Scott's Mailbag
Rants

Why Cody has avoided the “Super Cena” backlash so far

By Scott Keith on 31 January 2024


Why Cody hasn't gotten Super Cena Backlash (aside from a portion of the audience changing to AEW):

  1. His initial mid-card run. He wasn't pushed too soon despite being a nepo-baby and developed into a solid mid-carder with success as Dr. Doom, Legacy and the Rhodes boys against the Shield. Kind of a throw back to the Bret/Shawn/Edge career path of Tag-Mid-Card pay your dues and slowly ascend. Contrast this with how quickly Cena, Orton, Batista, Rollins, Roman, Mox etc. were in the main event.
  2. Getting credit for betting on himself & creating AEW. He wasn't the only one, but he was very much the face of AEW for the first 12 or so months, so there's a respect there that he earned.
  3. The torn-pec match. I really think this put him over the top w/ fans. One can certainly argue it sets a dangerous precedent but (on a much, much lower scale) that was his “bloody face, pass out in the sharpshooter” moment that I think has him-perma over w/ WWE's fanbase.
I also think they have booked him extremely well and set him up for success, despite disagreeing w/ call to put Roman over last year.

Put him over Roman at WM 40, let Orton be his first feud and then transition to Drew and I think he'll stay hot for a 6 month run before getting to the Gunther program.
Primarily he comes off as a real person who fans can relate to and put themselves in his shoes with enough hard work. Basically he’s Batman and Cena is Superman.