Sheamus
Ring name(s)	King Sheamus Sheamus[1] Sheamus O'Shaunessy[2] Stephen Farrelly[3]
Billed height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[4]
Billed weight	267 lb (121 kg; 19.1 st)[4]
Born	(1978-01-28) 28 January 1978 (age 34)[5] Cabra, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Resides	St. Augustine, Florida[6]
Billed from	3000 BC[7] Dublin, Ireland[4]
Trained by	Larry Sharpe[5] Jim Molineaux[5] Irish Whip Wrestling[8]
Debut	April 2002[8]
Website	Official website

Stephen Farrelly^[9][5] (Irish: Stíofán Ó Fearghaile) (born 28 January 1978)^[5] is an Irish professional wrestler and actor, best known by his ring name Sheamus. He is signed with WWE and competes on the SmackDown brand as the reigning World Heavyweight Champion.^[10]

Prior to joining WWE, Farrelly was also a two-time International Heavyweight Champion during his tenure in Irish Whip Wrestling. He is a three-time World Champion, having held the WWE Championship on two occasions and is the current World Heavyweight Champion in his first reign. He also won the King of the Ring in 2010 and the Royal Rumble in 2012, as well as the WWE United States Championship once.

Early life[link]

Farrelly was born in Cabra, Dublin and was raised within the city.^[11] His father, Martin, was an amateur bodybuilder.^[12] Farrelly speaks fluent Irish, having attended Scoil Caoimhin Primary and Secondary School, a Gaelscoil^[11] During his school years he sang in the Palestrina Choir until the age of thirteen, as part of which he appeared on the Late Late Show and Live at Three television programmes.^[8] He played Gaelic football for the Erin's Isle team where he was declared sports star of the month.^[7] He also played rugby for the National College of Ireland,^[11] where he gained a National Diploma.^[13]

Farrelly is a former IT technician.^[9] He also worked as security for a nightclub which led to him occasionally working personal security for Bono and Larry Mullen, Jr. of U2 as well as Denise van Outen.^[12][11]

Professional wrestling career[link]

Training and character development (2002–2004)[link]

Farrelly's inspiration into a professional wrestling career came from watching both British wrestling from ITV's World of Sport and American wrestling from the World Wrestling Federation on Sky One.^[12] On the advice of Bret Hart,^[13] Farrelly began training in Larry Sharpe's Monster Factory wrestling school in April 2002,^[5] alongside Tank Toland, Cliff Compton and Cindy Rogers.^[13] Six weeks later he officially debuted as a fan favorite under the name Sheamus O'Shaunessy against Robert Pigeon. It was during this time that he developed the nickname the "Irish Curse" after low-blowing an opponent.^[11] He soon suffered a serious neck injury after botching a hip toss^[13] which sidetracked his career for two years.^[5]

Farrelly soon developed his wrestling character by drawing on Celtic mythology. Wanting to move away from limiting Irish stereotypes of lucky charms, leprechauns and alcoholism, he instead wanted to portray an Irish warrior.^[13] Going to a Gaelscoil, Farelly grew up aware of the four cycles of Irish mythology and, inspired by the artwork of Jim Fitzpatrick, incorporated the sword and axe-wielding imagery into his gimmick.^[12][13] This included the design of his own pendant, the crossos, which combines the Celtic cross with a Celtic War sword to illustrate his character's "indigenous origins with a hybrid of warrior strength matched with a strong ethical centre."^[13]

Irish Whip Wrestling (2004–2006)[link]

Sheamus O'Shaunessy after retaining the IwW International Heavyweight Championship on November 14, 2005.

In May 2004, still using the ring name Sheamus O'Shaunessy, Farrelly returned to wrestling at the newly opened Irish Whip Wrestling (IWW) school in Dublin. He then made his debut match for the promotion at their Mount Temple show on July 9 against Mark Burns, who he easily defeated.^[8] He went on to win a battle royal the following month.^[14]

O'Shaunessy spent the rest of the year engaged in a rivalry with Vid Vain after losing to his tag team partner Joey Cabray the same night as winning the battle royal.^[14] On October 22 and 23 they traded wins,^[15][16] leading to O'Shaunessy recruiting help from CJ Summers to help defeat the tag team on October 24.^[17] Still O'Shaunessy failed to defeat Vain in singles action the following day.^[18] Despite these losses, his impressive showings earned him a place against Alex Shane in a guest match for the Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA) British Heavyweight Championship.^[19] Despite putting on a strong showing and being close to winning, his friend Red Vinny interfered in the match and cost him the championship.^[8]

In March 2005 he avenged this loss by teaming with Raven to defeat Shane and Vinny.^[20] This victory was part of a winning streak over the end of March where O'Shaunessy wrestled twice a day on March 24,^[20] 25,^[21] 26 – including an 11 man Rumble win^[22] – and 27 with a standard tag match and a ten-man tag team match.^[23] This series of victories, aside from one loss by disqualification to Vain,^[22] put him good stead for the one-day tournament held in County Kildare to crown the inaugural IWW International Heavyweight Champion. On March 28, O'Shaunessy put an end to his main rivalries when he defeated Vinny and then Vain in the quarter and semi finals, respectively.^[24] He met Darren Burridge in the final match and won to become IWW's first champion,^[2] but had to compete again in an evening show in Dublin, defeating Burridge and Vinny once more in a tag match alongside Vain.^[25]

