On a recent episode of Something Else To Wrestle, Bruce Prichard spoke about the backstage reaction to John Cena getting a major push in WWE. This was very early in his career.
Here is what Prichard had to say (h/t to Still Real To Us):
“Initially I think it was met, some people with jealousy, like ‘what the hell? The guy just got here, and he’s immediately put into a program, and he’s immediately being used on television.’ From us, from our vantage point it was, ‘yup, sure is.’ Here’s this guy that just came in here, busted his ass, was given an opportunity and made the most out of it. And he busted his ass, he was out there, the audience was getting behind him. Whether they were getting behind him because he was new, and he was a fresh face, or they were getting behind him because of his work, whatever, didn’t matter. The audience was vested and they were interested in John Cena. So, it made a difference and I think that there were a lot of rumblings of people going ‘why the hell is he getting this, and we’re not? We’ve been here forever.’ And you’ve had the same opportunities and it hasn’t worked, so we’re trying something new.”
Speaking of Cena, Nikki Bella recently fired back at a fan who said their breakup was for TV ratings. You can read that here.