American actor and professional wrestler (born )
For the song, see John Cena (song).
John Felix Anthony Cena (SEE-nə; born April 23, )[11] is an American actor and professional wrestler. As a wrestler, he has been signed to WWE since [update] and is a record time world champion as recognized by WWE alongside Ric Flair,[a] he is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.[12][13][14]
Cena moved to California in to pursue a bodybuilding career and switched to professional wrestling in , making his debut for Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW). In , he signed with WWE (then WWF) and was assigned to its developmental territoryOhio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he won the OVW Heavyweight Championship and OVW Southern Tag Team Championship.[15][16] After moving up to WWE's main roster on SmackDown in , he became a breakout success after adopting the character of a villainous trash-talking rapper.[17][18] After winning his first WWE Championship in , he underwent a face turn into a clean-cut heroic character, which he described as a "goody-two shoesSuperman".[19] He led the company as its franchise player[20] and public face from the mids to the late s.[21]
Cena has held the WWE Championship a record 13 times and the World Heavyweight Championship three times. He is also a five-time WWE United States Champion, a two-time WWE Tag Team Champion, a two-time World Tag Team Champion, a two-time Royal Rumble winner, and a one-time Money in the Bank winner. He has headlined multiple major WWE pay-per-views, including its flagship event WrestleMania five times (22, 23, 27, 28 and 29). His career has been met with mixed critical and audience reception, with praise for his character work and promotional skills but criticism for his perceived over-representation and on-screen dominance relative to other wrestlers.[20]
Cena's first starring film role was in The Marine () and he subsequently gained praise for his performances in Trainwreck (), Ferdinand (), Blockers (), and Bumblebee ().[22] He starred as Jakob Toretto in F9 () and Fast X () and portrayed Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad () and the eponymous television series (–present). He released in his only studio album, You Can't See Me, which peaked at number 15 on the Billboard charts. Outside of his work in entertainment, he is known for his involvement in charitable causes, most notably granting the most wishes for the Make-A-Wish Foundation at over
John Felix Anthony Cena was born in West Newbury, Massachusetts, on April 23, ,[7] to Carol (née Lupien) and former Chaotic Wrestling ring announcer John Joseph Cena.[7][24] His mother is of English and French-Canadian descent, while his father has Italian ancestry.[25] He has one older brother named Dan and three younger brothers named Matt, Steve, and Sean.[26] He was raised Catholic. His maternal grandfather was baseball player Tony Lupien,[27] while his maternal great-grandfather was businessman Ulysses J. Lupien.[25] He is also a cousin of computer scientist Natalie Enright Jerger. A childhood fan of wrestling, he would create championship belts out of cardboard for himself and his brothers.[24] He was teased and beaten up while in school, prompting him to ask his parents for a weightlifting bench at the age of [25]
Cena was educated at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts, before transferring to the private prep boarding school Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. He then attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts,[28] where he was an NCAA Division IIIAll-Americancenter and football team captain.[29][30] He graduated in with a degree in exercise physiology and body movement,[31] after which he pursued a bodybuilding career[30] and worked as a limousine driver.[32] He also worked in the store area of Gold's Gym.[33]
Cena idolized Hulk Hogan growing up,[17][26] moving to California in [34] to begin training for a professional wrestling career the following year at Ultimate Pro Wrestling's (UPW) Ultimate University, operated by Rick Bassman.[7] He started wrestling in local flea markets,[24][33] and once he was placed into an in-ring role, Cena began using a semi-robotic character known as The Prototype.[2][35] Some of this period of his career was documented in the Discovery Channel program Inside Pro Wrestling School.[22] He held the UPW Heavyweight Championship for 27 days in April ,[36] and wrestled for the UPW until March [37]
On October 10, , Cena made his unofficial debut for WWE (then WWF) on a SmackDown! taping in a dark match against Mikey Henderson, which he lost while performing as The Prototype.[38] He received another tryout at a SmackDown! taping on January 9, , defeating Aaron Aguilera before wrestling again in a dark match at a SmackDown! taping on March [39]
In , Cena signed a developmental contract with the WWF and was assigned to its developmental territoryOhio Valley Wrestling (OVW).[7][39] During his time there, he continued to wrestle as The Prototype and held the OVW Heavyweight Championship for three months and the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (with Rico Constantino)[30][34] for two months.[15][16] Throughout the early months of , Cena found himself competing on house shows for the WWF, where he wrestled against the likes of Shelton Benjamin and Tommy Dreamer. After his main roster call-up in June , 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 Hall of FamerBig Boss Man and Charlie Haas in a winning effort against Lance Cade, Trevor Murdoch, and Sean O'Haire.[39]
