Non-fungible tokens are believed to be the future of collecting, with fans paying hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars for a piece of digital art. WWE would sell the infamous clip of The Undertaker throwing Mick Foley off Hell In A Cell to someone for a staggering $100,000, and since then, other wrestlers have begun working with companies to produce their own pieces. Chris Jericho would encounter great success selling all 48 pieces from his first release for $650 each, with fans believing that price will be considered a bargain in future years.
To coincide with SummerSlam, WWE would return to the marketplace and this time-release 500 John Cena NFT’s, including an exclusive merchandise bundle. The company would charge $1000 for each package, and they were expected to be a big seller. However, recently speaking at Florida Comic-Con, the 16-time world champion revealed that only 37 in total were sold.
It was a catastrophic failure. I design all my stuff. I was super proud of this. I love the design. It’s one of those instances where I put my heart and soul and did the design and was really close with the work and pieces and market research. “Yes, it seems fair. I think it will be good.” It sucked. It absolutely failed. I took a chance and missed. I’m sorry because it’s obvious that people like the design, but it’s way too much.
John CenaIt’s hard to pinpoint precisely why Cena’s first foray into NFT’s was such a failure. Clearly, 500 was too many, and perhaps combining merchandise and the NFT was a mistake. Maybe fans who would have wanted the exclusive merchandise weren’t interested in the NFT, and someone experimenting with NFT likely didn’t care about the physical items. Whether Cena and WWE decide to try again remains to be seen, but they’ll probably try a very different approach if they do.
