Black Widow
11-28-2008, 05:06 PM
AS much as WWE put its worst foot forward with the 'Jeff Hardy is hospitalised' storyline all day Sunday prior to Survivor Series, the company did a fantastic job rallying its fan base on Raw with John Cena's heartfelt and impassioned speech about the entertainment the company brings to its audience every night.
The words spoken by Cena were Vince McMahon's but the emotions expressed were his own.
John Cena's rah-rah speech was exactly what WWE fans needed to hear.
In this year of declining revenues and dwindling ratings, Cena put the company first and scored big time with his stirring message of "we do this all for you".
In the Original ECW, we had a very simple philosophy that ECW itself was the biggest star of the promotion.
More than any one performer or act, ECW was to be presented as the recipient of your affection.
From the hard working talent in the back to the guys who volunteer their time to put up posters and hand out flyers, to the people who set up the chairs and helped carry in the boxes of merchandise, everything was happening because all we wanted to do in life was to present, perform, do our thing and make you happy that you spent your money on our product.
It meant everything to us and we weren't shy about letting the audience know how much we appreciated their support.
Whether it was Joey Styles doing it on commentary, or Tommy Dreamer's teary-eyed promos, or even heels like The Dudley Boyz or Shane Douglas praising the Extreme movement, we never let the audience forget we realised we owed them the greatest performances we were capable of delivering.
Make no mistake about it, Vince McMahon truly believes that WWE puts smiles on people's faces and that he is blessed to be the patriarch of a company that gets to do something so noble.
You can talk all you want about how much money Vince makes (he makes a lot), how much he pays himself with the stock dividend (he pays himself a lot), what a ruthless b*****d he was in driving all the competition into the ground (hereby acknowledged), but Vincent Kennedy McMahon believes his company is a delivery service and what's being served up is 'smiles'.
Vince's current world champion on Raw is the world's biggest WWE fanatic.
John Cena is living his dream. He is the top star in an industry he has been obsessed with his whole life.
Cena gets to do a Hip Hop CD? He's happy as can be but he wants WWE to produce and promote it.
Cena gets to star in a motion picture? That's wonderful but he wants it to be a WWE Films project.
John Cena is WWE through and through.
He's all caught up in everything World Wrestling Entertainment. He eats, sleeps, thinks, blinks, bleeds and breathes WWE.
It's his life. It's everything to him. That's not a marketing ploy or a line in a promotional video. It's real life. It's the real John Cena.
So when the WWE stock is in the 10-dollar range, the ratings have been below a 3.0 and it seems like it's just not cool to be a wrestling fan anymore, along comes this amazing speech by John Cena that made every live audience member and everyone watching at home feel appreciated.
Loved, respected, 'in the club'.
The timing of Cena's monologue couldn't have been better. It was the right person, delivering the right message, to the right audience, on the right night, at the right time.
Cena's belief in the words he was speaking was evident. He didn't need to act during his riveting 'thank you' to the crowd. Cena meant it.
He loved saying it, he cherished the opportunity to go out in front of a responsive crowd and be the one to wave the WWE flag (OK, that's an old school reference), to sing the praises, to thank the audience, to deliver the mission statement, to rally the troops.
No need for a spokesman. No need for a press release. No need for a promotional campaign. No need for a marketing meeting. No need for an advertisement in the newspaper, or a message on the website, or a statement to be read by the announcers.
Not even a need for a McMahon to come out and say those words.
Someone else had this one covered. Someone else can score for the company and the WWE experience as a whole. No need to worry about it.
The Champ Is Here!
The Sun
The words spoken by Cena were Vince McMahon's but the emotions expressed were his own.
John Cena's rah-rah speech was exactly what WWE fans needed to hear.
In this year of declining revenues and dwindling ratings, Cena put the company first and scored big time with his stirring message of "we do this all for you".
In the Original ECW, we had a very simple philosophy that ECW itself was the biggest star of the promotion.
More than any one performer or act, ECW was to be presented as the recipient of your affection.
From the hard working talent in the back to the guys who volunteer their time to put up posters and hand out flyers, to the people who set up the chairs and helped carry in the boxes of merchandise, everything was happening because all we wanted to do in life was to present, perform, do our thing and make you happy that you spent your money on our product.
It meant everything to us and we weren't shy about letting the audience know how much we appreciated their support.
Whether it was Joey Styles doing it on commentary, or Tommy Dreamer's teary-eyed promos, or even heels like The Dudley Boyz or Shane Douglas praising the Extreme movement, we never let the audience forget we realised we owed them the greatest performances we were capable of delivering.
Make no mistake about it, Vince McMahon truly believes that WWE puts smiles on people's faces and that he is blessed to be the patriarch of a company that gets to do something so noble.
You can talk all you want about how much money Vince makes (he makes a lot), how much he pays himself with the stock dividend (he pays himself a lot), what a ruthless b*****d he was in driving all the competition into the ground (hereby acknowledged), but Vincent Kennedy McMahon believes his company is a delivery service and what's being served up is 'smiles'.
Vince's current world champion on Raw is the world's biggest WWE fanatic.
John Cena is living his dream. He is the top star in an industry he has been obsessed with his whole life.
Cena gets to do a Hip Hop CD? He's happy as can be but he wants WWE to produce and promote it.
Cena gets to star in a motion picture? That's wonderful but he wants it to be a WWE Films project.
John Cena is WWE through and through.
He's all caught up in everything World Wrestling Entertainment. He eats, sleeps, thinks, blinks, bleeds and breathes WWE.
It's his life. It's everything to him. That's not a marketing ploy or a line in a promotional video. It's real life. It's the real John Cena.
So when the WWE stock is in the 10-dollar range, the ratings have been below a 3.0 and it seems like it's just not cool to be a wrestling fan anymore, along comes this amazing speech by John Cena that made every live audience member and everyone watching at home feel appreciated.
Loved, respected, 'in the club'.
The timing of Cena's monologue couldn't have been better. It was the right person, delivering the right message, to the right audience, on the right night, at the right time.
Cena's belief in the words he was speaking was evident. He didn't need to act during his riveting 'thank you' to the crowd. Cena meant it.
He loved saying it, he cherished the opportunity to go out in front of a responsive crowd and be the one to wave the WWE flag (OK, that's an old school reference), to sing the praises, to thank the audience, to deliver the mission statement, to rally the troops.
No need for a spokesman. No need for a press release. No need for a promotional campaign. No need for a marketing meeting. No need for an advertisement in the newspaper, or a message on the website, or a statement to be read by the announcers.
Not even a need for a McMahon to come out and say those words.
Someone else had this one covered. Someone else can score for the company and the WWE experience as a whole. No need to worry about it.
The Champ Is Here!
The Sun