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Monday, April 13, 2009

John Cena's Biography

John Felix Anthony Cena[6] (born April 23, 1977)[4] is an American actor, hip hop musician, and wrestler. He is currently employed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) working on their Raw brand where he is the current World Heavyweight Champion.

In his WWE career, Cena has been a five-time World Champion (three-time WWE Champion and two-time World Heavyweight Champion),[7] three-time United States Champion,[8] and a two-time World Tag Team Champion.[9] He also won the 2008 Royal Rumble.[10] Before being promoted to the main WWE roster, Cena trained in and wrestled for Ultimate Pro Wrestling and Ohio Valley Wrestling, holding the top titles of both promotions.[11][12]

Outside of wrestling, Cena has released the rap album You Can't See Me, which debuted at #15 on the US Billboard 200 chart,[13] and starred in the feature films The Marine (2006) and 12 Rounds (2009).[14][15] He has also made appearances on television shows including Manhunt, Deal or No Deal,[16] MADtv, and Punk'd. Cena was also a contestant on Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, where he made it to the final round before being eliminated, placing third in the overall competition.[17]


Early life

Cena was born April 23, 1977 in West Newbury, Massachusetts,[4] the second eldest of five brothers – Dan, Matt, Steve and Sean.[18] After graduating from Cushing Academy, Cena attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts.[19] In college he was a Division III All-American center on the football team,[20] wearing the number 54,[19] which is still used on some of his WWE merchandise.[21][22] He graduated from Springfield in 1998 with a degree in exercise physiology,[23] after which he pursued a career as a bodybuilder,[24][25] and also worked as a chauffeur for a limousine company.[26]

Wrestling career

Training

Cena first started training to become a wrestler in 2000 at the California-based "Ultimate University" operated by Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW). Once he was placed into an in-ring role, Cena began using a semi-robotic character known as The Prototype.[27][28] Some of this period of his career was documented in the Discovery Channel program Inside Pro Wrestling School.[25] While in UPW, Cena held the Heavyweight Championship for just shy of a month in April 2000.[11] In 2001, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) signed him away from UPW, placing him under a developmental contract and assigning him to their "farm territory" Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he continued his training.[29] During his time there, Cena wrestled as both The Prototype and Mr. P, and he held the Heavyweight Championship for three months and the Tag Team Championship (with Rico Constantino) for two.[12][30][31]

World Wrestling Entertainment (2002-present)

2002-2003

Cena performing an FU to Kurt Angle.

Cena's first televised WWE match was in answer to a kayfabe open challenge by Kurt Angle on June 27, 2002.[32] Inspired by a speech given by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to the rising stars of the company, exhorting them to show "ruthless aggression" to earn a place among the legends, Cena took advantage of the opportunity and almost beat Angle by kicking out of his Angle Slam and enduring the ankle lock submission hold.[33] He ultimately lost, however, to a hard, amateur-style pin.[33] Following the near-win, Cena became a face and was put into a program with Chris Jericho.[32] In October, Cena and Billy Kidman joined forces to take part in a tag team tournament to crown the first WWE Tag Team Champions of the SmackDown! brand, but lost in the first round.[34] The next week, Cena turned on and attacked Kidman, blaming him for their loss.[32]

Shortly after the Kidman attack, on a Halloween themed episode of SmackDown!, Cena dressed as Vanilla Ice and performed a freestyle rap.[32] The next week, Cena received a new gimmick: a rapper who cut promos in rhyme.[32] As the gimmick grew, he adopted a variant of the 80s WWF logo — dropping the "F" — as his "signature symbol", along with the slogan "Word Life".[35] Moreover, he was joined by an enforcer, Bull Buchanan, who was rechristened B-2 (also written B² and pronounced "B-Squared").[32] Buchanan was later replaced by Rodney Mack under the moniker "Red Dogg",[32] until he was sent to the Raw brand in February.