O'Shaunessy's first successful title defence came against Burridge the following month^[26] but Burridge would not let his grudge rest, continuing to attack O'Shaunessy and finally costing him the title during a match against D'Lo Brown on May 29.^[8][27] O'Shaunessy earned revenge in July by defeating Burridge in a grudge match,^[28] though lost to him in an arm wrestling contest the following day.^[29] Still, he continued on his quest to regain the title^[8] by winning a contendership three way match against Vinny and Red Viper in August^[30] setting him up to regain the International Heavyweight Championship in October from Brown in Newcastle upon Tyne in England.^[31]

After defending his title against Vampiro^[32] and Viper,^[33] O'Shaunessy found himself embroiled in a new feud with rising Scottish wrestling star "Thee" Drew Galloway, whom he later admitted was his toughest opponent.^[34] On January 28, 2006, he received his first championship match, evolving their rivalry from previous non-title contests.^[35] The rivalry quickly took on a patriotic flavour, with Galloway's blue colours of Scotland clashing O'Shaunnesy's green colours of Ireland, mirroring the Old Firm football derby between Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic, respectively.^[36] This football allusion became particularly prominent when the two met again at Verona Football Club once again for the title, though the match changed into a Lumberjack match, the result and champion remained the same.^[37]

With Galloway defeated, O'Shaunessy continued to dominate by again defending his title against Vampiro on 17 March.^[38] Galloway earned himself a two out of three falls match against the champion the following day, however, which O'Shaunessy won two falls to one;^[39] the next day produced the same result^[40] in a match O'Shaunessy claimed was his best on the independent circuit.^[34] With Galloway briefly answered, O'Shaunessy took on the newcomer Pierre Marcaeu and defeated him in two successive title matches only to find Galloway had earned another shot.^[41][42] With their rivalry intensifying, Galloway's next challenge to O'Shaunnesy was given the stipulation of a Last Man Standing match. O'Shaunessy retained the title,^[43] as he also did in June with the same stipulation.^[44] Finally, on August 28, O'Shaunessy lost the IwW International Heavyweight Championship in a singles match to Galloway in what would be his last appearance with the promotion.^[31][45]

British promotions (2005–2007)[link]

As well as wrestling in Ireland, O'Shaunessy occasionally travelled to Great Britain to make appearances on the British independent circuit. In April 2006 he was brought into Wales' Celtic Wrestling promotion as a contender for their top title but was defeated by the champion, Chris Recall.^[46] Later that year in November, he was employed by London's LDN Wrestling to appear on their Capital TV show where, after quickly defeating William Hill, he gained an LDN Championship match against Tex Benedict which ended with Benedict winning by disqualification and O'Shaunessy attacking him after the match.^[47]

During his time overseas he worked for Brian Dixon's All Star Wrestling,^[48] which gave him a taste of large audiences that he had not experienced in Ireland,^[13] as well as wrestling English veteran Robbie Brookside and other British wrestling luminaries, including Nigel McGuinness and Doug Williams.^[13] He also represented the UK in a Battle of the Nations tag team match between the UK and Austria alongside Drew McDonald and The Celtic Warrior in a losing effort against Chris Raaber, Michael Kovac & Robert Ray Kreuzer at the European Wrestlng Association's Night of Gladiators.^[49]

As well as making top contender appearances based on his growing reputation, O'Shaunessy also brought with him to Britain his long-standing rivalry with Galloway. He had already wrestled in Galloway's home promotion, British Championship Wrestling (BCW), twice in 2005 losing to Jay Phoenix on the day before Phoenix would lose to Galloway in March,^[50] and returning in September to defeat one of BCW's top stars, Wolfgang, via countout.^[51] In the middle of their IWW feud the following year, O'Shaunessy went back to Scotland to take part in BCW's Path To Glory tour, defeating Galloway on the first night^[52] but conceding a loss the to him next night in May.^[53] Though their feud finished in Ireland in August 2006, it continued on across the Irish Sea when the two wrestled for the umbrella promotion Real Quality Wrestling (RQW) the following year. The two first met during April's Taking On The World show which ended in a double countout.^[54] The lack of a decision led to a rematch in June, and one of O'Shaunessy's last on the independent circuit, where Galloway picked up the victory in a No Holds Barred match ahead of an RQW Heavyweight Championship match.^[55]

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE[link]

On November 13, 2006, O'Shaunessy appeared on the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) show Raw at the Manchester Evening News Arena as part of the security team ejecting D-Generation X from ringside only to later receive a Pedigree from Triple H.^[5][56] The following day he and Galloway had a try out match against each other. The following year in April he received another set of try out matches in Milan and London against Galloway as well as Stu Sanders and WWE talent Jimmy Wang Yang and Monster Factory alumnus Domino.^[57] This led to an offer for signing a developmental contract for WWE from renowned trainer at which point he relocated to the United States.^[5]

Florida Championship Wrestling (2007–2009)[link]

Sheamus lost the Florida Heavyweight Championship to Eric Escobar, who is seen here in an armbar.

