>>17329086You're right. Unknowns like a young Cena who decides to enroll in wrestling school almost never make it through the WWE developmental system anymore. Batista deserves to be mentioned too, but he was a freakishly roided out body builder who started wrestling in his early 30s and kind out lucked out by quickly catching the attention of WWE scouts back when being physically impressive was what counted most. This is what got Brock signed and pushed so young, but Brock's standout college wrestling career makes him something of a special case. Cena was physically impressive too, but not as much as Batista or Brock so he had to grind his way through the developmental system and earn his spot through each phase of his career.
I don't count guys like Roman, Cody, and Orton -- though all three have proven to be legitimate main event stars in a business filled with guys who will never be able to say that. All three of them grew up in successful wrestling families with the kind of connections to ensure they'd be afforded attention and opportunities to advance that a guy like Cena never got. None of them deserve any unfair criticism for being "nepo-babies" though, since they have all proven themselves while guys like Cody Hall, Davey Boy Smith Jr, Teddy Hart, Ted DiBiase Jr, and about a hundred other sons and nephews had the same privileges but couldn't appeal to fans and get over on their own.
It will be interesting to see where the business goes from here. The WWE gradually modified their approach to developing talent when they realized that Cena was an exception to the general rule that the wrestlers trained in their systems couldn't get over. This change was forced upon them when guys they signed who developed their skills on the independent circuit and overseas kept getting over while most rookies from their system never could. Those days are gone for the time being though. We have the shit indies, ROH/AEW, and the Evolve/NXT/WWE developmental system.
