Paul Heyman Saw John Cena As ‘The Next Sting’

The Wrestling industry sees many top prospects morph into main-event attractions occasionally. Moreover, every young superstar is often perceived to reach the level of success set by a legendary star. That’s what veteran manager Paul Heyman had foreseen for a young man named John Cena in the early 2000s, believing him to be the next “Sting.”

Sting was the biggest star for WWE’s former competitor, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) during the 1990s. Today, at the age of 60, he continues to perform in the ring on certain occasions in AEW and has also worked for other major promotions in the business such as IMPACT Wrestling and WWE.

The Icon has been performing under his Crow gimmick for a long time. However, before being a black-and-white-faced painted vigilante, Sting used to don bright colors with his high energy, charismatic personality, and impressive physique, everything that Paul Heyman claimed he saw in an upstart John Cena as reported by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

‘Paul Heyman plucked him from OVW when he was in control of SmackDown, because he saw the same future superstar and ‘next Sting’ label that some, including us, had given him. It probably was a little early in the sense, while Heyman debuted him with Kurt Angle in a now-famous television debut segment.” 

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Paul Heyman’s perception of John Cena being a main event star just like Sting proved to be a reality. The Cenation Leader and The Icon were also part of a program back in 2015 in WWE, where the duo competed in a tag team match against Seth Rollins and Big Show on Monday Night RAW.

Do you think John Cena surpassed the stardom of Sting? Sound off in the comments!