O'Shaunessy debuted for the WWE developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) on October 2 in a double-debut match with a win over Bryan Kelly. While wrestling regularly, he was not part of any long feuds but did wrestle with a number of short-term tag teams alongside Hade Vansen^[58] and Jake Hager before teaming with Kafu (and managed by Dave Taylor) in the tournament to crown the inaugural FCW Florida Tag Team Champions. They advanced past the first round after defeating The British Lions ("Thee Superstar" Christopher Gray and "The Rascal" Tommy Taylor) but lost to Brad Allen and Nick Nemeth in the second round.^[59]

By September, O'Shaunessy had focused his attention to singles competition and wrestled his way to the top of the card, successfully defeating former partner Hager for the Florida Heavyweight Championship.^[7] He defended the title against Hager on October 23 and took on a number of competitors, with Eric Escobar and Joe Hennig consistently earning themselves into contention. Eventually, on December 11, O'Shaunessy lost the title to Escobar in a four-way match also involving Hennig and Drew McIntyre (formerly Drew Galloway).^[59]

O'Shaunessy spent 2009 continuing to chase gold, earning two shots over January and February at the Florida Tag Team Champions Johnny Curtis and Tyler Reks but he and Ryback were unsuccessful in both attempts. In March he challenged the two for the titles once again, this time with McIntyre as his partner but could not defeat them, nor could he defeat McIntyre for the Florida Heavyweight Championship the following month. He received a series of chances throughout the rest of the year but could not win any more titles before being called up to WWE television,^[60] unsuccessfully challenging Justin Angel for the Florida Heavyweight Championship in November.^[61]

On July 22, 2008 O'Shaunessy worked a dark match at a SmackDown taping, losing to R-Truth.^[62] The following year in May, O'Shaunessy began appearing at the Raw brand's house shows, and on both May 8 and 9 he defeated Jamie Noble^[5][63][64] along with another dark match victory over Noble before an episode of Raw.^[65]

Breakout (2009–2011)[link]

Sheamus as WWE Champion in 2010.

On the June 30, 2009 episode of ECW, Farrelly made his unannounced debut as a villain under the shortened ring name of Sheamus, quickly defeating a local competitor.^[1][66] Sheamus soon entered into a critically well-received^[67] rivalry with Goldust after defeating him on July 29.^[68] After exchanging victories in the following weeks^[68][69] the two appeared on the Abraham Washington Show talk segment^[70] leading to a No Disqualification match on September 1 which was won by Sheamus.^[67] Sheamus then began a feud with Shelton Benjamin which was hot-shot into a deciding match on October 27 which Sheamus won.^[71]

His rivalry with Benjamin ended prematurely because Sheamus had already been moved to the Raw brand. He made his Raw debut by defeating Jamie Noble on October 26.^[72] In the following weeks, he continued to attack Noble causing him to retire,^[73] and, in lieu of competition, assaulted the timekeeper and commentator Jerry Lawler on November 16 at Madison Square Garden.^[74] The following week Sheamus appeared on his first WWE pay-per-view event, Survivor Series. Sheamus appeared as part of The Miz's team in a traditional five-on-five elimination tag team match. He eliminated fellow Irishman Finlay and made the final pinfall to eliminate the opposing captain John Morrison and survive along with Miz and long-time former rival Drew McIntyre.

The following night on Raw, Sheamus won a "break-through" battle royal for wrestlers who had never won a world championship, to become the number one contender to John Cena's WWE Championship. At the contract signing immediately afterwards, Sheamus put Cena through the table as the Raw guest host Jesse Ventura announced it would be a Table match.^[75] On December 13, at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view, Sheamus defeated Cena to win the WWE Championship, his first championship in WWE,^[76] making him the first Irish-born WWE Champion.^[12] The following night on Raw, Sheamus was awarded the 2009 Breakout Superstar of the Year Slammy Award.^[77] On February 21, Sheamus lost the WWE Championship at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in the Elimination Chamber match after he was eliminated by Triple H.^[78] During the match, Sheamus suffered a concussion and as a result did not attend Raw the following night.^[79][80] Upon his return, he took revenge on Triple H with an attack to set up a match at WrestleMania XXVI that Sheamus lost.^[81][82] The following month at Extreme Rules, Sheamus attacked Triple H at the beginning of the show and later defeated him in a Street Fight. After a series of kicks to the head to win, he continued his assault after the match finished resulting in Triple H being written off TV for 10 months.^[83]

Sheamus as the 2010 King of the Ring.

On June 20, at the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view, Sheamus won a fatal four-way match, following interference from The Nexus that allowed him to pin John Cena, thus winning the WWE Championship, and beginning his second World Championship reign.^[84][85] He went on to defeat Cena a third time in a steel cage match to retain the championship at the WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view,^[86] and against Randy Orton at SummerSlam, which ended in disqualification, meaning that Sheamus retained his title. At Night of Champions, Sheamus was pinned by Randy Orton in a Six-Pack Elimination Challenge for the WWE Championship.^[87]

He bounced back on November 29, with wins over Kofi Kingston and John Morrison to become King of the Ring, after receiving a bye through the second round.^[88] As King Sheamus, he faced Morrison again at the TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs PPV for a future WWE Championship match but lost the Ladder match.^[89] Going into 2011, he continued to lose to Morrison in a mixture of singles and tag team matches.^[90][91] Triple H returned on February 28 and took revenge for his scripted 10 month injury by putting him through the announce table. Right after that, Sheamus was defeated by Evan Bourne who returned to Raw after a 4 month injury.^[92] On March 7, after losing a match against Daniel Bryan, Sheamus challenged him to a rematch with his WWE career on the line against Bryan's United States Championship.^[93] He won his match against Bryan the following week, winning his first United States Title.^[94] The rematch between Sheamus and Bryan took place on April 3, during the preshow of WrestleMania XXVII, and ended in a draw after interference from the lumberjacks.^[95]

SmackDown; World Heavyweight Champion (2011–present)[link]

