John Felix Anthony Cena (/ˈsiːnə/; born April 23, 1977) is an American professional wrestler, actor, television presenter, philanthropist, and former rapper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is currently signed to WWE. Tied with Ric Flair for the most world championship reigns in WWE history,[a] he is one of the most polarizing professional wrestlers in history, while being the public face of the brand for over a decade.
John Cena
BornApril 23, 1977 (age 44)
West Newbury, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation
Professional wrestler actor television presenter philanthropist rapper
Years active1999–present
Label(s)
WWEColumbia
Spouse(s)
Elizabeth Huberdeau
(m. 2009; div. 2012)
Shay Shariatzadeh
(m. 2020)
Relatives
Ulysses J. Lupien (great-grandfather)Tony Lupien (grandfather)Tha Trademarc (cousin)Natalie Enright Jerger (cousin)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)John Cena
Juan Cena[2]
The Prototype[3]
Mr. P[4]Billed height6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[5]Billed weight251 lb (114 kg) Billed from"Classified"
West Newbury, Massachusetts[5]Trained byChristopher Daniels
Dave Finlay
Ohio Valley Wrestling DebutNovember 5, 1999
Born and raised in West Newbury, Massachusetts, Cena moved to California in 1998 to pursue a career as a bodybuilder. He transitioned to professional wrestling in 1999 when he debuted for Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW). He signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 2001, where he was initially assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). He gained fame in the WWE after adopting the persona of a trash-talking rapper.He won his first singles title, the United States Championship, in 2004. The next year, he won the WWE Championship for the first time, and his character subsequently transitioned into a clean-cut "Superman-like" hero.He then led the company as its franchise player and public face for the next decade.
Cena is a five-time United States Champion, four-time world tag team champion, and a 16-time world champion, including 13 with the WWE Championship, a record for the title. He is also a two-time Royal Rumble match winner, a one-time Money in the Bank winner, and has headlined several major WWE pay-per-view events, including their flagship event, WrestleMania, five times.
Cena has been met with mixed critical and fan reception during his career. He has been praised for his character work and promotion skills but criticized for his supposed over-representation and victories over rising stars, which are deemed "burials".[16] He is thus regarded as one of the most polarizing professional wrestlers of all time.[17]
Cena first starred in The Marine (2006), and gained praise for his performances in Trainwreck (2015), Ferdinand (2017), Blockers, and Bumblebee (both 2018). He starred in F9 and will portray Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad (both 2021), and in an eponymous television series.[18] He also released a rap album called You Can't See Me (2005), which went platinum. Outside his work in entertainment, Cena is known for his involvement in numerous charitable causes, namely with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, where he has granted the most wishes, at over 650.[19][20]
John Felix Anthony Cena[21] was born in West Newbury, Massachusetts, on April 23, 1977,[22] the son of Carol (née Lupien) and John Cena.[23] His mother is of English and French-Canadian descent, while his father has Italian ancestry.[24] His maternal grandfather was baseball player Tony Lupien.[25][26][27] He has an older brother named Stephen, and three younger brothers named Dan, Matt and Sean.[28] He is a cousin of computer scientist Natalie Enright Jerger. Raised Roman Catholic, he attended Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts, before transferring to Cushing Academy, a private prep boarding school in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. He then attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts,[29] where he was an NCAA Division III All-American center on
their college football team.[30] He wore the number 54,[29] which is still used on some of his WWE merchandise.[31][32] Cena graduated from Springfield College in
in 1999 with a degree in exercise physiology and body movement,[33][34] after which he pursued a career in bodybuilding[35][36] and worked as a limousine driver.[37]
World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE
Early appearances (2000–2001)
On October 10, 2000, while billed as The Prototype, Cena made his unofficial debut for then World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on a SmackDown! taping in a dark match against Mikey Richardson, which he lost.[41] He received another tryout on January 9, 2001, at a SmackDown! taping in Oakland, California, this time defeating Aaron Aguilera wrestling again in a dark match at a SmackDown! taping on March 13.[clarification needed]
Signing and Ohio Valley Wrestling (2001–2002)
In 2001, Cena signed a developmental contract with the WWF and was assigned to its developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW).[42] During his time there, Cena wrestled under the ring name The Prototype and held the OVW Heavyweight Championship for three months and the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (with Rico Constantino) for two months.[43][44] Throughout 2001, he received four tryouts for the WWF main roster, as he wrestled multiple enhancement talent wrestlers on both WWF house shows and in dark matches before WWF televised events.
matches before WWF televised events.