For the first half of 2003, Cena sought the WWE Championship and chased the reigning champion, Brock Lesnar, performing weekly "freestyles" challenging him to matches.[36][37][38] During the program, Cena unveiled a new finishing maneuver: the FU, a Fireman's carry powerslam, so named to mock Lesnar's F-5.[39] He got a match against Lesnar at April's Backlash by winning a number one contenders tournament,[32] but did not get the title.[40] At the end of the year he became a face again when he joined Kurt Angle as a member of his Survivor Series team at the 2003 pay-per-view.[41][42]

2004-2005

Cena, wearing his customized U.S. Championship belt

In early 2004, Cena participated in the Royal Rumble match at the annual January pay-per-view event,[43] making it to the final six participants before being eliminated by Big Show.[44] The Royal Rumble elimination led to a feud between Big Show and Cena,[45][46] during which Cena won the United States Championship from the Big Show at WrestleMania XX in March.[47] During his reign, he came into contention with SmackDown! General Manager Kurt Angle over issues arising with René Duprée and Torrie Wilson.[48] The reign ended just shy of four months when, on July 8, he was "stripped" of the belt by Angle after he (kayfabe, accidentally) knocked him over, thus "attacking an official".[49] He won the title back by defeating Booker T in a "best of five" series that culminated at October's No Mercy,[50] only to lose it to the debuting Carlito Caribbean Cool the next week.[51] After the loss to Carlito, the duo began a feud, during which Cena was (kayfabe) stabbed in the kidney while at a Boston-area nightclub by Carlito's bodyguard, Jesús.[52][53] This worked injury was used to keep Cena out of action for a month, during which Cena was actually filming his feature film debut The Marine.[30] Immediately on his return in November, he won the US title back from Carlito and debuted a "custom made" spinner-style title belt.[54][55]

Cena took part in the Royal Rumble in January 2005, this time making it to the final two. He and Raw brand wrestler Batista went over the top rope at the same time, ostensibly ending the match. Vince McMahon, however, appeared on stage and re-started the match in "sudden death", with Batista eventually winning.[56] The next month, Cena defeated Kurt Angle to earn a spot in the SmackDown! brand's WrestleMania 21 main event,[57] beginning a feud with WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) and his Cabinet in the process. In the opening stages of the feud, Cena lost his US belt to Cabinet member Orlando Jordan,[58] who proceeded to "blow up" the spinner version with JBL and return a more traditional style belt.[59] When Cena and JBL met at WrestleMania, the title switched hands, giving Cena his first world title in the company.[60] As part of the storyline, he then had a spinner WWE Championship belt made,[61] while JBL took the original belt and claimed to still be WWE Champion,[61] until Cena reclaimed the original belt in an "I Quit" match at Judgment Day.[62]

Cena's SmackDown! tenure came to a close on the June 6, 2005 episode of WWE Raw, when he became the first wrestler selected by Raw brand General Manager Eric Bischoff in the annual draft lottery.[63] Cena immediately entered a program against Bischoff when he refused to participate in his "war" against the upcoming Extreme Championship Wrestling reunion show.[64] With Bischoff vowing to make Cena's stint on Raw difficult, he "hand picked" Jericho to take Cena's title from him.[65] During their feud, even though Cena was portrayed as the face and Jericho as the heel, a vocal section of live crowds nonetheless chose to boo Cena during their matches.[66] More crowds followed suit during Cena's next feud with Kurt Angle,[67] who took over as Bischoff's hand picked number one contender after Cena beat Jericho in a "You're Fired" match on the August 22 Raw, sending him off the show.[68] As the feud continued and the dissenters grew more vocal, sometimes seeming to outnumber fans by wide margins,[69] the announce team was forced to acknowledge the boos on television and began calling Cena a "controversial champion", claiming some people disliked him on account of his "in-ring style" and his chosen fashion.[70] Despite the mixed and negative reactions, Cena held on to his Championship through his feud with Angle, losing to him by disqualification[71] — for which titles do not change hands in WWE — at Unforgiven in September and pinning him at Survivor Series in November.[72] The feud with Angle also saw Cena add a secondary, submission based, finishing maneuver to his repertoire – 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 Raw.[73]

2006-2007

Cena facing off against Edge at a WWE house show.