Cena's call-up to the main roster meant that he was part of OVW's Class of alongside Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, and Dave Bautista, which eventually became known as the "OVW 4".[34]
Under his real name, Cena made his WWE television debut on the June 27 episode of SmackDown! by answering an open challenge by Kurt Angle.[30] After declaring he possessed "ruthless aggression", he lost by a pinning combination, but put on a good showing.[40] After the match, he was congratulated by Billy Kidman, Faarooq, Rikishi, and The Undertaker, becoming a fan favorite.[7] He began feuding with Chris Jericho, whom Cena defeated on July 21 at Vengeance.[7][40]
In October, Cena and Billy Kidman failed to win a tag team tournament to crown the first WWE Tag Team Champions of the SmackDown!brand in the first round.[41] The next week on SmackDown!, Cena turned on and attacked Kidman, blaming him for their loss and turning heel for the first and only time in his WWE career.[40] On the October 17 episode of SmackDown!, Cena defeated Kidman,[42] but lost in a rematch the next week.[43] At Rebellion on October 26, Cena and Dawn Marie lost to Kidman and Torrie Wilson in a mixed tag team match.[44] Shortly after, on a Halloween-themed episode of SmackDown!, Cena dressed as Vanilla Ice, performing a freestyle rap.[40] The following week on SmackDown!, Cena received a new character: a rapper who cut promos while rhyming.[40][7] He used the nickname "The Doctor of Thuganomics" and expanded his gimmick to include rapping before his matches, wearing hats and sports jerseys as part of his ring gear.[7] While on a bus journey with other WWE superstars, Cena was involved in a freestyle rap session with Rikishi and Rey Mysterio, impressing Stephanie McMahon, leading to the gimmick's adoption.[18] As the character evolved, Cena began adopting a variant of the s WWF logo—dropping the "F"—as his "signature symbol", along with the slogan "Word Life".[45] Moreover, he was joined by an enforcer, Bull Buchanan, who was rechristened to B-2 (also written B² and pronounced "B-Squared").[7] Buchanan was replaced with Red Dogg until he was sent to the Raw brand in February.[7][40]
Cena then sought the WWE Championship, held by Brock Lesnar. He entered a number one contender's tournament for the title, gaining upset wins over Eddie Guerrero,[46] The Undertaker[47] and Chris Benoit.[48] At Backlash on April 27, Cena failed to win the title from Lesnar.[49] On May 18 at Judgment Day, Cena and The F.B.I. (Chuck Palumbo and Johnny Stamboli) defeated Benoit, Rhyno and Spanky.[50] At Vengeance on July 27, Cena lost to The Undertaker.[40][51] After losing to Kurt Angle at No Mercy on October 19,[52] Cena became a fan-favorite when he joined Angle as a member of his team on November 16 at Survivor Series.[53]
Cena participated in the Royal Rumble match at Royal Rumble on January 25, , but was eliminated by Big Show.[54] At No Way Out on February 15, Cena faced Big Show and Kurt Angle in a triple threat match for a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania XX, which Cena lost by submission to Angle.[55] At WrestleMania on March 14, Cena defeated Big Show to win the United States Championship, his first singles championship in WWE.[56] He retained the title against Rene Dupree on May 16 at Judgment Day,[57] and in a fatal four-way match involving Dupree, Rob Van Dam and Booker T at The Great American Bash on June 27,[58] until he was stripped of the title on the July 8 episode of SmackDown! by Kurt Angle (the SmackDown! General Manager) after accidentally attacking him in his wheelchair.[59] Cena won the title back by defeating Booker T in a best of five series that started on August 15 at SummerSlam[60] and culminated on October 3 at No Mercy,[61] only to drop it to the débuting Carlito Caribbean Cool the following week on SmackDown!.[62] The duo began a feud which resulted in Cena allegedly being stabbed in the kidney while at a Boston-area nightclub by Carlito's bodyguard, Jesús; this worked "injury" was used to keep Cena out of action for a month while he was filming The Marine.[7][39] After returning on November 14 at Survivor Series, Cena won the United States Championship back from Carlito on the November 18 episode of SmackDown!.[63] He retained the title against Jesús at Armageddon on December 12 in a street fight.[64]
On January 30, , Cena took part in the Royal Rumble match, making it to the final two. He and Batista went over the top rope at the same time, at first ending the match but the match was restarted and won by Batista.[65] At No Way Out on February 20, Cena defeated Kurt Angle to earn a spot in the SmackDown! brand's WrestleMania 21main event match,[66] beginning a feud with then WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) and his Cabinet in the process. In the early stages of the feud, Cena lost the United States Championship to Cabinet member Orlando Jordan.[67] At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Cena defeated JBL to win the WWE Championship, his first world championship.[68] Now with a spinner WWE Championship belt, JBL took the original title belt and claimed he was still the WWE Champion,[7] until Cena defeated him in an "I Quit" match at Judgment Day on May 22 to retain the title.[69]
