John Cena is a bonafide WWE legend, and the 16-time World Champion has been loyal to the WWE and hustled very hard to earn everyone’s respect. John Cena was never destined to be the face of the company and was almost fired from it after the creatives failed to properly utilize him.
John Cena, in his initial days, portrayed a “Prototype” gimmick in which he was a kind of robotic wrestler. WWE knew that would not work on the main roster, so he had to go through a series of gimmicks to make him the Face that Runs the Place.
John Cena revealed in “Ruthless Aggression” docuseries how “Dr. of Thuganomics” came to life
John Cena debuted in the WWE as a kid with “Ruthless Aggression”. WWE thought that sticking the gimmick of the era they were living into John’s name would do wonders for him, but it did not actually help him much. John Cena has been doing freestyle rap since before joining the WWE. Believe it, rapping saved his career.
Cena, while appearing on “Ruthless Aggression”, stated how Stephanie McMahon heard him rap and saved his career. He quoted, “She had a can of tuna fish and said, ‘okay rhyme about this’. And in two seconds I made a small rap about the tuna fish, the jetway, the plane we were about to go on, the destination. And then kinda closed it with a comment about Stephanie. She was like ‘would you like to do this on television’, I said ‘absolutely’.”
John Cena’s popularity skyrocketed following his “Doctor of Thuganomics” gimmick. The fans could finally connect with him and find interest in his rapping. For instance, his freestyle with Kurt Angle garnered a lot of attention. WWE could have gone further with the same gimmick but realized they needed a change again.
Cena ditched the moniker in 2005
With “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Rock, Brock Lesnar, and Goldberg gone, WWE needed the Face of the Company. WWE couldn’t go further with John Cena as the “Doctor of Thuganomics” gimmick. As WWE was moving towards the PG era, they needed someone who the fans, especially young fans, could connect to.
This gave birth to the “Leader of Cenation” gimmick of John Cena. John Cena went from dissing everyone to encouraging everyone to never give up. He also granted wishes of special kids to meet him and holds a record for most wishes. Today, John Cena is among the greatest of all time to ever do it.
John Cena recently returned to WWE Money in the Bank to surprise fans and make an attempt to bring WWE Wrestlemania to London. With putting over Austin Theory at Wrestlemania this year, will we see John Cena wrestle next year at Wrestlemania and possibly become a 17-time World Champion, or will he continue to act in big-budget movies?
