John Cena... The Champ is truly here.

How in the world is John Cena on top of the RAW food chain once again? It must be a combination of his stunning charisma and persistence to be one of the main, if not the immediate, faces of the WWE. After his second injury in under a year, Cena has fought just one match and become the new World Heavyweight Champion in the WWE above other top superstars that have been attempting to build their reputations on the raw roster in recent weeks and months; Randy Orton, Dave Batista, and Chris Jericho would be the main names to call out.

Nonetheless, it is John Cena who remains and regains his role as… the Champ. He is what many people would agree is the new Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He’s got the same uncanny comeback ability, the crowd-pleasing mic skills and character, and of course his own version of “The People’s Elbow,” the “Five Knuckle Shuffle.” When it comes to dedicated WWE roster superstar, bordering on corporate lapdog, John Cena is that at its finest.

However, I really can’t call John Cena a lapdog. You can see it in his body language that the guy truly lives and breathes the WWE. Whether it be the fame that draws him, or that he wants to prove his plenty doubters wrong, he is always lingering or hovering at the top and has been since his first WWE Championship reign. I could even describe his desire to be at the top as somewhat greedy and even maniacal, as he is always the front man in pictures and even WWE pay-per view promo art where he was still injured and was not even going to be wrestling, and much less present at whatever show was being promoted.

But the fact of the matter is that John Cena has put his time in and he has earned the right to be where he is, even if he hasn’t had as long a tenure as his other fellow wrestlers. His goal from the outset of his trip to California after graduating college was not to become a WWE namesake. He wanted to be a body builder for crying out loud! He was then presented the opportunity by an acquaintance at a gym to join the ranks of the professional wrestling world, and then most likely and unexpectedly, he fell in love with the whole aura of the business.

So, with all that being said, even though it seems odd that Cena can just come out of an injury induced hiatus to instantly be at the top spot of professional wrestling once again, don’t ever take away the fact that he has worked hard and spewed his blood, sweat, and tears to be where he is right now and continue to preserve his image.

When is an injury more than just an injury? When it happens to Sidney Crosby. On Thursday night against the Phoenix Coyotes the Pittsburgh Penguins’ superstar suffered what has been reported only as an upper body injury, which has him listed as day-to-day. Crosby’s injury is a big loss for the Penguins because he is their best player as well as their on and off-ice leader. For the league as a whole he is so much more than a dynamic player—arguably the best in the world—but he is their most marketable person and the key to their commercial success in the United States. He sells merchandise and does wonders for national TV ratings in the U.S., that much is a given. Beyond that though is his ability to go on road trips to places that can barely keep decent attendance and draw sell-out crowds. Crosby is the type of player who people come to watch who barely care about hockey in general but sit in their seats or turn on the TV and watch in awe of everything he can do. The man changes casual fans into consistent hockey fans and I think his positive influence on the league cannot be overstated; so we can only hope that Crosby’s injury is minor and the league is not without him for a long stretch two-years in a row.