In the 2011 Supplemental Draft, Sheamus was drafted to the SmackDown brand. Although he took the United States Championship with him, he lost it back to the Raw brand at Extreme Rules when Kofi Kingston defeated him in a Table match.^[96][97] On the June 3 episode of SmackDown, Sheamus lost a World Heavyweight Championship match to Randy Orton due to biased refereeing from Christian, beginning a turn from a villainous character to a fan favorite over the following weeks.^[98] Two weeks later, he was put in a match against Christian with a stipulation that if Sheamus won, he would be able to compete in the World Heavyweight Championship match at WWE Capitol Punishment. However he was unsuccessful in the match, and was he was punted by Randy Orton after the match.^[99] Sheamus' face turn culminated in him attacking Mark Henry for being a bully,^[100] though he lost to him by count-out at Summerslam.^[101] After this loss, Sheamus went on a 14 match winning streak that ended after outside interference from Christian, with whom he had been feuding.^[102] During this time, Sheamus defeated Christian in three consecutive matches at Hell in a Cell,^[103] Vengeance,^[104] and on Smackdown.^[105] He then went on a 12 match winning streak^[106] building towards winning the 2012 Royal Rumble. He entered the match twenty-second and won by last eliminating Chris Jericho to earn a main event championship match at WrestleMania XXVIII.^[107]

At Elimination Chamber, Sheamus attacked World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan after the latter retained his title in the Elimination Chamber match; confirming he would face Bryan at WrestleMania. At WrestleMania XXVIII, Sheamus defeated Bryan in eighteen seconds to win his first World Heavyweight Championship.^[10] On the April 6 edition of Smackdown, Sheamus was defeated by Alberto Del Rio via disqualification, thus earning Del Rio a future title match.^[108] At Extreme Rules, Sheamus successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Bryan in a 2-out-of-3 falls match.^[109] At Over the Limit, Sheamus defeated Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, and Alberto Del Rio in a fatal-four-way match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.^[110]

Acting career[link]

Farrelly played the role of Two Ton in the 2008 movie The Escapist, which starred Joseph Fiennes and Brian Cox.^[111] He had a small role in the 2006 Irish film, 3 Crosses,^[13] and was a Celtic Warrior Zombie in the opening sequence of the 2009 movie Assault of Darkness opposite Vinnie Jones.^[12] He appeared on several episodes of the famous Irish sock puppet, Dustin the Turkey's show Dustin's Daily News where he had a rivalry with Dustin. It ended with Dustin and Sheamus having a "fight", which Dustin won. He also appeared on The Podge and Rodge Show as a leprechaun wrestler, along with IWW alumnus George McFly.^[13]

In wrestling[link]

Sheamus performing the Brogue Kick on Randy Orton.

• As Sheamus
  • Finishing moves
    • Brogue Kick ^[4] (Bicycle kick)^[112][113]
    • High Cross^[4] / Pale Justice^[114] (Crucifix powerbomb)^{[11][66][113][115]}
    • Irish Curse ^[4] (Side slam backbreaker)^[116] – 2009; used as a signature move from 2010–present
    • White Noise^[117] (Over the shoulder back to belly piledriver)^[118] – 2012–used a signature move thereafter
  • Signature moves
    • Diving shoulder block,^[119] sometimes while slingshotting^[120]
    • Double axe handle^[121]
    • Fallaway slam^[122][123]
    • Front powerslam^[124]
    • Inverted facelock backbreaker^[125]
    • Knee lift, sometimes to a rope hung opponent^[126]
    • Repeated forearm clubs to an opponent's chest^[127][128]
    • Repeated knee drops to an opponent's head^[129]
    • Rolling fireman's carry slam^[130]
    • Short-arm clothesline^[112]
• As Sheamus O'Shaunessy
  • Finishing moves
    • Celtic Slam (Death Valley driver)^[9]
    • FRH – Fiery Red Hand (Leg trap chokebomb^[11] – Independent circuit or a chokelift side slam^[112] – FCW)
    • Irish Curse (Low blow)^[131]
  • Signature moves
    • Frenzy (Multiple slaps followed by a spinning backfist)^[11]
    • War Sword (Discus double axe handle)^[11]

• Nicknames
  • "The Celtic Warrior"^[4] (WWE)
  • "The Great White"^[132] (WWE)
  • "The Irish Curse"^[9] (Independent circuit / FCW)
  • "S.O.S."^[9] (Independent circuit)
  • "The Celtic Champion" (WWE)
  • "The Great White" Champion" (WWE)
• Entrance themes
  • "The Irish Curse" by Alan Doyle^[34] (Independent circuit)
  • "Written in My Face" performed by Sean Jenness and composed by Jim Johnston^[133][134] (WWE)

Championships and accomplishments[link]

Sheamus as World Heavyweight Champion.

• Florida Championship Wrestling
  • FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[5]

• Irish Whip Wrestling
  • IWW International Heavyweight Championship (2 times)^[31]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #10 of the best 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010^[135]

• World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE
  • World Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current)
  • WWE Championship (2 times)
  • WWE United States Championship (1 time)^[136]
  • King of the Ring (2010)^[137]
  • Royal Rumble (2012)^[138]
  • Slammy Award for Breakout Star of the Year (2009)^[77]
  • Slammy Award for Superstar/Diva Most in Need of Make-up (2010)^[139]
  • Slammy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Muppet Resemblance (2011)^[140]

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Most Improved (2010)^[141]

References[link]

External links[link]

Professional wrestling portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sheamus

• Official website
• WWE profile
• Sheamus at the Internet Movie Database
• Online World of Wrestling profile

John Cena
John Cena, 2008
Ring name(s)	John Cena[1]
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[2]
Billed weight	251 lb (114 kg)[2]
Born	(1977-04-23) April 23, 1977 (age 35)[3] West Newbury, Massachusetts[2]
Resides	Tampa, Florida[4]
Billed from	Classified (UPW)[5] West Newbury, Massachusetts (WWE)[2]
Trained by	Ultimate Pro Wrestling[5] Ohio Valley Wrestling[6]
Debut	2001[6]

