About
John Cena...
John Felix Anthony Cena, Jr. (born April 23, 1977), is an American professional wrestler,
Hip hop music artist and actor who is signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its RAW brand where he is the reigning
WWE Champion and one half of the World Tag Team Champions with Shawn Michaels.
Early
Career:
Cena
first started training to become a wrestler in 2000 at the California-based Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) where he created
the character The Prototype. After UPW, he was signed to a World Wrestling Entertainment developmental contract and assigned
to "farm territory" Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW).
During
his time in OVW, he also appeared on the UPN reality show Manhunt under the pseudonym "Big Tim Kingman", the "lead hunter"
in a team "hunting" contestant with paint ball guns. The show was produced in association with WWE. It was later revealed
that many of the scenes in the show were re-shot or staged to enhance the drama, contests were rigged to eliminate contestants,
and other contestants read from scripts. As a result of the controversy, WWE has never referenced the show or Cena's part
in it.
World
Wrestling Entertainment:
2002-2003
Cena's
first televised WWE match was in answer to an open challenge by Kurt Angle on June 27, 2002. Inspired by Vince McMahon's speech to WWE's rising stars,
exhorting them to show "ruthless aggression" to earn a place among the legends, Cena took advantage of the opportunity and
almost beat Kurt Angle kicking out of the Angle Slam and enduring the ankle Lock submission hold, but ultimately lost to a
hard, amateur-style pin.
Cena
then played the role of a typical underdog face in each match. After losing alongside Billy Kidman in a tournament match for
the WWE Tag Team Championships, Cena turned heel, blaming Kidman for the loss. Shortly after his heel turn, on a Halloween
episode of SmackDown!, he performed a freestyle rap for Stephanie McMahon while wearing a Vanilla Ice costume prompting a
gimmick change to a white rapper. At first, this gimmick got Cena heel heat from the fans, but his frequent comical "freestyles"
about other wrestlers helped to gain him a following. During this time Cena adopted the classic WWF logo (without the "F")
along with the slogan "Word Life" as his "signature symbol". He was joined by an enforcer, first B-2 (also written as B˛,
pronounced "B-Squared"), who was later replaced by Rodney Mack under the moniker "Red Dogg".
Cena
eventually received a shot at the WWE Championship after the Champion Brock Lesnar almost ended his career during a previous
match between the two. During the feud he unveiled a new signature finishing maneuver, the F-U, as a counterpart to Lesnar's
similar F-5 (the name being derived from a combination of "F-5" and the shorthand for "Fuck You"). Cena was unsuccessful at
winning the WWE title. He later turned face and started a new feud with Lesnar as a part of Team Angle against Team Lesnar,
establishing his signature "you can't see me" catch phrase and hand gesture in the process.
2004
During
2004 Cena's popularity began to increase. At the start of the year, he participated in the annual January Royal Rumble, lasting
up to the final 6 before being eliminated by Big Show. After the elimination Cena and Big Show began a feud, leading to Cena
winning the United States Championship from Big Show in a match at March's WrestleMania XX. Cena claimed the title, his first
in WWE, by distracting the ref and using his signature brass knuckles on Big Show before hitting him with the F-U. In July
he was stripped of the title by SmackDown! General Manager Kurt Angle, whom he had a contentious relationship with, after
"attacking" him.
He
won the title back at October's No Mercy after winning the final match of a Best-of-5 series with Booker T. This second reign
was short-lived, however, as he lost the title to the debuting Carlito in the very next weeks SmackDown!.
This
started a feud with Carlito. The storyline said Cena was attacked in a Boston
nightclub by Carlito's bodyguard, Jesús, who stabbed him in the kidney, keeping him out of action for a month. In truth, this
event was set up to allow Cena time off to film The Marine. Upon his return, Cena exacted revenge on Carlito in a SmackDown!
match, winning back the U.S. title. During this reign he debuted
a "custom made" spinner style title belt.
2005
At
the 2005 Royal Rumble, Cena and Batista went over the top rope at the same time to end the match, prompting Vince McMahon
to demand the match be restarted and go into "sudden death".
With
Batista winning, and choosing to vie for the (RAW exclusive) World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 21, SmackDown!
held a tournament to determine #1 contendership for the their top title, the WWE Championship. In the tournament finals Cena
pinned Kurt Angle to win the WrestleMania title shot.