Throughout the early months of 2002, Cena constantly found himself competing on house shows for the WWF, where he wrestled against the likes of Shelton Benjamin and Tommy Dreamer. After his main call up in June 2002, he continued to appear on OVW programming until September 25, when he lost to Kenny Brolin in a Loser Leaves OVW match. He would later appear in a one-off appearance for the developmental farm in November under the ring name Mr. P in a six-man tag team match, where he teamed with future WWE Hall of Famer Big Boss Man and Charlie Haas, in a winning effort against Lance Cade, Trevor Murdoch and Sean O'Haire.
The Doctor of Thuganomics (2002–2005)
On the June 24 episode of Raw, Vince McMahon ordered the entire roster to the ring and declared he needed them to all find some "ruthless aggression" from within themselves and that he was looking for one of them to stand out from the rest.[45] Cena made his WWE television debut on June 27 on an episode of SmackDown! by answering an open challenge by Kurt Angle. After declaring he possessed "ruthless aggression", he lost by a pinning combination, but managed to put on a good showing.[46] After the match, he was congratulated by Billy Kidman, Faarooq, Rikishi, and The Undertaker.[citation needed] Following the near-win, Cena became a fan favorite and began feuding with Chris Jericho, defeating him at Vengeance.[46] Then, Cena feuded with Los Guerreros (Chavo and Eddie Guerrero) and picked up a victory over Chavo Guerrero on the September 7 episode of Velocity.[citation needed] On the September 12 episode of SmackDown!, Cena teamed with Edge in a losing effort against Los Guerreros, thus ending the feud in the process.[citation needed] He later went on to defeat the likes of Albert and D-Von Dudley as he was restricted to appearances on Velocity for the rest of September.[citation needed]
In October, Cena and Billy Kidman took part in a tag team tournament to crown the first WWE Tag Team Champions of the SmackDown! brand, losing in the first round.[citation needed] The next week on SmackDown!, Cena turned on and attacked Kidman, blaming him for their loss, turning heel for the first and only time in his WWE career.[46] On the October 17 episode of SmackDown!, Cena defeated Kidman in a singles contest[citation needed] but was ultimately defeated by Kidman in a rematch on the October 24 episode of SmackDown!.[citation needed]
On the 2002 Halloween-themed episode of SmackDown!, Cena dressed as Vanilla Ice and performed a freestyle rap.[46] The following week on SmackDown!, Cena received a new character: a rapper who cut promos while rhyming.[46] Shortly after, he took on the nickname The Doctor of Thuganomics and expanded his gimmick to include rapping before his matches. He began wearing hats and sports jerseys as part of his ring gear.[47] In a 2020 documentary on the WWE Network focusing on this period, Cena revealed that at the time, the gimmick change to The Doctor of Thuganomics saved his career. Before this, the WWE was planning to release Cena as the "ruthless aggression" gimmick wasn't impressive enough. On a bus journey with other WWE superstars, Cena got involved in a freestyle rap session with Rikishi and Rey Mysterio, impressing Stephanie McMahon, leading to the gimmick's adoption.[48] As the character evolved, Cena began adopting a variant of the 1980s WWF logo—dropping the "F"—as his "signature symbol", along with the slogan "Word Life".[49] At Rebellion, he teamed up with Dawn Marie in a losing effort against Kidman and Torrie Wilson in a mixed tag team match.[50][51]
Eventually, Cena was joined by an enforcer, Bull Buchanan, who was rechristened to B-2 (also written B² and pronounced "B-Squared").[citation needed] B-2 helped Cena kick off 2003 with a win over Rikishi on the January 2 episode of SmackDown! and a win over Chavo Guerrero on the January 9 episode of SmackDown!.[citation needed] Both Cena and B-2 participated in the Royal Rumble match, but were unsuccessful in their attempts.[52] Cena and B-2 failed to capture the WWE Tag Team Championship from Los Guerreros, resulting in Cena replacing B-2 with Red Dogg until Red Dogg was sent to the Raw brand in February.[46]
