The reason why John Cena defeated Kevin Owens at the Money In The Bank PPV last week was because of Cena’s merchandise sales declining as well as live event ticket sales decreasing, according to Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Radio.
Since there were only two weeks in between the Elimination Chamber and Money In The Bank PPV’s, there must have been a noticeable difference in Cena’s numbers if that was a main reason to book the loss. There’s no word on if the plan was for Owens to win the second match or if it was going to be Cena’s win all along.
There was also further speculation from Alvarez that Owens will very likely be losing the NXT Title to Finn Balor in Japan on July 4th, 2015, so there’s a chance that Owens could beat Cena for the United States Championship in their third match, likely at the Battleground PPV in St. Louis on Sunday, July 19th, 2015. If Cena loses the United States Championship, he could get back in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship picture soon after.
It is plausible that merchandise sales would decline a bit if Cena was seen as a mid-card wrestler as WWE Officials see him as a main eventer. After all, he hasn’t competed in a pay-per-view main event match this year because the focus has been on the likes of Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose while Cena has held the United States Championship, which wasn’t considered that important before he won it at WrestleMania XXXI against Rusev.
Cena still headlines nearly every live event that he’s on because he’s seen as the biggest draw in the company in terms of selling tickets as well as merchandise along with the likes of Brock Lesnar and The Rock. Some fans may be tired of Cena, but WWE will always do what’s best for him because of his status as the face of the company.
