The Legacy of a GOAT: The Early Years of John Cena

Two matches, two matches until Cena ends a Hall of Fame-worthy career. Love him or hate him, you can’t deny his accomplishments within this business. From debuting against Kurt Angle, to almost getting cut, to the Dr. of Thuganomics, to his run at the top. Cena has done it all and done it at the highest level and for longer than most.

Very few wrestlers can say they have had such a sustained run at the top. And while he has proven to be very polarizing, his merchandise numbers and the number of tickets and PPVs he sold show he was worth that top spot.

We are just a few weeks away from the end, so let’s look back on the man that is John Cena.

The Beginnings

After growing up in Massachusetts, a 21-year-old Cena would move to California and start training at UPW. He would debut in 1999 as The Prototype. After a dark match in October 2000, Cena signed a developmental contract in 2001 and was assigned to OVW.

He would stay in OVW until June 2002. While there, he would hold both the OVW Southern Tag Team Championships and the OVW Heavyweight Championship.

On June 27th, 2002, he would answer Kurt Angle’s open challenge on SmackDown, declaring he had Ruthless Aggression. He would move on to feud with Chris Jericho, beating him at Vengeance. Watching at the time, it felt like Cena was being primed for big things. A debut against Angle, and a win over Jericho in his first couple of months. I remember being a fan in the first few months, and then he dropped off quickly. A feud with Kidman was far from working with top guys.

Thankfully, in a stroke of luck, Stephanie McMahon and Paul Heyman would overhear Cena freestyling backstage. They decided that was the missing piece to Cena’s puzzle. He would show up as Vanilla Ice on a Halloween episode of SmackDown. This whole segment was goofy, and I don’t think anyone thought it was going anywhere. But this was the birth of the Dr. of Thuganomics. Cena’s diss tracks would see him start to gain traction with fans.

In February, he would enter a Number One Contender tournament. Earning three high-profile wins over Eddie Guerrero, Christ Benoit, and The Undertaker to earn a shot at the WWE Champion, Brock Lesnar. While he would lose to Lesnar, it was the kick-off to his rise to the top and his career-long feud with Lesnar. We also got the debut of the FU, Cena’s response to Lesnar’s F-5. While it would later be renamed to the Attitude Adjustment, Cena started it off as a literal F You to Lesnar.

As it normally goes with heels that get hot, fans started cheering Cena. By the end of 2003, he would be a face and stay that way until this year. The turn was set up with Cena rejecting an offer to join Lesnar’s Survivor Series team and instead joining Team Angle. It was a nice continuity that Cena would reject Lesnar’s offer even if it meant joining the face team.

Fresh off a face turn, Cena would challenge Big Show at WrestleMania XX to win his first singles championship in the WWE. His run with the United States Championship was a bit convoluted. He would get stripped of the title for knocking over SmackDown GM Kurt Angle. Then have a Best of Five with Booker T to regain it.

From there, he would start a feud with Carlito, which started with Cena getting stabbed in a nightclub. The stabbing would lead to him losing the title to Carlito. The stabbing also covered for Cena taking time to film his first movie, The Marine. Carlito would only hold the title for a month before losing it back to Cena.

I remember being into this whole feud. Yeah, a stabbing in pro wrestling is kind of emmerision breaking. But I dug the different feel to the whole thing, and it seemed to be setting Carlito up for more. I’ll also admit that by this time, I had soured on Cena. I was excited to see someone new get a push, and was deflated when Cena got the title back.

WWE Champion

The 2005 Royal Rumble is remembered for a couple of things. One of them is the fact that Cena and Batista accidentally eliminated each other at the end. And the other is Vince tearing both quads, one by strutting to the ring, and the other getting into the ring. Batista would win, after Vince restarted the match, while sitting in the ring.

But this year would still be Cena’s. After beating Angle at No Way Out, he would earn the right to face JBL for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21. For the first time, His Time Was No,w and after the bell rang, The Champ Was Here! Less than three years into his WWE run, and coming back from almost getting cut. Cena would win his first WWE Championship on the biggest stage of them all.