Cena lost the WWE Championship at the first WWE pay-per-view of 2006, New Year's Revolution, but not in the Elimination Chamber match that he had been advertised to participate in beforehand. Instead, immediately after winning the Elimination Chamber, he was thrust into a match against Edge, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract — a "guaranteed title match at the WWE Champion of the owners choosing" — and after two quick spears pinned Cena for the title.[74] Cena's championship reign ended at 280 days, matching the length of previous champion JBL.[75] Just three weeks later, Cena won the title back at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.[74] After winning the Championship back, Cena was put in to a program with Triple H, during which the crowd again seemed to boo the intended face (Cena) and cheer the intended heel (Triple H).[76][77] The negative reaction only intensified when he faced Rob Van Dam (also cashing in a Money in the Bank contract, which he won at WrestleMania 22) at One Night Stand in June. Taking place in front of a crowd of mostly "old school" Extreme Championship Wrestling 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 peppering different moves into the match the fans responded with a chant of "You still suck". Cena lost the WWE Championship for the second time in 2006 at One Night Stand, being pinned by Van Dam after interference from Edge.[78]

Cena, addressing fans at a Raw show.

In July, after Edge won the title from Van Dam in a Triple Threat match that also involved Cena,[79] it re-ignited the feud between him and Cena from earlier in the year. After Edge went about retaining the title by dubious means — getting himself disqualified[80] (for which Championships do not change hands) and using brass knuckles[78] — he introduced his own version of Cena's "custom" belt, this one with his logo placed on the spinner.[81] Cena eventually won the Championship back in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at September's Unforgiven pay-per-view, in a match that had an added stipulation that had Cena lost he would leave the Raw brand and go to SmackDown!.[82][83] He returned his version of the spinner belt on the next night's Raw.[84]

On the heels of the Edge program, Cena was placed in an inter-brand angle to determine the so-called "Champion of Champions" — or which was the most dominant champion in WWE's three brands. Cena, King Booker (SmackDown!'s then World Heavyweight Champion), and The Big Show (ECW's then World Champion) engaged in a mini-feud leading to a Triple Threat match at Cyber Sunday in November, with the viewers voting on which of the three championships would be placed on the line.[85] At the same time, Cena became involved in a storyline with non-wrestler Kevin Federline when he began appearing on Raw with Johnny Nitro and Melina. After getting into a worked physical altercation with Federline on Raw,[85] Federline appeared at Cyber Sunday to hit Cena with the World Heavyweight Title belt during the main event Triple Threat match, helping King Booker retain his title.[78] 2006 ended with Cena beginning a feud with the undefeated Umaga over the WWE Championship,[86] while 2007 began with the end of his storyline with Kevin Federline. On the first Raw of the new year, Cena was pinned by Federline (with an assist from Umaga), although later in the night he was able to get his hands on Federline to FU him.[87]

During their feud, Cena ended Umaga's "undefeated" streak at New Year's Revolution[88] before Umaga caused a worked injury to Cena's spleen,[89] putting a scheduled Last Man Standing rematch at Royal Rumble in kayfabe jeopardy. The match did, however, take place and Cena retained his title.[90]

Cena putting his hands up meaning "Word Life".

