John Cena is ‘openly waiting for someone to step up’ and take his spot

While some of us rolled our eyes when it was announced, the weekly SmackDown Live post-show on WWE Network, Talking Smack, has delivered water cooler material every week during its brief existence.

Last night’s moment came when hosts Renee Young and Daniel Bryan asked their guest, John Cena, if he thought AJ Styles could take what Bryan referred to as “the John Cena spot” within WWE.

This is... are your ready for the WWE Network to crash? I’m openly waiting for someone to step up and do that.

The General Manager, and Cena’s house guest on the upcoming Total Bellas, asked what would it take for AJ or anyone else to do that, and the Face That (still) Runs the Place replied:

Consistency. Absolute consistency. Everybody asks me, “hey, when are you moving over?” and that just fuels me to get stronger, faster and hone my craft more. And people have moments, moments that last in annals of WWE history. But if you look at what I’ve done - I just. Show. Up. All the time. And deliver.

And I am waiting for someone, after 14 years to show up all the time and deliver. You can ask many other WWE Superstars. You [looking at Bryan] know exactly how hard that is. I am waiting for someone not to do it once, just to do it consistently better.

There’s also a YouTube version of the clip which interestingly doesn’t include the lead question, but does feature Cena saying Seth Rollins and Cesaro are two guys he thinks could fill his shoes. John’s mention of the Swiss Superman prompts Bryan to bring up Vince McMahon’s infamous comments about him on the first Stone Cold Podcast - then both men laugh about how Vince found reasons to dislike both of them at first, too.

There’s a lot to consider from these quotes, and it will likely prompt some debate about whether Cena is just waiting for his replacement or if he engages in politics to keep his “spot”.

We can also speculate on whether turning to a guy who had to retire due to injury after his “moment” while making a point about consistently showing up for 14 years was kind of a jerk move.

So get to it, Cagesiders!