John Felix Anthony Cena^[7] (/ˈsiːnə/; born April 23, 1977)^[3] is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is currently signed to WWE as a member of its Raw brand.^[8]

In WWE, Cena has won 19 championships in total, including 12 world titles (having won the WWE Championship a record 10 times^[9] and the World Heavyweight Championship twice). In addition, Cena has also won the WWE United States Championship three times,^[10] and is a four-time Tag Team Champion, having held the World Tag Team Championship twice (once each with Shawn Michaels and Batista),^[11] and the WWE Tag Team Championship twice (once each with David Otunga and The Miz). Cena also won the 2008 Royal Rumble match, and is a two-time Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner (2009 and 2010).^[12] He also has the fourth highest number of combined days as WWE Champion behind Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan and Bruno Sammartino.

Cena started his professional wrestling career in 2000, wrestling for Ultimate Pro Wrestling, where he held the UPW Heavyweight Championship. In 2001, Cena signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) where he held the OVW Heavyweight Championship and the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (with Rico Constantino).

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).^[13] Cena has also made appearances on television shows including Manhunt, Deal or No Deal, MADtv, Saturday Night Live, Punk'd, and Psych. 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.

Early life[link]

John Cena was born April 23, 1977, in West Newbury, Massachusetts,^[3] the son of Carol and John Cena, Sr.^[14] He is the second eldest of five brothers – Dan, Matt, Steve, and Sean.^[15] After graduating from Cushing Academy, Cena attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts.^[16] In college he was a Division III All-American center on the college football team,^[17] wearing the number 54,^[16] which is still used on some of his WWE merchandise.^[18][19] He graduated from Springfield in 1998 with a degree in exercise physiology,^[20] after which he pursued a career in bodybuilding,^[21][22] and also worked as a chauffeur for a limousine company.^[23]

Professional wrestling career[link]

Training (2000–2001)[link]

UPW[link]

Cena started training to become a professional wrestler in 2000 at the California-based "Ultimate University" operated by Ultimate Pro Wrestling. Once he was placed into an in-ring role, Cena began using a semi-robotic character known as The Prototype.^[24][25] Some of this period of his career was documented in the Discovery Channel program Inside Pro Wrestling School.^[26] While in UPW, Cena held the UPW Heavyweight Championship for just shy of a month in April 2000.^[27]

OVW[link]

In 2001, he signed a developmental contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and was assigned to its developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW).^[28] During his time there, Cena wrestled as both The Prototype and Mr. P, and held the OVW Heavyweight Championship for three months and the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (with Rico Constantino) for two months.^[29][30][31]

World Wrestling Entertainment[link]

Debut (2002–2004)[link]

Cena performing an FU (now "Attitude Adjustment") to Kurt Angle.

Cena made his television debut answering an 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 to face Angle. Cena managed to counter the Angle Slam and the ankle lock submission hold,^[33] but ultimately lost to a hard amateur wrestling-style pin.^[33] Following the near-win, Cena became a fan favorite and started feuding with Chris Jericho, defeating Jericho at Vengeance.^[32] In October, Cena and Billy Kidman took part in a tag team tournament to crown the first WWE Tag Team Champions of the SmackDown! brand, losing in the first round.^[34] The next week, Cena turned on and attacked Kidman, blaming him for their loss, becoming a villain.^[32]

Shortly after the Kidman attack, on a Halloween themed episode of SmackDown, Cena dressed as Vanilla Ice performing a freestyle rap.^[32] The next week, Cena received a new character: a rapper who cut promos while rhyming.^[32] As the gimmick grew, Cena began adopting a variant of the 1980s 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 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 feud, Cena unveiled a new finishing maneuver: the FU, a Fireman's carry powerslam, named to Brock Lesnar's F-5, with his first victim being Rikishi.^[39] Cena won a number one contenders tournament against Lesnar at Backlash. However, Cena was defeated by Lesnar. At Vengeance Cena lost a singles match against The Undertaker.^[32][40] At the end of the year, Cena became a fan favorite again when he joined Kurt Angle as a member of his team at Survivor Series.^[41][42]

United States and WWE Champion (2004–2005)[link]

Cena, wearing his customized U.S. Championship belt

In early 2004, Cena participated in the Royal Rumble match at the 2004 Royal Rumble,^[43] making it to the final six before being eliminated by Big Show and the Match being won by Chris Benoit.^[44] The Royal Rumble elimination led to a feud with Big Show,^[45][46] which Cena won the United States Championship from Big Show at WrestleMania XX.^[47] During his reign, Cena came into contention with SmackDown General Manager Kurt Angle over issues arising with René Duprée and Torrie Wilson.^[48] The reign ended almost four months later, when he was stripped of the belt on July 8 by Angle after he accidentally knocked him over, thus attacking an official.^[49] Cena won the championship back defeating Booker T in a best of five series that culminated at 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, which Cena was 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, while Cena was filming The Marine.^[30] Immediately on his return in November, Cena won the United States Championship back from Carlito debuting a "custom made" spinner-style championship belt.^[54][55]