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.[91] On the April 2 episode of Raw, after losing a WWE Championship match to Cena at WrestleMania 23,[92] Michaels "turned" on Cena, costing them the team the Championship in the second of two 10 team battles royals by throwing Cena over the top rope and eliminating the team. The Hardys (Matt and Jeff) eventually won the match and the title.[93] For the rest of the month, Cena feuded with Michaels, Orton, and Edge until The Great Khali declared his intentions to challenge for Cena's title by attacking and "laying out" all three of the top contenders[94] before assaulting Cena himself and stealing the physical belt.[95] For the next two months, Cena feuded with Khali over the Championship, eventually becoming the first person in WWE to defeat him by submission at May's Judgment Day[96][97] and then by pinfall at June's One Night Stand.[98][99] Later that summer, prior to SummerSlam, Randy Orton was named the number one contender to the WWE championship,[100] starting a feud between the two. Leading up to the pay-per-view, Orton delivered a number of sneak-attacks, hitting Cena with three RKOs, but in the actual match, Cena retained the title, winning by pinfall.[101] A rematch between the two occurred at Unforgiven, with Orton winning by disqualification after Cena ignored the referee's instructions and continued to beat on him in the corner.[102]

During a match with Mr. Kennedy on the October 1, 2007 episode of Raw, Cena suffered a legitimate torn pectoral muscle while executing a hip toss.[103] Though he finished the match and took part in the scripted attack by Randy Orton after the match, surgery the following day found that his pectoralis major muscle was torn completely from the bone, estimated at the time to require seven months to a year of rehabilitation.[104][105] As a result, he was stripped of the title in an announcement by Vince McMahon on the next night's episode of ECW,[106] ending what was the longest WWE Championship reign in over 19 years.[107] His surgery was performed by orthopedic surgeon James Andrews at St. Vincent's Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.[103] Two weeks later, in a video update on WWE.com, 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.[108] Despite his injury, Cena attended the annual WWE Tribute to the Troops show filmed at Camp Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq on December 7, and aired on December 24.[109]

2008-present

Cena as one half of the World Tag Team Champions

Cena made an unannounced return to action on January 27 as the final participant of the Royal Rumble match. He won the match, and the traditional WrestleMania title shot, by last eliminating Triple H.[10] Instead of waiting until WrestleMania, the title shot was cashed in against WWE Champion Randy Orton at February's No Way Out,[110] in a match Cena won by disqualification, resulting in him not getting the championship.[111] The night after his No Way Out win, Cena was placed back in to WrestleMania XXIV's WWE Championship match, making it a triple threat match also involving Triple H,[112] during which he was pinned by Orton.[113] At Backlash, Cena failed to regain the title in a Fatal Four-Way elimination match, in which he was pinned by Orton.[114] Triple H won the title during that match. During that match, Cena eliminated John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL),[114] thus renewing their feud from 2005. Cena defeated JBL at Judgment Day and then at One Night Stand in a First Blood match.[115][116] JBL, however, defeated him in a New York City Parking Lot Brawl at The Great American Bash.[117]

On the August 4 edition of Raw, Cena became a World Tag Team Champion for a second time when he teamed up with Batista to defeat Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase for the World Tag Team titles,[118] but they failed to retain the titles the following week against the former champions.[119] Cena was defeated by Batista at the August event, SummerSlam;[120] shortly after, he was named one of four contenders for CM Punk's World Heavyweight Championship in the Championship scramble match at Unforgiven. He was replaced by Rey Mysterio, however, after it was announced Cena had suffered a herniated disk in his neck which would require surgery.[121] Cena underwent successful surgery to repair the injury in August 2008.[122][123]

Cena made his in-ring return during the November 2008 Survivor Series event, where he defeated Chris Jericho to win his first World Heavyweight Championship.[124] The two continued their rivalry up to Armageddon where Cena retained his title by making Jericho submit to the STFU.[125] Cena lost the World title at February's No Way Out event to Edge after Kofi Kingston was attacked by Edge, who took his place in the Elimination Chamber match.[126] Cena was given an opportunity to regain the title at WrestleMania XXV in a Triple Threat match that also involved The Big Show, which Cena won.[127]

