excuse it wants to start out weighing the 16 time WWE World champ’s place in historical past.
When Tony Khan was a visitor on Maggie & Perloff final week, it gave Maggie Grey a cause to ask if Cena can be on the AEW proprietor’s “Mount Rushmore of Wrestlers”. Khan wasn’t keen to award a kind of 4 spots to Cena, however he did give pay his respects:
“He’d undoubtedly be any individual anyone must take into account, actually, particularly of the fashionable period.
“For me, quite a lot of the folks on my Mount Rushmore are most likely folks I grew up on — however they’re additionally lots of people I grew up not solely being a fan of, however have gotten to work with later in life. Sting, to me, is up there… It’s quite a lot of guys I grew up on my Mount Rushmore, like Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat, and Bret Hart, and Steve Austin. I’d have to consider Ric Aptitude. Numerous nice choices for that.
“However John Cena is likely one of the greatest wrestlers and positively one of many biggest of this contemporary period, unquestionably.”
Not shocking given TK’s “wrestling nerd” repute (and I say that as a proud wrestling nerd myself). Is it truthful? That will rely on the way you assemble you Mount Rushmores. In case you’re selecting your 4 favorites, or the 4 you assume are the best of all-time? That’s subjective, and results in some robust cuts. In case you’re selecting the very best of various eras (or because the sculptor the precise Mount Rushmore did, selecting those that characterize one thing’s start, progress, improvement, and preservation), there’s a significantly better case for Cena because the face of twenty first century professional wrestling.
Can’t actually argue with Cena’s standing as a one of many trendy greats, although. Even these of us who despised the “Cena Wins LOL” period of the late aughts and early 2010s, you’ve acquired to respect the person’s hustle and loyalty — and his ability and expertise.
