10/20 WWE on ESPNews – Cena interview, NXT

WWE was featured in the 9:00 p.m. EST hour of SportsCenter Tuesday night on ESPNews. This week, John Cena joined The Coach for a promotional interview and NXT discussion.

WWE on SportsCenter Week 2
Airdate: Tuesday, October 20
Host: Jonathan Coachman
WWE Guest: John Cena

John Cena (listed graphically as Jon Cena) joined Coachman on-location from a WWE arena with a Raw background for a basic p.r. interview.

Cena was in a jokey mood deflecting sports-related questions, then acted serious discussing Make-a-Wish and breast cancer awareness.

Coach then asked Cena about NXT as the lifeblood of WWE’s future. Cena endorsed the NXT roster and the audience as the most intense audience he’s been part of. As Cena commented, ESPN showed NXT-related clips, focusing on Apollo Crews, Finn Balor, Bayley, Sasha Banks, and Tyler Breeze.

Asked if the “next John Cena” is currently at NXT, Cena said he doesn’t want to answer that because everyone has to be their own person and not try to emulate someone else. That wrapped the interview.

To start the segment in the middle of the hour, Jonathan Coachman ran through highlights from last night’s Raw. The focus was on the legends who returned to Raw – “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, and The Undertaker. Not shown were Brock Lesnar and Ric Flair.

Coach’s Raw Break Down included:

– Top One-Liner: New Day’s (weekly) run-down of the local sports team, this time the Dallas Cowboys.

– Top Move: Cesaro’s series of running uppercuts on Sheamus.

– Top Post-Match: Chaos between the Wyatts and Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns after the TV main event.

Overall, the SportsCenter segment continues to feel like a “paid ad placement,” like an insert in a newspaper promoting a company’s message or service that is not part of the actual news. Similar to ESPN’s “E:60” piece on NXT/Performance Center earlier this year, it comes across like ESPN giving WWE air-time to promote their company and try to create positive sentiment toward the WWE brand.