'John Cena is one of the most polarizing figures we have' - Triple H
Triple H
WWE C.O.O Triple H talks about what to look forward to this SummerSlam and also about main-eventers John Cena and Daniel Bryan.
Why should fans be excited about SummerSlam this year: “I think this year is something special in general, for me, based on the Cena/Daniel Bryan WWE Championship match which I think is a moment in time of, you know, is the torch being passed? Is this the, for lack of a better term, the Hogan/Andre moment? Is this that moment in time where fans are going to say I was there when the future changed and Daniel Bryan became the guy, like a lot of people think that he will? Or, is this the moment where John Cena continues to cement himself as the face of the WWE of this generation?
“It’s just that moment in time and I think there’s a lot of people that do believe that the change is eminent and for that reason there’s a lot of hype and a lot of excitement around this event.”
Why has John Cena been so successful: “I think he resonates with people. There’s an honesty to John. John is what you see. Some people look at that and they think that that is a bogus, white meat good guy hero character that he puts on and it’s really not. That’s just John Cena. He is the guy that’s out there doing almost 400 Make A Wish kids and he’s very extremely passionate about it. He is the guy that came to us and said hey, we should work with Susan G. Komen.
“He’s the guy that’s dedicated. He’s on the road every night, working somewhere in the world. To me, it’s no surprise. I think because he’s so honest and he’s so truthful, people can resonate with him, they can kind of see something of themselves in him and if they don’t buy into that, if they look at it the other way, they can see exactly what they want to hate with the world in that and that it’s too good. A guy can’t be that good and that nice and that true and be that good at what he does and all that stuff.
They want to lash out against that and I think it’s why John is one of the most polarizing figures we have. People either love him or absolutely hate him, but either way he packs arenas and they all want to see him.”
Why does he think the fans have fallen in love with Daniel Bryan: “I don’t know. It may be because he’s something different. Again, I think with Daniel Bryan there’s an honesty there. Daniel just is what he is. He’s a frumpy little long haired bearded guy that doesn’t really apologize for how he looks, but he’s that good in the ring. It’s funny to me that often times, historically, when you look back at the business, when you got past the flamboyant Hogan/Macho Man era, you had the Bret Hart technician, lot less hype and personality and charisma than those [they let their in ring talent speak for itself]. There’s kind of those shifts back and forth.
“It’s like they get tired with vanilla, they want to go with chocolate for a while. Maybe that’s what it is? I do think that Daniel is the crossover of so many of those factors that make a superstar big. He’s got charisma. He’s got personality. He’s different. He is his own man. There’s a truth to what he says. He’s not putting on a person, that just is Daniel Bryan and he’s damn good and damn exciting at what he does. If you put your money on the table to see Daniel Bryan I think you know you’re going to get your money’s worth. I think that’s exciting to people.”