Of course, we got the, ugh, Spiner belt out of the subsequent feud with JBL. Also, kudos to JBL for selling those guts. After getting drafted to Raw in June, Cena would have a great feud with Jericho. Their match at SummerSlam was amazing, and their feud would end with Jericho taking his first hiatus.

Going into the Fall, Cena would have great matches with Kurt Angle and a good Triple-Threat with Angle and Shawn Michaels.

At 2006’s New Year’s Revolution, Cena would retain his title in a brutal Elimination Chamber. And then the Rated R Superstar, the Ultimate Opportunist, was born. Edge would be the first person to ever cash in a Money in the Bank contract.

Looking back, it doesn’t feel like this was only the first reign and first year of Cena on the top. My memory of all this feels like it was at least two years, from Cena winning to losing to Edge. I was also always a huge Edge fan, so I popped huge when Edge won the WWE Championship for the first time.

It was at this point that the crowd had settled nicely into the “Let’s Go Cena! Cena Sucks!” divide. And again, looking back, this feels like a much longer time period between events. Just listen to that crowd, though. Edge was a full-blown heel at this point, and the fans were cheering hard for his win.

Cena wouldn’t have to wait too long to get his title back, as he beat Edge at the Royal Rumble to start his second reign.

Rob Van Dam would win the Money in the Bank Ladder match at WrestleMania 22. He would then use it to challenge Cena to defend the title at One Night Stand 2

From the moment his entrance music hit to the moment Heyman counted the three and declared RVD the winner, the hostile ECW Faithful tore into Cena. The massive boos as he walked down to the ring, the fans rejecting his shirt, and the “F you Cena! F you Cena!” chants. I remember watching this live and loving every moment. It was a catharsis for those of us who didn’t buy Cena as the top guy. And to his credit, Cena handled all of it with grace.

While RVD won that night, he would lose the title to Edge shortly after. Cena would spend the summer chasing Edge before finally starting his third reign after beating Edge in a TLC match. That TLC match was a great ending to this part of the Edge rivalry for Cena. It was all the kick-off for a year+ run as champion.

Going into 2007, Cena would lose to Kevin Federline (you know, the ex-husband of Britney Spears) due to interference by Umaga. While the feud with Umaga wasn’t a long feud, it was one we all remember fondly. Their Last Man Standing match at the Royal Rumble is one of the best of Cena’s career. It’s a shame that drugs would get in Umaga’s way. I fully believe that if he had been able to stay clean, he would have been World Champion at some point.

After beating Rated-RKO for the WWE Tag Team Championships, Shawn Michaels and John Cena would face off in an absolute classic at WrestleMania 23. (We will talk about their Raw classic next week.) Michaels isn’t called Mr. WrestleMania for no reason. He and Cena had a 40-minute barn burner of a match. I think this is where I started to turn around on Cena. He was never going to be my favorite, but I could respect his work ethic and dedication to this business.

Cena would spend the summer defending the championship before an untimely pec tear would sideline him, ending his third reign at 380 days.

Legacy

I was 15 when Cena made his debut. I was fresh off watching my beloved WCW get trashed by Vince McMahon’s ego. Brock Lesnar had debuted just a few short months prior. Austin was on his last legs, and Rock had started his Hollywood career. We were all wondering who would be the next top guy, and most pegged Lesnar for that spot.

In the end, it would be Cena who would climb the ladder to be the guy. It took Lesnar leaving, hard work, and some sheer luck. But Cena was able to climb that ladder to success. His hard work and dedication to the business allowed McMahon to put his trust in Cena.

Writing this has been a weird nostalgia trip; so much happened both in wrestling and in my own life during the five years of Cena debuting and the end of his third championship reign. TNA would start its Spike TV run, letting us watch the parallels between Cena and Styles. Edge, Orton, and Batista would all be solidified as main eventers. And we would get to witness the rebirth of Shawn Michaels.

Wrestling is such an integral part of my life, and while I was often in the Cena Sucks crowd, I have always appreciated his dedication to wrestling. I admire his willingness to always give everything he has. Week in and week out, he gave us his all. And he deserves all of the respect he gets.

Tune in next week for part 2!