WWE: Who Will Emerge from Wrestlemania as the Most Valuable Superstar?

WrestleMania is where superstars are made and where legends are born every year, and that story will be the same in 2012. 

At least one superstar—and possibly more—will cement themselves in WWE history forever by winning a World title or successfully defending it. Someone like Sheamus or CM Punk is going to have his “WrestleMania moment” and come out of WrestleMania 28 better than he was before it. That much we know. 

What we’re unsure of, however, is exactly how the WWE’s biggest pay-per-view of the year will play out and what the long-term ramifications of the major matches will be. Luckily, I have found my crystal ball, taken a long look at the future and now know what it holds. 

While WrestleMania 28 is important for a guy like Punk, who’s hoping to prove that he’s “the best in the world,” or for Daniel Bryan, who’s trying to keep his spot at the top of the WWE, neither of those two superstars—or any other star for that matter—is under the tremendous amount of pressure one man is facing: John Cena. 

“The Champ” has taken a lot of criticism over the years for “hogging the spotlight” and “not putting others over,” but he’s made people forget about that with his performances over the last several weeks. He’s rivaled The Rock on the microphone and finally seems to be getting more and more fans to cheer him when hatred for him has been at an all-time high. 

Now, it’s up for Cena to continue turning the fans around. 

He will walk into WrestleMania 28 in The Rock’s hometown of Miami and Team Bring It will be out in full force. Although the Cenation will be in attendance as well, they will be vastly outnumbered by fans of The Rock, who will have taken the short journey to see their hometown hero. 

However, Cena will emerge as a better superstar because of it. In fact, he will prove once and for all that he is the most valuable superstar in the WWE. 

Although Cena will be battling all sorts of elements, this is what he lives for. He loves to walk into a building, get mercilessly booed and then relish in the fact that the fans are chanting, “You suck! You suck! You suck!” 

It happened at One Night Stand against Rob Van Dam in the Hammerstein Ballroom in 2006, it happened that same year at Unforgiven against Edge in Toronto and most recently, it happened against Punk at Money in the Bank in Chicago in 2011. Yet, each time Cena walked out of the building (win or lose), he proved that what he generates is one hell of a reaction, one that is unmatched by anyone currently in the WWE. 

While The Rock may put boots to asses, it is Cena’s incredible mixed reaction that puts asses in seats week after week, month after month, year after year. It is Cena’s match—one that people are calling “the biggest ever”—that will pack 60,000 or 70,000-plus fans into a single stadium. It is Cena’s match that is going to break the WWE’s record number of buys for a single pay-per-view, despite the fact that it costs 55 bucks a pop. 

Not only will you see Cena impact the WWE’s wallet, though. You will also see the amazing influence he has on the fans, old and young, male and female. 

Sun Life Stadium will have its fair share of “Team Bring It” or “Best in the World” shirts, but reigning supreme will be the phrases “Rise Above Hate” and “Hustle Loyalty Respect.” Sticking out among all others will be the black, the red, the purple, the orange—the colors of John Cena. 

We can hate on the man all we want, but value is value. And Cena has more than The Rock, more than Punk, more than Randy Orton, more than anyone.

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter and ask him any wrestling-related questions on Formspring.