In wrestling

Cena applying the STFU on Randy Orton
Cena waves his "You Can't See Me!" taunt in front of Chris Masters before performing the Five Knuckle Shuffle
  • Signature taunts
    • Waving his hand in front of his face, horizontally, to symbolize that "You can't see me!" (2003–present)
    • Pumping up his Reebok Pump sneakers (2004–2006)
    • Putting his hands up while spreading them and putting his thumb sideways and his pinky up, meaning "Word Life" (2002–2009)
    • "Freestyling" on his opponents before his matches (2002–2005)
    • Military salute to the audience (2006–present)
    • His pinky finger, ring finger, and middle finger are up while the index and thumb are down (2009–present)

Championships and accomplishments

Outside of wrestling

Film

Cena, with actual Marines, at the premiere of his film The Marine.

WWE Studios, a division of World Wrestling Entertainment which produces and finances motion pictures, produced Cena's first movie — The Marine, which was distributed theatrically by 20th Century Fox America beginning on October 13, 2006. In its first week, the film made approximately $7 million at the United States box office.[15] After ten weeks in theaters, the film grossed $18.7 million.[15] Once the film was released on DVD, it fared better, making $30 million in rentals in the first twelve weeks.[15]

His second film, also produced by WWE Studios, is 12 Rounds.[144] Filming began on February 25, 2008 in New Orleans;[144][145] the film was released on March 27, 2009.

Guest appearances

Before his WWE debut, Cena made a 2001 appearance on the Internet stream show Go Sick as Bruebaker, an angry, cursing wrestler.[146]

During his WWE career, Cena has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! twice; on July 23, 2005 promoting his CD, the pending SummerSlam pay-per-view, and WWE in general, and again on March 14, 2006 to promote Saturday Night's Main Event and WrestleMania 22. He has also appeared on popular morning radio shows; including the CBS and XM versions of Opie and Anthony as part of their "walkover" on October 10, 2006. Other appearances have included Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Fuse's Celebrity Playlist, Fox Sports Net's The Best Damn Sports Show Period, MADtv, G4's Training Camp (with Shelton Benjamin), and two appearances on MTV's Punk'd (August 2006 and May 2007), as the victim of a practical joke. He also served as a co-presenter, with Hulk Hogan, at the 2005 Teen Choice Awards, as a guest judge during the third week of the 2006 season of Nashville Star, and appeared at the 2007 Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards.[147]

In January 2007, Cena, Batista, and Ashley Massaro appeared representing WWE on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,[148] giving the children of the family whose house was being renovated WWE merchandise and eight tickets to WrestleMania 23.[149] Two months later, he and Bobby Lashley appeared on the NBC game show Deal or No Deal as "moral support" to long time WWE fan and front row staple, Rick "Sign Guy" Achberger. Edge and Randy Orton also appeared, but as antagonists.[16] On April 9, 2008, he, along with fellow wrestlers Triple H and Chris Jericho, appeared on the Idol Gives Back fund-raising special.[150]

Television

In 2001, between his training in Ultimate Pro Wrestling and Ohio Valley Wrestling,[24] Cena was involved in the UPN produced reality show Manhunt. Cena portrayed Big Tim Kingman, leader of the group of bounty hunters who chased down the contestants who acted as fugitives. The show, however, was mired in controversy when it was alleged that the portions of the show were rigged to eliminate certain players, scenes were re-shot or staged to enhance drama and contestants read from scripts.[151][152][153]

He was also featured on the ABC reality series Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, which aired in June 2007.[154] He made it to the final round before being eliminated on June 24, placing third in the competition overall.[17]

In 2007 Cena was also interviewed for the CNN Special Investigations Unit documentary, "Death Grip: Inside Pro Wrestling", which focused on steroid and drug use in professional wrestling. When asked if he had taken steroids he was heard to reply, "I can't tell you that I haven't, but you'll never prove that I have."[155] The day after the documentary aired WWE accused CNN of taking Cena's comments out of context to present a biased point of view, backing up their claim by posting an unedited video of his answering the same question—filmed by WWE cameras from another angle—in which he is heard beginning the same statement with "Absolutely not".[156] A text interview on the website with Cena later had him saying the news outlet should apologize for misrepresenting him,[157] which CNN refused in a statement, saying they felt the true answer to the question began with the phrase "My answer to that question".[158] They did, however, edit the documentary on subsequent airings to include the "Absolutely not".[158]