Cena took part in the 2005 Royal Rumble match, making it to the final two. Cena 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 rules, with Batista eventually eliminating Cena.^[56] The next month, Cena defeated Kurt Angle to earn a spot in the SmackDown brand's WrestleMania 21 main event match,^[57] beginning a feud with WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) and his Cabinet in the process. In the early stages of the feud, Cena lost his US belt to Cabinet member Orlando Jordan,^[58] who proceeded to "blow up" the spinner championship with JBL and returning a more traditional style belt.^[59] Cena defeated JBL at WrestleMania winning the WWE Championship, giving Cena his first world championship.^[60] Cena 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 was drafted to the Raw brand on the June 6, 2005, becoming the first wrestler selected by General Manager Eric Bischoff in the annual draft lottery.^[63] Cena immediately entered a feud with Bischoff, after refusing to participate in the "war" against the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) roster at One Night Stand.^[64] With Bischoff vowing to make Cena's stint on Raw difficult, he hand picked Jericho to take Cena's championship from him.^[65] During their feud, even though Cena was portrayed as the fan favorite and Jericho as the villain, a vocal section of live crowds, nonetheless, were booing 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 defeated Jericho in a You're Fired match on the August 22 Raw.^[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 booing on television and began calling Cena a "controversial champion", claiming some people disliking 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] – which titles do not change hands in WWE – at Unforgiven and pinning him at Survivor Series.^[72] The feud with Angle also 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 Raw.^[73]

WWE Championship feuds and injury (2006–2007)[link]

Cena facing off against Edge at a WWE house show.

Cena lost the WWE Championship at 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 forced into a match against Edge, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract – a "guaranteed title match for the WWE Champion at a time and place of the owners choosing." After two quick spears pinned Cena, winning the championship.^[74] Three weeks later, Cena won the championship back at the Royal Rumble.^[74] After winning the championship, Cena began feuding with Triple H, which the crowd began booing Cena and cheering the intended villain, Triple H.^[75][76] Cena beat Triple H at Wrestlemania 22 to retain his WWE Title.^[6] The negative reaction towards Cena intensified when facing Rob Van Dam at One Night Stand. Taking place in front of a crowd of mostly "old school" 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 into the match, the fans began chanting "You still suck". Cena lost the WWE Championship at One Night Stand, with Van Dam pinning Cena after interference from Edge.^[77]

Cena, addressing fans at a Raw show

In July, after Edge won the championship from Van Dam in a Triple Threat match that also involved Cena,^[78] 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^[79] (for which Championships do not change hands) and using brass knuckles^[77] – he introduced his own version of Cena's "custom" belt, this one with his logo placed on the spinner.^[80] Cena eventually won the championship back in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at Unforgiven. The match had an added stipulation that had Cena lost he would leave the Raw brand and go to SmackDown.^[81][82] Cena returned his version of the spinner belt on the next night's Raw.^[83]

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, the World Heavyweight Champion King Booker, and the ECW World Champion The Big Show engaged in a mini-feud leading to a Triple Threat match at Cyber Sunday, with the viewers voting on which of the three championships would be placed on the line.^[84] 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,^[84] Federline appeared at Cyber Sunday to hit Cena with the World Heavyweight Championship during the match, helping King Booker retain his championship.^[77] 2006 ended with Cena beginning a feud with the undefeated Umaga over the WWE Championship,^[85] 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 performing an FU on him.^[86]

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.^[87] On the April 2 episode of Raw, after losing a WWE Championship match to Cena at WrestleMania 23,^[88] Michaels turned on Cena, costing them 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 championship.^[89] 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 championship attacking and "laying out" all three of the top contenders^[90] before assaulting Cena himself and stealing the physical belt.^[91] 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 Judgment Day^[92][93] and then by pinfall at One Night Stand.^[94][95] Later that summer, Randy Orton was named the number one contender for the WWE championship,^[96] starting a feud between the two. Leading up to SummerSlam, Orton delivered a number of sneak-attacks, performing three RKOs to Cena, but in the actual match, Cena retained the championship.^[97] 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.^[98]

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.^[99] Though finishing the match and taking 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, estimating at the time to require seven months to a year of rehabilitation.^[100][101] As a result, Cena was stripped of the title in an announcement by Vince McMahon on the next night's episode of ECW,^[102] ending what was the longest WWE Championship reign in over 19 years.^[103] Cena's surgery was performed by orthopedic surgeon James Andrews at St. Vincent's Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.^[99] 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.^[104] 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.^[105]

Return and various feuds (2008–2010)[link]

Cena made an unannounced return as the final participant of the Royal Rumble match, winning the match, and the traditional WrestleMania title shot, by last eliminating Triple H.^[12] Instead of waiting until WrestleMania, the title shot was cashed in against WWE Champion Randy Orton at February's No Way Out pay-per-view^[106] in a match where Cena won by disqualification, resulting in him not getting the championship.^[107] The night after No Way Out, Cena was placed back into WrestleMania XXIV's WWE Championship match, making it a Triple Threat match also involving Triple H,^[108] during which he was pinned by Orton.^[109] At Backlash, Cena failed to regain the title in a Fatal Four-Way elimination match, in which he was pinned by Orton.^[110] Triple H won the title during that match. During the match, Cena eliminated JBL,^[110] renewing their feud from 2005. Cena defeated JBL at Judgment Day and then at One Night Stand in a First Blood match.^[111][112] JBL, however, defeated him in a New York City Parking Lot Brawl at The Great American Bash in July.^[113]

Cena as one half of the World Tag Team Champions

On the August 4 episode of Raw, Cena became a World Tag Team Champion for a second time, teaming with Batista to defeat Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase,^[114] but failed to retain the titles the following week against the former champions.^[115] Batista defeated Cena at SummerSlam;^[116] 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 announcing Cena had suffered a herniated disc in his neck, which would require surgery.^[117] Cena underwent successful surgery to repair the injury.^[118][119]

