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After 2025, the legend says good-bye.
It wasnt always like this, though.
Cena was obviously being primed for stardom here.
Despite his lackluster red-and-black tights and early-aughts-appropriate amount of hair gel, he took Angle to the limit.
Cena Begins His Rap Gimmick October 31, 2002
John Cena needed … something else.
At a Smackdown Halloween Party,he dressed as Vanilla Iceand freestyled to the chagrin of his co-workers.
But as annoyingly as it was portrayed here, it would carry Cena away from career oblivion.
It was his first championship in the company the first of many.
But more important than the title win was how he accomplished it.
The Madison Square Garden audience rose to their feet and roared their approval at this act of outlandish strength.
Overcoming vast physical obstacles would be an unassailable part of his gimmick going forward.
Or, to put it more directly, they needed a new The Rock.
The company was thus placed on the back of Cena, whose image immediately underwent a cosmetic overhaul.
Gone was his former nickname, The Doctor of Thuganomics.
And his theme music, Basic Thuganomics, became My Time Is Now.
On paper, it all works.
But if you listen closely, you dont hear unanimous approval for Cena.
Instead, you hear asmattering of jeers and boos as well.
Cenas rise had a lot to do with his own merit.
Hed obviously worked hard to try and become a better wrestler.
He was more assured on the microphone.
Outside of the ring, he carried himself like a star.
However, when he threw his shirt into the audience, they threw it back to him.
He played his part throughout and took the loss.
He passed the test.
Why cant some other guys?
As a vehicle for John Cena, its not quite a success.
But as a part of Cenas legacy, its unmissable.
But it did show what a wrestler turned actor would need to make it in Hollywood.
Take the 2008 Royal Rumble for instance Cenas entrancein the event was truly a surprise.
Hed suffered a legitimately major pectoral injury the previous October and had to drop the WWE Championship.
So when his music hit (BBBRRRRRRRRRRRR APPLE DOUUUUUUUGH!
), fans erupted in surprise.
And in just a little while, fans would return to their love-hate relationship with him.
Randy Orton essentially played his cold robot doppelganger, a fellow handsome main-eventer who lacked Cenas scruples.
Edge was the devil on Cenas shoulder, an opportunist who tried to undercut Cenas perseverance.
He was everything Cena wasnt.
Did he actually hate the company and want his bossdead?
What was real and what was made up?
But after his feud with Punk, Cena began another evolution.
He would play along with a crowd that thought they knew it all.
It was yet another new age, and Cena had to keep up.
Well, at least the lucrative part was assured.
Ten years later, The Rock would return and Cena would face him in back-to-back WrestleMania main events.
Mainly because Cena had always felt oddly removed from WWEs past.
Did Cena actually gain anything from it?
Not really, as Cena was a decade into his time as WWEs prodigal son by then.
Brock Lesnar Demolishes Cena August 17, 2014
Brock Lesnar returned as a changed man.
In his eight-year break from WWE, hed become UFC Heavyweight Champion and was legitimized in a way.
chant while his preferred wrestler is thrashed around the ring and eventually beaten with little chance of a comeback.
It was the painful but necessary death of Super Cena.
John Cenas Open Challenge Spring-Summer 2015
Thirteen years after his debut, Cenas career came full circle.
It would also give Cena a chance to reinvent himself.
He could change that.
And he … sort ofdid.
Cena, having already been through the trials of an audience turning on him, had …no mercy.
Im still here because you cant do your job!
What if Cena had made that long-rumored heel turn?
What if Cena had never been able to break away from his milquetoast debut?
What if he really was an egomaniac behind the scenes?
To call the Firefly Fun House a match is a bit of a misnomer, though.
Did he earn his spot by being the hardest worker in the locker room?
Or did he keep his spot by standing on his co-workers shoulders with backstage politics?
John Cena Announces His Retirement July 6, 2024
Its hard to imagine John Cena retiring.
But Cena has never been away for any massive length of time.
Weve never gotten the chance to trulymissJohn Cena.
Cena has stated that after 2025, hes done for good.
