Wrestling veteran Lance Storm shared concerns about WWE’s newly announced John Cena Classic tournament and explained why the concept could create problems for WWE stars.
John Cena first revealed the tournament during WWE Backlash this past weekend. The John Cena Classic is expected to feature crossover matches between WWE main roster stars and NXT talent. He also stated that the eventual winner of the John Cena Classic Championship will be decided through fan voting rather than traditional booking.
While many fans have reacted positively to the unique concept, Lance Storm believes the format could create tension between wrestlers behind the scenes.
Lance Storm explains why WWE talent may resist helping NXT stars in the John Cena Classic
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Live, Storm explained that some main roster wrestlers may not want to make NXT stars look stronger if fan voting directly affects future opportunities. He said, “If I’m a $500,000 main roster talent and I’m in there with a $75,000 a year NXT guy, why would I use my skill and my experience to make him look good?”
He explained that if an NXT wrestler becomes more popular through the tournament, it could potentially hurt higher-paid main roster talent. “If he wins the popularity contest and wins and gets the push to the championship, I could lose my job because there is going top be a TKO executive saying, ‘well why are we paying this guy that lost the fan vote and is less over than this NXT guy that works for way less money?'”
He continued, “One of the biggest elements to making a pro wrestling match work is the talent working together, which is something Lance points out could be thrown out the window: If I know ahead of time, ‘Hey, you’re getting a push, we wanna protect this guy,’ I’ll make him look good. But if I don’t know who’s winning or losing the actual fan vote, it’s no longer in my interest to make the guy look good.” [H/T: f4wonline]
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