Cena made his in-ring return at the November pay-per-view event, Survivor Series, defeating Chris Jericho to win his first World Heavyweight Championship.^[120] The two continued their rivalry up to Armageddon, where Cena retained his championship.^[121] Cena lost the championship at No Way Out, to Edge after Kofi Kingston was attacked by Edge, who took his place in the Elimination Chamber match.^[122] Cena was given an opportunity to regain the title at WrestleMania XXV in a Triple Threat match also involving Big Show, which Cena won.^[123]

Cena lost the championship back to Edge in a Last Man Standing match at Backlash after interference from Big Show, who chokeslammed Cena through a big spotlight.^[124] This angle resulted in Cena beginning a feud with Big Show. Cena defeated Big Show at Judgment Day^[125] and at Extreme Rules in a Submission match by applying the STFU.^[126]

At the July pay-per-view, Night of Champions, he participated in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship, which also involved Triple H and WWE Champion Randy Orton. Cena, however, did not win the match.^[127] Two months later, at Breaking Point, Cena defeated Randy Orton for the WWE Championship in an "I Quit" match to win his fourth WWE Championship.^[128] At Hell in a Cell, Cena dropped the title to Orton in a Hell in a Cell match.^[129] Three weeks later, at WWE Bragging Rights, Cena defeated Orton in a 60-minute Iron Man match.^[130]

Two months later, Cena would lose the title to Sheamus at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in a Tables match.^[131]

John Cena as WWE Champion in 2010

In February 2010, Cena regained the WWE title at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in an Elimination Chamber match after last eliminating Triple H. However, immediately after the match Mr. McMahon declared that he would immediately defend his title against Batista, who had been involved with Cena in Vince McMahon and Bret Hart's rivalry. Cena lost that match to Batista, and the WWE Championship and marking one of the shortest WWE Championship reigns in history.^[132] The following night after the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, Cena asked for a rematch for the title at WrestleMania, which McMahon gave him the opportunity to as long as he defeated Batista that night. Later that night, Batista intentionally got himself disqualified by kicking Cena in the groin to set up their match at WrestleMania XXVI.^[133] At the event, Cena defeated Batista to win back the WWE title.^[134] At the April pay-per-view, Extreme Rules, Cena defeated Batista in a rematch for the WWE title in a Last Man Standing match.^[135] He faced Batista one more time in an I Quit match at Over the Limit which he won.^[136]

Feuding and joining The Nexus (2010–2011)[link]

On the June 7, 2010 episode of Raw, Cena was suddenly thrust into a new storyline when during his main event match against CM Punk, he was attacked by all eight former contestants of WWE NXT Season 1, with Wade Barrett as their leader. Punk, his follower Luke Gallows, and other personnel around the ring were attacked as well, but Cena took the worst of the attack and was carried out on a stretcher. This group would later refer to themselves as The Nexus.^[137]

At June's Fatal 4-Way event, Cena lost the WWE title to Sheamus in a fatal four-way match that also involved Edge and Randy Orton due to interference by Nexus.^[138] The following month, in a WWE title rematch against Sheamus in a steel cage match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, the group interfered, thus costing Cena the chance of regaining the championship.^[139] Cena later formed an alliance with Edge, Chris Jericho, John Morrison, R-Truth, The Great Khali and Bret Hart to face the Nexus at SummerSlam, where Cena's team defeated Nexus with the returning Daniel Bryan, a former member of Nexus, who replaced Khali after getting injured.^[140]

Cena being forced to read a public address by Wade Barrett while a member of Nexus.

Nexus's actions, however, did not stop after SummerSlam. Hoping to end Nexus for good, Cena challenged Wade Barrett to a match at Hell in a Cell only to lose due to interference by two fans, later identified as Husky Harris and Michael McGillicutty. Due to the stipulations in place, Cena was forced to join Nexus.^[141] Cena had originally planned to destroy Nexus from within as a member of the group, but the Raw general manager ordered him to follow orders from Barrett, or else he would be fired. At Bragging Rights, Cena and Nexus member David Otunga defeated "Dashing" Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre to win the Tag Team Championship.^[142]

Later in the show Cena was forced to help Barrett to win his WWE Championship match against Randy Orton. If Barrett didn't win the match Cena would be fired. Cena twisted his words around and attacked Barrett, giving Barrett the win via disqualification but not Orton's title.^[142] The following day, Cena and Otunga lost the Tag Team Championship to fellow Nexus members Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel, when Barrett ordered Otunga to lay down and lose the title.^[143] At Survivor Series, Cena officiated a match for the WWE Championship between Wade Barrett and Randy Orton. As a part of a pre-match stipulation, if Barrett didn't win the championship, Cena would be fired from the WWE.

Orton defeated Barrett to retain the title, thus ending Cena's career in the WWE.^[144] The following day on Raw, Cena gave a farewell speech, before costing Wade Barrett the WWE Championship by interfering in his rematch with Randy Orton.^[145] A week later, Cena invaded Raw, first as a spectator, but he then attacked members of Nexus, explaining that he would still take down Nexus one by one, despite not having a job in the WWE anymore.^[146] On the December 13 episode of Raw, Cena was rehired by Barrett, in exchange that he would face him at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in a Chairs Match.^[147] Prior to TLC, Cena teamed up with Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio to defeat Wade Barrett, The Miz and Alberto Del Rio at The WWE Tribute to the Troops. On December 19 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, John Cena was victorious against Wade Barrett in a Chairs match in the main event of the evening.

John Cena at WWE Tribute to the Troops in 2010.

