Bruce Prichard talks about Jim Barnett and his ability to see the "it" factor of John Cena before anyone else.
Jim Barnett is one of the most critical figures behind the scenes in wrestling during the national expansion. Barnett helped Vince McMahon during the build-up to the original WrestleMania. He had been and would continue to be a trusted mind in the industry for many years until his eventual passing in 2004.
During the most recent episode of his podcast, Something to Wrestle, Bruce Prichard opened up about learning from Jim, revealing that following the close of World Championship Wrestling, he would continue to call Barnett for advice and input on the then-current state of the product.
Asked for examples of what Barnett taught him, Prichard noted that Jim Barnett was among the first to believe that John Cena would be the face of WWE.
"John Cena. The first time he saw John Cena, he said, 'he's a star. He's the guy.' You know, it was very early on," Bruce recalled. "When John had just started, we were scratching our heads, trying to figure out what to do with John. He had something, you know, he had it, but not knowing what to do. Jim was like, 'That's your next guy. He will be the guy.' I'm like, 'Ah, yeah, you know, Jim, I get it, man. He's got all the tools and everything. But right now, I think he's a little green.' He said, 'Get behind him. He's the guy.' He was right. He saw it before any of us saw it."
John Cena has become one of the definitive WWE Superstars in history, recently celebrating twenty years with the company in 2022. John last competed at WrestleMania, losing to Austin Theory in a match for the WWE United States Championship.
John Cena recently stated that his return to WWE Raw in early 2023 was the first time he realized that his time in WWE does have an expiration date. Read his comments at this link.
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