During a Q&A panel at BookCon for his new children’s story Elbow Grease, John Cena briefly discussed the future of WWE, and how the dynamic of the company is changing. Cena explains that the current wrestling audience is so diverse that presenting only one top star as the backbone of the promotion is an outdated tactic, siting examples from the Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin era as examples.
I think the dynamic of the program is changing. For the longest time, I think if you’ve considered WWE a band…there’s been one front person of the band. I think that dynamic is changing. It is 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 80’s you had a family oriented program and Hulk Hogan was the front man. In the 90’s you had 18-35 year old males…in comes Steve Austin and Dwayne Johnson because they hit right down that wheelhouse.
Cena would then mention his run as the front man of WWE as a polarizing stage due to the audience being split, and that going forward we may see more of a “Super Friends” approach.
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 like 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 now have 10 lead singers of every difference race, creed, color, sex, ethnicity. So I believe I was kind of the last of that, and I think that the landscape has changed so much that it’s more of a group effort rather than an individual effort.
Check out Cena’s full interview, where he talks about Elbow Grease and reveals his favorite wrestling match below.
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