Cena was drafted to the Raw brand on the June 6 episode of Raw, becoming the first wrestler selected in the annual draft lottery.[70] Cena immediately entered into a feud with Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff, after refusing to participate in the "war" against the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) roster at the ECW One Night Stand.[71] At Vengeance on June 26, Cena retained the title against Christian and Chris Jericho in a triple threat match.[72] With Bischoff vowing to make Cena's stint on Raw difficult, he hand-picked Jericho to take Cena's championship from him.[7] During their feud, even though Cena was portrayed as the "face" (hero) and Jericho as the "heel" (villain), a vocal section of the live crowds, nonetheless, were cheering Jericho and booing Cena during their matches, most notably on August 21 at SummerSlam, when Cena defeated Jericho to retain the title.[73] Crowds booed Cena again during his next feud with Kurt Angle, who took over as Bischoff's hand-picked #1 contender after Cena defeated Jericho in a You're Fired match on the August 22 episode of Raw.[74][7] Cena held on to the WWE Championship through his feud with Angle, losing to him by disqualification on September 18 at Unforgiven,[75] pinning Shawn Michaels in a triple threat match involving Angle at Taboo Tuesday on November 1,[76] and pinning Angle on November 27 at Survivor Series.[77] The feud with Angle saw Cena add a secondary, submission based, finishing maneuver—the STFU (a stepover toehold sleeper, though named for a stepover toehold facelock)—when he was put into a triple threat submissions only match on the November 28 episode of Raw.[78]
At New Year's Revolution on January 8, , Cena retained the WWE Championship in the Elimination Chamber match after last eliminating Carlito, but immediately afterwards, Mr. McMahon announced Edge was cashing in his Money in the Bank contract—a "guaranteed title match against the WWE Champion at a time and place of the owner's choosing". Two quick spears allowed Edge to pin Cena and win the championship.[79] Cena won the title back on January 29 at Royal Rumble.[79] After that, Cena began feuding with Triple H. The crowd, which had mostly cheered Cena over the previous few months, started booing him again and cheering the villain Triple H.[7] Cena beat Triple H at WrestleMania 22 on April 2 to retain the title.[80] The negative reaction towards him intensified when he faced Rob Van Dam at ECW One Night Stand on June 11 which took place in front of a boisterous crowd of mostly original ECW fans at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Cena was met with raucous jeering and chants of "Fuck you, Cena", "You can't wrestle", and "Same old shit". When he began performing different moves as the match progressed, the fans started chanting "You still suck".[7] Cena lost the WWE Championship to Van Dam after interference from Edge.[81]
On the July 3 episode of Raw, Edge won the championship from Van Dam in a triple threat match that also involved Cena, re-igniting their feud.[82] After Edge went about retaining the title by dubious means—getting himself disqualified (for which championships do not change hands)—and using brass knuckles on August 20 at SummerSlam[81] he introduced his own version of Cena's "custom" title belt, this one with his logo placed on the spinner.[7] Cena eventually regained the championship in a match and an arena of Edge's choice: a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match on September 17 at Unforgiven at the Air Canada Centre in Edge's hometown of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, after performing the FU on Edge through two tables off a ladder; the match had a stipulation that had Cena lost, he would have joined the SmackDown! brand.[83] Cena returned with his version of the spinner title belt on the next night's Raw.[84]
On the heels of his feud with Edge, Cena was placed in an inter-brand angle to determine the "Champion of Champions"—or which was the most dominant champion in WWE's three brands. Cena, World Heavyweight Champion King Booker, and ECW World Champion Big Show were booked in a triple threat match at Cyber Sunday, with the viewers voting on which of the three championships would be placed on the line.[85] At the same time, Cena was involved in a storyline with non-wrestler Kevin Federline, who appeared on Raw with Johnny Nitro and Melina. After getting into a worked physical altercation with Federline on Raw,[7] Federline appeared on November 5 at Cyber Sunday to hit Cena with the World Heavyweight Championship during the match, helping King Booker retain his title.[81] On the January 1 episode of Raw, Cena was pinned by Federline with an assist from Umaga.[86] At New Year's Revolution on January 7, , Cena defeated Umaga to end his undefeated streak and retain the WWE Championship.[87][88] At Royal Rumble on January 28, Cena retained the title against Umaga in a Last Man Standing match.[89]