In
the following weeks, Cena feuded with champion John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) and his Cabinet, including losing his United States
Championship to Cabinet member Orlando Jordan, who (with JBL) proceeded to "blow up" the custom spinner belt. It was during
this feud that Cena first began referring to his fans as "Chain Gang Soldiers" (often shorted to just "Chain Gang").
On
April 3, at WrestleMania 21, Cena defeated JBL to win the WWE Championship. As part of the storyline, he then had a custom
WWE Championship belt made similar to his custom U.S. title
belt, featuring a spinner-type WWE logo plate. This belt also featured a 'winged eagle' at the top, which is a staple of the
WWE Championship belts. Meanwhile, JBL took the original belt and claimed he was still the WWE Champion until Cena reclaimed
that belt following an "I Quit" match at Judgment Day in May.
On
the June 6th episode of RAW, John Cena became the first wrestler selected in the annual draft lottery, when Eric Bischoff
drafted him from SmackDown! over to RAW. Upon arriving on RAW, Cena immediately entered a program with Chris Jericho and Christian,
two wrestlers with strong cult followings. Taking on these two began a trend of "fan backlash" against Cena.
During
this feud Cena made enemies with RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff, because he didn't wish to play Bischoff's political games.
Bischoff vowed to make Cena's stint on RAW difficult and chose Chris Jericho to take Cena's title from him.
On
August 22, Cena beat Jericho in a "You're Fired" match for the WWE Championship
- despite interference from Bischoff which included giving Cena a low-blow and handing Jericho
a pair of brass knuckles. After the match, with Jericho now off of RAW due to his loss, Kurt Angle came to the ring and attacked
Cena, with Bischoff revealing that Angle was his new "hand picked" number one contender for Cena's world title. Despite Angle's
failed attempts to attain heel heat through their feud, the fans continued to cheer him and boo Cena.
After
several weeks, Angle and Cena main evented September's Unforgiven, where Cena hit Angle with the WWE title belt, losing by
disqualification but remaining champion (titles don't change hands on a disqualification). They met again at November's Survivor
Series, with Cena picking up a clean win this time.
The
night after, Bischoff put Cena in the ring against Kurt Angle and Chris Masters in a triple threat submission match for the
title, which Cena won by making Masters tap out for the first time to his new submission maneuver, the STFU. Its name is derived
from a combination of the STF name (although Cena's submission resembles an STS), and his other move, the F-U.
When
Vince McMahon returned to RAW to put Bischoff "on trial" in December, Cena made his opinion of Bischoff known and eventually
helped Vince McMahon remove Bischoff from the show by delivering the F-U to the former RAW GM, effectively ending the hostilities
he had with Bischoff.
2006
Cena
successfully defended his WWE Championship in an Elimination Chamber at the January New Years Revolution to kick off 2006.
After the match, however, Vince McMahon appeared on the stage and announced that Cena was going to have to defend the title
again, this time against Edge, who was cashing in his previously earned Money in the Bank title shot. Edge delivered two spears
to a battered, bloody, and exhausted Cena, pinning him in short order to win the WWE Championship. Cena's championship reign
ended at 280 days, matching that of previous champion JBL.
Three
weeks, to the day, after losing the title Cena defeated Edge at the Royal Rumble to regain the WWE Championship. During this
time WWE announcers, most notably Jim Ross, were forced to acknowledge the negative reactions Cena was getting and began to
refer to him as a "controversial champion" saying that he was alienating some fans with his "unorthodox style".
Jerry
Lawler would often suggest that Cena was too young, "edgy" and original for the older audience to appreciate. Cena continued
to polarize crowds leading up to WrestleMania 22, during which he was soundly jeered by half the crowd during his main event
win over Triple H, a victory by submission. Vince McMahon was reportedly upset by fans' negativity, though Cena stated that
the fans "obviously had a choice in deciding whom they wanted to root for".
The
crowd began to cheer Cena once again after April's Backlash, most notably when he began to side with the popular Shawn Michaels
in matches against the Spirit Squad. After Cena stopped taking part in this angle and moved on to working against Rob Van
Dam there was once again a notable mixture of cheers and boos in most arena's he visited, with some being more pro-Cena and
some more against him.
On
the May 22nd edition of RAW, Rob Van Dam informed Cena that he intended to cash in the Money in the Bank title match contract
he won at WrestleMania at the upcoming Extreme Championship Wrestling One Night Stand pay-per-view event. The event saw Cena
get his most negative reaction yet from the very pro-ECW crowd, including profanity-laced chants and anti-Cena signs (most
memorably one reading, "If Cena wins, we riot," which has been used since then, with different names in place of Cena's).
