It all started 29 years ago when
Jonathan Felix Anthony Cena was born on April 23,
1977 in West Newbury, Massachusetts. John Cena
was exposed to wrestling at a young age when he
would watch it as a kid with his father and
grandfather. From that point on he was hooked.
Cena wrestled around with his four other brothers
making championship belts out of cardboard, and
going to live wrestling events, all in hope of
one day getting in the ring and being a wrestler
himself.
At 15 years old John Cena applied and was
accepted to boarding school. After highschool
Cena attended Springfield College in Springfield,
Massachusetts, where he earned a degree in
exercise physiology. At Springfield, Cena also
played varsity football; where he was an
offensive lineman.
After graduating college he moved out to
California and had some success in natural body
bulding. A friend of Cena's had told him he was a
professional wrestler and told him he should come
down to the school. Cena then enrolled himself in
a wrestling school: UPW. One day Bruce Prichard
from WWE had come down with a developmental
contract which was for him. He was then sent down
to OVW for further training before hitting it big
time in the WWE.
Cena's first televised WWE match was against Kurt
Angle on the June 27, 2002 editon of Smackdown!.
After Kurt Angle challenged anyone backstage to a
match. Cena took that opportunity looking for his
big break. Unfortunately John Cena lost his first
WWE match against Kurt Angle, but that didn't
stop him. Cena was a typical babyface wrestling
in spandex trunks. John Cena being a fan of hip-hop
was 'freestyling' with some of the boys backstage.
Stephanie McMahon had overheard Cena. When
approached about the idea of having a hip-hop
character he jumped at the chance. John Cena
dumped his spandex trunks for Jersey's &
baggy shorts. At first the hip-hop gimmick didn't
sit too well with the fans. Little by little the
fans started to embrace the hip-hop chatacter and
John Cena soon became a household name in sports-entertainment.
Cena went on to have many big feuds with big
names like: The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, Kurt
Angle and The Big Show. In 2004, Cena's
popularity was increasing. His feud with The Big
Show lead up to his WrestleMania 20 victory to
win his first ever Championship title; The United
States Championship. Cena went on to be a 3 time
United States Champion.
John Cena's big break came when he was involved
in a feud with JBL. Cena won a No.1 contendership
tournament to face JBL at WrestleMania 21 for the
WWE Championship. In the WWE your number one goal
is to become the WWE Champion. Well, John Cena
achieved his goal at WrestleMania 21. Cena went
on to hold that title for 10 months.
On the June 6, 2005 John Cena became the first
draft pick in the annual WWE Draft Lottery, which
moved him from SmackDown! to RAW. John Cena had
been on Smackdown! for 3 years. Being the new guy
he had a lot of enemies. John Cena has had many
big feuds on RAW with names like: Chris Jericho,
Christian, Kurt Angle, Carlito and Edge.
On January 8, 2006 John Cena defended his WWE
Championship in a Elimination Chamber Match
against 5 other men: Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels,
Kane, Chris Masters and Carlito. Cena has
successfully defeated all 5 men to retain the WWE
Championship. That was until Edge who had a 'Money
in the Bank' title shot in which he could use at
anytime. Mr. McMahon came out and said that the
evening was not over and that Edge was cashing in
his Money in the Bank title shot. Cena could
barely get to his feet after his Elimination
Chamber match that's when Edge took advantage and
nailed Cena with a spear and pinned him to became
WWE Champion for the first time in his career.
Edge's title run was short lived as John Cena won
the title back a month later at the Royal Rumble
of 2006. After the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania 22
was getting near. On the February 20th edition of
RAW Triple H, RVD and the Big Show competed in
the final Road to WrestleMania Tournament match
to see who would face John Cena at WrestleMania
22 for the WWE Championship. Triple H ended up
getting the win. This sparked the next feud in
John Cena's career. This match at WrestleMania 22
was the biggest match in John Cena's career thus
far. John Cena would be facing the 10-time WWE
Champion, the "King of Kings" as Triple
H likes to call himself. On the road to
WrestleMania John Cena and Triple H were involved
in various matches but it would all come to a
head at WrestleMania 22.
At this point, the fans were slowly starting to
turn on John Cena and seemed to be on the side of
Triple H. At the WrestleMania 22 Press Conference
Cena said "a true champion is not defined by
how they are admired, but how they stand up to
adversity." He said people have strong
opinions about him, and his ability, what he
believes in and his motives. But he loves the
business, he loves his job and is proud to be a
sports entertainer. He knew how big this match
was and how everyone thinks he "can't get
the job done." Cena sure got the job done
when he made The Game; Triple H tap out at
Wrestlemania 22 and successfuly retained his WWE
Championship.
Late May of 2006 Rob Van Dam informed John Cena
that he was going to cash in the Money in the
Bank title match at ECW's One Night Stand. Both
men would compete in John Cena's first "Extreme
Rules" match. This ECW crowd was the most
hostile crowd John Cena has ever endured. Cena
unfortunately lost the title when Edge appeared
from out of no where and speared Cena through a
table, setting him up for Van Dam's Five Star
Frog Splash and the 1, 2, 3 for the win.
John Cena has accomplished a lot inside of the
WWE ring, aswell as outside of the ring. He has
appeared on the UPN series 'Manhunt.' He has cut
a number of hip-hop tracks for WWE's Theme song
CD's WWE Originals and WWE Theme Addict. He even
put out his very own debut Hip-Hop CD entitled
"You Can't See Me." He is also starring
in his first major movie role "The Marine"
set to hit theatres sometime in September. |