One night after the Royal Rumble, an impromptu team of Cena and Shawn Michaels defeated Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) for the World Tag Team Championship, making Cena a double champion.[90] At WrestleMania 23 on April 1, Cena retained the WWE Championship against Michaels.[91] The next night on Raw, Michaels turned on Cena, costing them the tag titles in the second of two team battle royals, by throwing Cena over the top rope and eliminating the team. The Hardys (Matt and Jeff) won the match and the titles.[92] Cena retained the WWE Championship against Michaels, Orton, and Edge in a fatal four-way match on April 29 at Backlash.[93]The Great Khali then declared his intentions to challenge for Cena's championship, attacking and "laying out" all three of the top contenders before assaulting Cena and stealing the title belt.[94][95] On May 20 at Judgment Day, Cena became the first person to defeat Khali by submission[96] and then by pinfall on June 3 at One Night Stand in a Falls Count Anywhere match.[97] Cena retained the WWE Championship in a five-pack challenge on June 24 at Vengeance: Night of Champions,[98] and against Bobby Lashley on July 22 at The Great American Bash.[99] Later that summer, Randy Orton was named the #1 contender for Cena's championship.[] Leading up to SummerSlam on August 26, Orton delivered a number of sneak-attacks, performing three RKOs to Cena, who in the actual match at SummerSlam, retained the championship.[] A rematch took place at Unforgiven on September 16, which Orton won by disqualification after Cena ignored the referee's instructions and continued to beat on him in the corner.[]
During a match with Mr. Kennedy on the October 1 episode of Raw, Cena suffered a legitimate torn pectoral muscle while executing a hip toss.[] Though finishing the match and taking part in the scripted attack by Orton after the match, surgery the following day found that his pectoralis major muscle was torn completely from the bone. At the time, it was estimated this would require six months to a year of rehabilitation.[][] As a result, Cena was stripped of the title by Mr. McMahon on the next night's episode of ECW,[] ending the longest WWE Championship reign in over 19 years.[7] Cena's surgery was performed by orthopedic surgeon James Andrews at St. Vincent's Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.[] Two weeks later in a video update on , Dr. Andrews and Cena's physical trainer both said that he was several weeks ahead of where he was expected to be in his rehabilitation at that time.[]
On January 27, , at Royal Rumble, Cena made a surprise return as the final participant of the eponymous match, winning it and the traditional WrestleMania XXIV title shot, last eliminating Triple H.[] Instead of waiting until WrestleMania, the shot was cashed in against WWE Champion Randy Orton at No Way Out on February 17, winning by disqualification, therefore not being awarded the title.[] The following night on Raw, Cena was placed back into WrestleMania's WWE Championship match on March 30, defeating Orton in a non-title match with Triple H as special guest referee, making it a triple threat match,[] during which he was pinned by Orton.[] On April 27 at Backlash, Cena failed to regain the title in a fatal four-way elimination match, in which he was eliminated by Orton.[] During the match, Cena eliminated JBL, renewing their feud from [] Cena defeated JBL on May 18 at Judgment Day[] and at One Night Stand on June 1 in a First Blood match.[] Cena failed to regain the WWE Championship from Triple H on June 29 at Night of Champions.[] JBL defeated Cena in a New York City Parking Lot Brawl at The Great American Bash on July 20 to end their feud.[]
On the August 4 episode of Raw, Cena won his second World Tag Team Championship with Batista, defeating Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase[] but failed to retain the championship the following week against the former champions.[] At SummerSlam on August 17, Batista defeated Cena.[] Cena was named one of four contenders for CM Punk's World Heavyweight Championship in the Championship Scramble match at Unforgiven on September 7, but was replaced by Rey Mysterio after suffering a herniated disc in his neck in his SummerSlam match, which required surgery.[] Cena underwent successful surgery to repair the injury.[][]
Cena made his in-ring return at Survivor Series on November 23, defeating Chris Jericho for his first World Heavyweight Championship.[] He retained the title against Jericho at Armageddon on December [] After defeating JBL at the Royal Rumble on January 25, ,[] Cena lost the championship at No Way Out on February 15 to Edge, who attacked Kofi Kingston and took his place in the Elimination Chamber match.[] Cena won his rematch for the title at WrestleMania 25 on April 5 in a triple threat match involving Big Show.[] He lost the championship back to Edge in a Last Man Standing match at Backlash on April 26 after interference from Big Show, who chokeslammed Cena through a spotlight.[] Cena defeated Big Show at Judgment Day on May 17[] and Extreme Rules on June 7 in a submission match by applying the STF.[] During Cena's feud with Big Show, The Miz challenged him to a match on the April 27 episode of Raw, but as Cena was out due to injury, The Miz claimed an unofficial win via forfeit and continued to do this over the following weeks,[] until Cena defeated The Miz at The Bash on June []
