| John Cena | |
|---|---|
| |
| Birth name | John Felix Anthony Cena |
| Born | April 23, 1977 (age 45) West Newbury, Mass |
| Resides | Tampa, Florida |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | John Cena |
| Billed height | 6 ft. 1 in. (1.85 m) |
| Billed weight | 251 lb. (114 kg) |
| Billed from | West Newbury, Mass |
| Trained by | Ultimate Pro Wrestling Ohio Valley Wrestling |
| Debut | November 5, 1999 |
John Felix Anthony Cena (born April 23, 1977) is an American professional wrestler, rapper and actor signed to WWE on their Raw brand. Cena is the public face of WWE, and has served as its franchise player since 2005.
Cena started his pro wrestling career in 1999 with Ultimate Pro Wrestling, where he held the UPW Heavyweight Championship. Cena signed with the WWE in 2005 and has been WWE's public face ever since. As of 2015, Cena has won nine championships, with a record six reigns as WWE Champion, two reigns as WWE Tag Team Champion and one reign as WWE European Champion.
He has the highest number of combined days as WWE Champion with 727 days. He has also headlined WWE's flagship event, Wrestlemania on two separate occasions. (WrestleManias 23 and XXVIII) over the course of his career.
Outside of wrestling, Cena has released the rap album You Can't See Me, which debuted at No.15 on the US Billboard 200 chart, and starred in the feature films The Marine (2006), 12 Rounds (2009), and Legendary (2010). Cena has also made appearances on television shows including Manhunt, Deal or No Deal, MADtv, Saturday Night Live, Punk'd, Psych, and Parks and Recreation. He 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.
Cena is involved in numerous philanthropic causes; most notably with Make-A-Wish Foundation. Cena has granted the most wishes in Make-A-Wish history.
Early life[]
Cena was born on April 23, 1977 in West Newbury, Massachusetts, the son of Carol (née Lupien) and John Cena, Sr. He is the second oldest of five brothers: Dan, Matt, Steve, and Sean. His father is of Italian descent and his mother is of French-Canadian and English origin. His maternal grandfather was baseball player Tony Lupien. After graduating from Cushing Academy, Cena attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts. In college he was a NCAA Division III All-American center on the college football team, wearing the number 54, which is still used on some of his WWE merchandise. He graduated from Springfield in 1998 with a degree in exercise physiology, after which he pursued a career in bodybuilding and worked as a driver for a limousine company.
Professional wrestling career[]
Ultimate Pro Wrestling (1999–2001)[]
Cena started training to become a professional wrestler in 1999 at Ultimate Pro Wrestling's California-based "Ultimate University" operated by Rick Bassman. Once he was placed into an in-ring role, Cena began using a semi-robotic character known as "The Prototype". Some of this period of his career was documented in the Discovery Channel program Inside Pro Wrestling School. While in UPW, Cena held the UPW Heavyweight title for just shy of a month in April 2000.
On October 10, 2000, while billed as The Prototype, Cena made his World Wrestling Federation debut on a WWF SmackDown taping in a dark match against Mikey Richardson, where he was defeated. He received another tryout on January 9, 2001 at a WWF SmackDown taping in Oakland, California, this time defeating Aaron Aguilera. Cena wrestled again in a dark match at WWF SmackDown tapings on March 13.
Through 2001, Cena would receive 4 more tryouts with the WWF as he wrestled multiple enhancement talent wrestlers in both WWF house shows and dark matches.
Through the early months of 2002, Cena constantly found himself on the losing side of the matches he wrestled in. Yet again wrestling in house shows and dark matches, losing to the likes of Shelton Benjamin and Tommy Dreamer, he had his televised debut against Kurt Angle on August 26 of that same year.
World Wrestling Entertainment[]
WWE Championship reigns (2005–2007)[]
Info here
Record-breaking WWE Champion (2009–2011)[]
Info here
Various storylines and feuds (2012–2014)[]
Info here
European Champion (2015–present)[]
On the August 24, 2015 episode of Raw, Cena got into a confrontation with European Champion, Jake Anderson which led to Anderson challenging Cena to a match the following week which was accepted thus starting a feud between the two. On the September 7, 2015 episode of Raw Cena beat Anderson to win the WWE European Championship for the first time and his first championship reign since 2010. Cena would lose the title a week later to Seth Rollins after Anderson interfered and hit him with a chair before attacking Cena after the match.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- AA – Attitude Adjustment (Standing fireman's carry transitioned into a kneeling takeover)
- STF (Stepover toehold facelock) – 2005–present
- Signature moves
- Cenacanrana (hurricanrana)
- DDT
- Diving crossbody
- Diving leg drop bulldog
- Dropkick, sometimes from the top rope
- Elbow drop
- Emerald Flowsion
- Five Knuckle Shuffle (Running delayed fist drop, with theatrics, sometimes diving from the top rope)
- Half nelson dropped into a neckbreaker
- Lariat
- Monkey flip
- Multiple suplex variations
- Belly-to-back
- Fisherman
- Gutwrench
- Side belly-to-belly
- Vertical, sometimes while delaying
- Running leaping shoulder block
- Running one–handed bulldog
- Sitout hip toss
- Sitout powerbomb
- Spinebuster – 2002–2005; used rarely thereafter
- Springboard stunner – 2015–present
- Sunset flip powerbomb – 2015–present
- Throwback (Running neck snap to a bent–over opponent) – 2002–2011
- Entrance themes
- "Slam Smack" by R. Hardy (FirstCom Production Music) (June 27, 2002 – November 7, 2002)
- "Insert Bass Here" by DJ Case (FirstCom Production Music) (2002–2003)
- "Basic Thuganomics" by John Cena (March 27, 2003 – March 10, 2005)
- "The Time Is Now" by John Cena and Tha Trademarc (March 17, 2005–present)
Championships and accomplishments[]
- World Wrestling Entertainment
- WWE Championship (6 times)
- WWE European Championship (1 time)
- WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with The Undertaker (1), and Randy Orton (1)
- Slammy Awards (9 times)
- Best Crime of Passion (2009)
- Bromance of the Year (2009, 2010) – with Cody Rhodes
- Couple of the Year (2010) – with Stephanie Cena
- Hottest Superstar (2009)
- Face of the Year (2010, 2011)
- Tweeter of the Year (2010, 2011)