Six WWE Superstars Who Will Benefit From John Cena's Absence

According to reports, John Cena is taking a rare
voluntary leave of absence from WWE.
The departure is terrible news for WWE’s
struggling television product. WWE has seen
what business looks like without its biggest
star, and the numbers are startling:
According to Pro Wrestling Torch , August 2015
produced a 2.71 rating, down 8.5% from 2014…
the lowest monthly ratings since 1996.
In terms of merchandise sales, John Cena is a
top seller. In fact, Cena’s merchandise could
continue to outsell the entire rest of the WWE
roster combined ( h/t Cagesideseats ).
But with Cena currently on the back end of a
legendary career, his departure will give way to
a much-needed preview of the future.
With no clear-cut heir apparent to Cena, a
handful of WWE Superstars will stand to benefit
from his absence. An even smaller handful may
prove to be capable of picking up where Cena
left off.
6. The New Day
In the past two weeks, John Cena has defended
his United States Championship against
members of The New Day as part of his open
challenge. As The New Day continues to feud
with Cena, it’s likely that Kofi Kingston will be
on deck to challenge Cena in the near future.
With The New Day currently feuding with Cena,
there’s a chance that they will be credited with
(kayfabe) injuring Cena prior to him leaving.
This would be a huge boost for the stable, which
has caught fire through its use of infectious
comedy. It’s fair to wonder whether The New
Day is better served as a novelty stable, which
would make them difficult to take seriously in
the main event. But using Cena as a pawn to
continue put The New Day over will alleviate all
those concerns.
5. Kevin Owens
Kevin Owens represents the antithesis of John
Cena, which is part of what made their feud so
entertaining. With Cena out of the picture,
Owens’ brand of loud-mouth villainy could build
him into a top heel who only a returning Cena
can stop.
Owens is currently pigeonholed in the midcard
as the Intercontinental champion. But without
Cena, the United States Championship will no
longer be 1A to the WWE World Heavyweight
title, giving Owens an opportunity to seize that
spot. In order to make that leap, Owens will
need to be made to look strong against upper-
echelon babyfaces like Roman Reigns and Dean
Ambrose. With over 15 years in the wrestling
business, Owens is an old 31, so an opportunity
like this couldn’t have come soon enough.
4. Dean Ambrose
Dean Ambrose is the odds-on-favorite to be the
next man up in Cena’s absence. F4WOnline (h/t
WrestlingInc.com ) reported that Ambrose will be
replacing Cena in the headlining role during
upcoming WWE tours. Ambrose has done a good
job organically connecting with WWE fans, but
he has spent too much time as a midcarder to
truly make a difference in such a short amount
of time.
Unlike his Shield brethren, Ambrose does not
own a milestone win (i.e. Royal Rumble or world
championship), and he came up on the losing
end of just about every match he had with
Rollins . This makes it more difficult to view
Ambrose as an equal to his former stable mates.
Ambrose also lacks long-term feuds against
legends from the past that Reigns and Rollins
benefited from. Ambrose wrestled Cena in the
main event of the October 13 edition of Raw in
2014. Viewership declined to 3.664 million during
the third hour, where the main event was
slotted.