Former WWE writer Brian Gewirtz has claimed that he put forward the idea of John Cena joining the legendary Evolution stable that dominated WWE in the early 2000s.
The stable won a number of championships during their time together from 2002 to 2004. In total, the group had five World Heavyweight Championship reigns, and won two Intercontinental Championships and Tag Team Championships.
Evolution was led by Triple H, alongside Ric Flair. Both men were already WWE legends at this time, with Flair’s in-ring career in the company slowly dwindling to a close.
Apart from the group’s success, however, another key function of Evolution was to elevate the other two members, Randy Orton and Batista, as stars of the company.
Orton became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in history during his time with the stable. Batista, meanwhile, won the 2005 Royal Rumble. He then won the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 21, but by that point, he was already out of Evolution.
However, things could have turned out much differently for all four men if other creative ideas had been agreed upon instead.
Did John Cena nearly join Evolution?
Speaking on The Kurt Angle Show, Gewirtz says he floated the idea of John Cena joining Evolution in WWE.
He explains: “I might’ve said it, ‘What about that John Cena guy joining Evolution? What about that?’
“It was, again, tossed about for a couple of minutes. I think it was deemed that John, especially John at that particular time, you know, hadn’t found himself yet.”
Cena was part of the famous ‘class of 2002’ graduates from Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) – WWE’s development brand. The class also included Batista, Orton, Shelton Benjamin and a certain Brock Lesnar.
He debuted in the same year against Kurt Angle, but it took the WWE legend until late 2002, when he became ‘The Doctor of Thuganomics’, to position himself as a future star.
Had Cena joined Evolution, instead of Orton or Batista, it would be interesting to see how different the careers of all three men would have been.
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