Over the years, there have been persistent rumors of John Cena holding down talent, with Mr. Kennedy, Ryback, Tyler Reks, Ken Doane, and Wade Barrett often cited as examples. Jake Hager even revealed on Talk Is Jericho that Cena refused to drop the title to him following his Money in the Bank ladder match victory at WrestleMania XXVI. Now, during his ARN podcast, former WWE producer, Arn Anderson who regularly worked with Cena, explained The Doctor of Thuganomics was also against bringing in outside talent from TNA. Therefore seemingly discouraging WWE from recruiting Bobby Roode, James Storm, and AJ Styles to work with him during their prime years.
He looked me right in the eye, and at this time, John had 100% stroke, power; it was his call on everything that had to do with him. He said, “Why would we want those guys? We make our own stars.”Arn Anderson
Cena would end up working with Styles in 2016, following the TNA’s original’s impressive run in New Japan. The pair’s first singles match occurred at Money In The Bank 2016, and their most significant match took place at the 2017 Royal Rumble, where Cena defeated Styles to become WWE Champion and tied Ric Flair’s record for most world title reigns. While he never did wrestle either Roode or Storm, he did partner with Roode as part of Team SmackDown at the 2017 Survivor Series. However, he likely didn’t tell him he could have been in WWE years earlier if it wasn’t for him.
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