Cena hosted the Australian Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards with Natalie Bassingthwaighte on October 11, 2008 in Melbourne, Australia.[135]

Endorsements

Before his professional wrestling career, Cena appeared in an advertisement for Gold's Gym.[159] As a wrestler he has endorsed the energy drink YJ Stinger,[160] appearing in commercials beginning in October 2003, and Subway,[161] for whom he filmed advertisements with their spokesperson Jared Fogle in November 2006 that began airing the next January. For a time in 2007 he also endorses two "signature collections" of energy drinks and bars sold by American Body Builders.[162] In 2008 he filmed a commercial as part of Gilette's "Young Guns" NASCAR campaign.[163]

Fashion

For the extent of his WWE career Cena's attire has reflected the hip hop culture that his character represents. He started out wearing "throwback jerseys" until WWE produced specific Cena merchandise which he began wearing.[164] While he was a member of the SmackDown! brand, one of his WWE produced t-shirts bore the suggestive spoonerism "Ruck Fules". Whenever it appeared on television the image was censored, not by the network, but by WWE to sell more shirts under the premise that it was "too hot for TV."[165] He also wore a chain with a large padlock, occasionally using it as a weapon,[166] until WrestleMania 21, when it was replaced with a chromed and diamond studded "Chain Gang" spinner medallion—reminiscent of the ones worn by members of G-Unit—matching his spinner title belt.

Around the time Cena's film, The Marine, was released he began wearing attire more military related, including camouflage shorts, dog tags, a Marine soldier cap and a WWE produced shirt with the legend "Chain Gang Assault Battalion."[167] Shortly after WrestleMania 23, when promotion for The Marine ended, the military attire diminished and was replaced with apparel bearing his new slogan "American Made Muscle" along with denim shorts, not seen since he was a member of the SmackDown! roster.[168]

Music
"The Time is Now" by John Cena & Tha Trademarc (2005)
Sample from "The Time Is Now" by John Cena & Tha Trademarc.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Cena is a hip hop musician in addition to his wrestling career. He performed his fifth WWE theme song, "Basic Thugonomics," himself, and it was featured on the WWE soundtrack album WWE Originals. He also recorded a song,"Untouchables", for the company's next soundtrack album WWE ThemeAddict: The Music, Vol. 6. He collaborated on the song H-U-S-T-L-E remix along with MURS, E-40, and Chingo Bling.[169]

His debut album, You Can't See Me, was recorded with his cousin Tha Trademarc. It features, amongst other songs, his entrance theme "The Time is Now" and the single "Bad, Bad Man," for which a music video was made that parodied 1980s culture, including the television show The A-Team. A video was also made for the second single, "Right Now," and premiered on the August 8 Raw. Cena and Tha Trademarc were later featured on a track by The Perceptionists named "Champion Scratch."[170] Promotion for the album lead to Cena being the only professional wrestler to ever perform on BBC Two's long running Top of the Pops.[171]

Albums

Personal life

Cena writes left-handed,[173] but throws right-handed and favors his right arm in the ring.

Cena is a known fan of Japanese animation and has mentioned on "Five Questions" that his favorite animated movie is Fist of the North Star.[174] He has also said that he is a fan of the video game series Command & Conquer and names it his favorite game of all time.[175] Cena is also a fan of the Boston Red Sox,[174] Tampa Bay Rays,[176] New England Patriots,[129] and Boston Celtics.[174] Cena collects muscle cars and has over 20, some of which are one-of-a-kind.[177]

While promoting his 2009 film, 12 Rounds, Cena revealed he is engaged and intends to marry later in the year.[178

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