Cena was visibly affected, and tried to use moves outside of his usual moveset in order to play to the crowd. The crowd responded
with "You still suck". Cena lost the title at the event when Edge appeared from under the ring and speared Cena through a
table, setting him up for Van Dam's Five Star Frog Splash. With two referees "knocked out" (the first by Cena, the second
by Edge) Paul Heyman ran down the entrance aisle and counted the three count, giving Van Dam the win and his first World Title.
On the next nights RAW Paul Heyman announced that the title change was official, as the match was under "Extreme rules". Coincidently,
both of his WWE Championship losses in 2006 were as a result of the Money in the Bank title contract.
When
Edge won the title from Van Dam in a Triple Threat match (also involving Cena) it re-ignited the feud between Edge and Cena.
The opening stages of the feud saw Edge taking constant shortcuts in order to keep his title (losing by disqualification)
while still seemingly getting positive reactions from most crowds. This lead to a Cena and Edge match at SummerSlam in a match
where, if Edge was disqualified, he would not only lose the match but his title. Edge ultimately defeated Cena by pinfall
after hitting him with a pair of brass knuckles while the referee was distracted to retain the title. Around this time Cena
began a shift in his ring attire and mannerisms, utilizing things more military related, while promotion for his film The
Marine was going on.
Having
beaten Cena, Edge debuted a new "Rated R" version of the spinner belt, having Lita toss Cena's version into the Long Island
Sound and declaring "the end of the era of Cena in [his] life". The "Rated R" belt looked almost exactly like the "Spinner"
belt that came before it, only with a spinning 'Rated R Superstar' logo in the center. Cena would not go quietly however,
convincing Edge to give him one more match for the title with an added stipulation -- if Cena lost, he would leave RAW for
SmackDown!. Edge accepted, on the grounds that the match also be a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at Unforgiven in his
hometown of Toronto. In their match Cena defeated Edge, retrieving the title after
hitting an F-U on Edge from the top of a ladder and through two stacked tables. He brought back the original spinner belt
on the following night's RAW.
Following
the Edge feud Cena was placed in an interbrand program to determine the "Champion of Champions". Cena, along with King Booker
(SmackDown!'s World Heavyweight Champion) and The Big Show (ECW's World Heavyweight Champion), were engaged in a mini-feud
leading to a match at Cyber Sunday where one of the three championships would be placed on the line.
At
the same time Cena became involved with Kevin Federline when he began appearing on RAW at the side of Johnny Nitro and Melina.
After getting into a (worked) physical altercation with Federline on RAW Federline appeared at Cyber Sunday, hitting Cena
with the World Heavyweight Title belt during the main event Triple Threat match helping King Booker retain his title.
Cena
and Big Show continued their feud after Cyber Sunday, having a traditional Survivor Series matchup at the 2006 event -- with
Team Cena consisting of Cena, Sabu, Rob Van Dam, Bobby Lashley, and Kane and Team Big Show having The Big Show, Test, Finlay,
Montel Vontavious Porter, and Umaga. Cena and Lashley were the only Survivors. Cena then went on to tag with World Heavyweight
Champion Batista at Armageddon to battle King Booker and Finlay, which saw Batista and Cena emerge victorious after Batista
pinned Booker following a Batista Bomb.
The
year ended with Cena beginning a feud with the undefeated Umaga over the WWE Championship.
2007
2007 began
with Cena wrapping up the Kevin Federline feud by being pinned by him in the first RAW match of the year, after an assist
from Umaga -- although later in the night he was able to get his hands on and F-U Federline. His feud with Umaga continued
on to New Year's Revolution, where Cena retained his championship and ended Umaga's undefeated streak. Their rivalry continued,
with Umaga putting Cena through a table on an episode of RAW and causing a (kayfabe) spleen injury, putting a scheduled Last
Man Standing match title rematch at the Royal Rumble in jeopardy. After refusing to accept medical treatment, fearing a medical
suspension, Cena defeated Umaga in their match with the STFU, choking him a ring rope that had been removed by Estrada at
the same time. One night after the Royal Rumble, an impromptu teaming of Cena and Shawn Michaels found themselves defeating
Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) for the World Tag Team Championship, making Cena a double champion....(thanks to wikipedia)
What about the Wrestle Mania 24???