For the first half of 2003, Cena sought the WWE Championship and chased the reigning champion Brock Lesnar after WrestleMania XIX, gaining upset wins over Eddie Guerrero, The Undertaker and Chris Benoit, who mocked Cena by wearing a "Toothless Aggression" shirt.[citation needed] He later won a number one contender's tournament for the right to face off against Lesnar for the WWE Championship at Backlash but was unsuccessful in his attempts.[53] After Backlash, Cena started to feud with Rhyno and and Chris Benoit, leading to Cena, along with Chuck Palumbo and Johnny Stamboli, defeating the team of Spanky, Rhyno and Benoit at Judgment Day.[54] Shortly after this, Cena began mocking The Undertaker, leading to a match between the two at Vengeance, where he lost a singles match.[46][55]
In a rematch between the two, Cena defeated The Undertaker on the August 7 episode of SmackDown!, this time with assistance from A-Train. The feud between the two came to an end on the August 21 episode of SmackDown!, when Cena and A-Train defeated Undertaker and Orlando Jordan in a tag team match. Cena then pursued the United States Championship, but lost to then-champion Eddie Guerrero in a Latino Street Fight for the title on the September 11 episode of SmackDown!.[56]
Professional wrestling
The Baltimore SunBest Feud of the Decade (2010) vs. Edge[424]Match of the Year (2007) vs. Shawn Michaels on April 23 at Raw[425]Wrestler of the Year (2007, 2010)[425][426]Feud of the Year (2010) vs. The Nexus[426]Ohio Valley WrestlingOVW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[43]OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Rico Constantino[44]Pro Wrestling IllustratedFeud of the Year (2006) vs. Edge[427]Feud of the Year (2011) vs. CM Punk[428]Match of the Year (2007) vs. Shawn Michaels on Raw[429]Match of the Year (2011) vs. CM Punk at Money in the Bank[430]Match of the Year (2013) vs. Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam[431]Match of the Year (2014) vs. Bray Wyatt in a Last Man Standing match at Payback[432]Match of the Year (2016) vs. AJ Styles at SummerSlam[433]Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (2003)[434]Most Popular Wrestler of the Decade (2000–2009)[citation needed]Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (2004, 2005, 2007, 2012)[435]Wrestler of the Year (2006, 2007)[436]Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2006, 2007 and 2013[437][438][439]Rolling StoneBest Promos (2015) tied with Kevin Owens[440]Best Storyline (2015) vs. Kevin Owens[441]WWE Match of the Year (2015) vs. Kevin Owens at Money in the Bank[441]Sports IllustratedMuhammad Ali Legacy Award (2018)[312]Ultimate Pro WrestlingUPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[39]World Wrestling Entertainment/WWEWWE Championship[c] (13 times)[442]World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)[443]WWE United States Championship (5 times)[444][445]WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with The Miz (1) and David Otunga (1)[135]World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Batista (1) and Shawn Michaels (1)[446]Money in the Bank (2012 – WWE Championship contract)[447]Royal Rumble (2008, 2013)[448][449]WWE Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament (2003), 2005)[450]Slammy Award (10 times)[451]Game Changer of the Year (2011) – with The Rock[452]Hero in All of Us (2015)[453]Holy $#!+ Move of the Year (2010) – Sending Batista through the stage with an Attitude Adjustment[454]Insult of the Year (2012) – To Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero: "You're the exact opposite. One enjoys eating a lot of nuts and the other is still trying to find his"[455]Kiss of the Year (2012) – with AJ Lee[455]Match of the Year (2013, 2014) – vs. The Rock for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 29, Team Cena vs. Team Authority at Survivor Series Superstar of the Year (2009, 2010, 2012)Wrestling Observer NewsletterBest Box Office Draw (2007)Best Gimmick (2003)[460]Best on Interviews (2007) Feud of the Year (2011) vs. CM Punk Match of the Year (2011) vs. CM Punk at Money in the Bank on July 17 Most Charismatic (2006–2010) Most Charismatic of the Decade (2000–2009)[462]Wrestler of the Year (2007, 2010) Worst Feud of the Year (2012) vs. Kane Worst Worked Match of the Year (2012) vs. John Laurinaitis at Over the
Limit Worst Worked Match of the Year (2014) vs. Bray Wyatt at Extreme Rules Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2012)
Springfield College Athletic Hall of Fame inductee (Class of 2015) Make-A-Wish Foundation Chris Greicius Celebrity AwardMake-A-Wish Foundation Special Recognition Award (for being the first to grant 300 wishes) 2014 Sports Social TV Entertainer of the Year 2014 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Grand Marshal 2016 USO Legacy of Achievement Award
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