At Night of Champions on July 26, Cena challenged for the WWE Championship in a triple threat match against Triple H and defending champion Randy Orton (a rematch from WrestleMania XXIV), but was pinned by Orton after interference from Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase.[] The next night on Raw, Cena won a beat the clock challenge to earn another shot at the WWE Championship at SummerSlam on August 23,[] where Orton used underhanded tactics to retain.[] At Breaking Point on September 13, Cena defeated Orton in an "I Quit" match to win his fourth WWE Championship.[] He lost the title back to Orton in a Hell in a Cell match on October 4 at Hell in a Cell,[] but regained it at Bragging Rights on October 25 in a sixty-minute Anything Goes Iron Man match.[] Cena retained the title against both Triple H and Shawn Michaels in a triple threat match at Survivor Series on November 22[] but lost it to Sheamus on December 13 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in a tables match.[] The next night on Raw, Cena competed in a tournament to crown the Superstar of the Year, defeating CM Punk in the first round and Orton in the finals later that night to win the honor.[] He would get his rematch for the title against Sheamus on the December 28 episode of Raw, where he won by disqualification, but did not win the championship.[]
At Royal Rumble on January 31, , Cena competed in the titular match, making it to the final two where he was eliminated by the returning Edge.[] Cena regained the title at Elimination Chamber on February 21 in the eponymous match, but his reign was cut short after Mr. McMahon made him defend the title immediately against Batista, who emerged victorious.[] Cena defeated Batista at WrestleMania XXVI on March 28 for the title,[] and successfully defended it in a rematch at Extreme Rules on April 25 in a Last Man Standing match.[] Cena defeated Batista for a third time in an "I Quit" match at Over the Limit on May 23, ending their feud.[]
See also: The Nexus
On the June 7 episode of Raw, during a match against CM Punk, Cena was attacked by all eight former contestants of the first season of NXT, with Wade Barrett as their leader. This group later referred to itself as The Nexus.[] The stable's interferences made him lose the WWE Championship at Fatal 4-Way on June 20 to Sheamus[] and a steel cage match against Sheamus on July 18 at Money in the Bank.[] In response to The Nexus, Cena formed an alliance with Edge, Chris Jericho, John Morrison, R-Truth, The Great Khali and Bret Hart, defeating The Nexus at SummerSlam on August 15 with help from the returning Daniel Bryan, a former member of The Nexus, who replaced Khali.[]
Cena faced Barrett at Hell in a Cell on October 3 with the stipulations that if he were to lose, he would join The Nexus, and if he were to win, The Nexus would disband. After Barrett defeated Cena, he reluctantly joined The Nexus.[] Cena and fellow Nexus member David Otunga defeated Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre to win the WWE Tag Team Championship on October 24 at Bragging Rights.[] Later that night, he was forced to help Barrett defeat Orton in a WWE Championship match, giving Barrett the disqualification win, but not the title.[] The following night on Raw, Cena and Otunga lost the titles to fellow Nexus members Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel, when Barrett ordered Otunga to lie down and lose the titles.[] At Survivor Series on November 21, Cena officiated a match for the WWE Championship between Barrett and Orton. Per stipulation, if Barrett didn't win the championship, Cena would be "fired" from the WWE; Orton defeated Barrett to retain the title, and Cena was fired (kayfabe).[]
The following night on Raw, Cena gave a farewell speech before costing Barrett the WWE Championship by interfering in his rematch with Orton.[] A week later, Cena invaded Raw, first as a spectator, but then attacked members of The Nexus, explaining he would still take down The Nexus one by one despite not being employed.[] On the December 13 episode of Raw, Cena was rehired by Barrett in exchange that he would face him on December 19 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in a chairs match,[] which Cena won.[]
On the January 17, , episode of Raw, Cena returned and faced CM Punk (who had assumed leadership of The Nexus and subsequently renamed the stable as The New Nexus) in a match which ended in a no contest after Cena was attacked by the debuting Mason Ryan, who later joined The New Nexus.[] Cena competed in the Royal Rumble match on January 30, which saw Cena eliminate most of the members of The New Nexus, ending his feud with the stable. He made it to the final five before being eliminated by WWE Champion The Miz, who was not part of the match.[] Cena won the titular match at Elimination Chamber on February 20 to face The Miz at WrestleMania XXVII for the WWE Championship.[][]
On the February 21 episode of Raw, Cena replied in rap form to comments made by The Rock