Backstage reason why John Cena was chosen as the face of WWE over Randy Orton and Batista

All Elite Wrestling talent Arn Anderson recently talked about the rise of John Cena, Batista, and Randy Orton in WWE on his podcast. All three Superstars spent some time honing their craft in Ohio Valley Wrestling, before making their way to the main roster in 2002.

Anderson opened up on WWE going with Cena as the face of the company over the other two Superstars and explained why Cena was chosen to lead the promotion into the future. Anderson said that even though Orton was a natural and incredibly gifted athlete and Batista was red hot on SmackDown, WWE decided to go with Cena. This was done because there were almost no issues with him when it came to negotiations.

But Cena you know, they finally decided he was going to be the guy. Because he wasn’t going anywhere. He wasn’t, you know. There were no negotiation [type] issues with him, he was going to be there as long as they wanted him to be there. And he ended up being the face of the company. Being a babyface and staying a babyface. Randy’s character took some trips back and forth. And Dave would go on and do some other things [in Hollywood]. So, You know, they decided on him [Cena].

Cena was on SmackDown when he won his first WWE title at WrestleMania 21. Months later, Cena was drafted to WWE's flagship show, Monday Night RAW, while Batista and Randy Orton both moved to the Blue brand. Over the course of the next few years, Cena turned into the biggest WWE Superstar of his era. He was pushed heavily as a babyface and remained one for the entirety of his run in WWE.