On the December 27 episode of Raw, The Nexus, minus Wade Barrett, announced they were under new management and offered to bury the hatchet with John Cena, to which Cena refused. The Nexus attacked Cena, leaving a Nexus armband in the ring during the process. As the group retreated, CM Punk, who had attacked Cena with a steel chair twice the week before, came to the ring to, what looked like attack John Cena, but instead put on the armband left behind to symbolically announce his allegiance with The Nexus.^[148] The next week, Wade Barrett returned to Raw and confronted CM Punk over the issue of who the leader of The Nexus was and who was responsible for Cena's attack the week before. Barrett was placed into a Triple Threat Steel Cage Match that night that would determine the No. 1 contender for the WWE Championship. CM Punk added his own stipulation to the match saying if Barrett lost, he would be banished from the group, but if he won he would remain leader. Wade Barrett would lose the match after CM Punk interfered by ripping of Barrett's armband.^[149]

On the January 17 episode of Raw, Cena returned and faced Punk in a match. During the match, a man, who would later be revealed to be Mason Ryan, attacked Cena. During the 2011 Royal Rumble match, Cena would eliminate most of the Nexus, ending his feud with them.

Record-breaking WWE Champion; various feuds (2011–present)[link]

The Rock and John Cena agree to face each other at WrestleMania XXVIII.

Cena competed in the 2011 Royal Rumble match at the pay-per-view, making it to the final five before being eliminated by The Miz, the current WWE Champion at the time, who wasn't an official participant in the match. At the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, Cena won the Elimination Chamber match to face The Miz at WrestleMania XXVII for the WWE Championship.^[150] On the February 21 episode of Raw, Cena replied to The Rock's comments about him from the previous week, as The Rock returned as the announced guest host of WrestleMania, where he made a rap about Rock. That same night, Cena was placed into a WWE Tag Team Championship match, with him teaming with The Miz, where they defeated Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater to become WWE Tag Team Champions. After the match, Wade Barrett invoked Gabriel and Slater's rematch clause straight away, where they won their titles back, after Miz attacked Cena.^[151] After weeks of insults to each other, Cena met Rock face-to-face on the March 28 episode of Raw, where Cena would hit his Attitude Adjustment finishing move on Rock.^[152] At WrestleMania, Cena and Miz would fight to a double count-out, but guest host Rock would restart the match, only for him to hit his Rock Bottom finishing move on Cena, allowing Miz to retain his title.^[153] The next night on Raw, Cena and Rock agreed to face each other at WrestleMania XXVIII, making it the first match to be set up at WrestleMania one year in advance. At Extreme Rules, Cena would defeat Miz and Morrison to become WWE Champion.^[153] Cena went on to defend the title against The Miz at Over the Limit in an "I Quit" match^[154] and R-Truth at Capitol Punishment^[155]

At Money in the Bank, CM Punk defeated Cena to win the WWE Championship, and left the company with the title.^{[156][157][158]} A tournament was then conducted to determine the new WWE Champion for the "vacant" WWE title, which was won by Rey Mysterio on the July 25 episode of Raw. That same night, Cena challenged and defeated Mysterio to become WWE Champion for a record breaking ninth time.^[159] Following the match, CM Punk returned to the company, with the WWE Championship he won at Money in the Bank, leading to a title unification match at SummerSlam, where Punk defeated Cena to become "undisputed" WWE Champion. Punk would lose the championship following the match to Mr. Money in the Bank Alberto Del Rio.^[160] On the August 22 episode of Raw, Cena defeated Punk to become number one contender for the WWE Championship, and would defeat Del Rio at Night of Champions to become WWE Champion.^[161] Cena would then lose the title back to Del Rio two weeks later at Hell in a Cell, in a Triple Threat Hell in a Cell match also involving Punk, after Ricardo Rodriguez and Del Rio locked Cena outside of the Cell.^[162] Cena lost his rematch at Vengeance in a Last Man Standing match, due to interference by The Miz and R-Truth.^[163] After a few weeks of Miz and Truth attacking Cena and other employees, Cena was allowed to choose his partner to challenge Miz and Truth at Survivor Series. Cena would announce that he had chosen The Rock to be his partner. At the pay-per-view, after Cena and Rock defeated Miz and Truth, Rock gave Cena another Rock Bottom.^[164]

On the December 12 episode of Raw, during his match with Mark Henry, Cena was attacked by the returning Kane.^[165] The following week on Raw, Cena would call out Kane for his actions last week, but Henry would come out instead. Kane would then come out soon after, and once again attacked Cena.^[166] The following week, Kane would explain to Cena that the reason he had attacked him was in disgust of Cena's "Rise Above Hate" t-shirt slogan, stating that hate is a "natural impulse" and shouldn't be contained. He then led the fans in attendance who were not fond of Cena into chanting "Cena Sucks!" as Raw went off the air.^[167] Kane would then attack Cena's friend Zack Ryder, which led him to lose his United States Championship.^[168][169] At the Royal Rumble, Kane and Cena would fight each other to a double countout only for Kane to get the upper hand on Cena and Ryder, who was watching in a private room in a wheelchair, after the match.^[170] At Elimination Chamber, Cena defeated Kane in an Ambulance match to end the feud.^[171]

Cena and the Rock face off at WrestleMania XXVIII.

After Elimination Chamber, Cena and The Rock would start verbally attacking each other. At WrestleMania XXVIII, Cena faced the Rock in the main event match which had been building for a year and that was billed as "once in a lifetime" and as the biggest and most important match in John Cena's career. The climax of the match came when Cena let his arrogance get in the way of victory causing him to make the mistake of attempting the People's Elbow on the Rock, as the Rock countered with a Rock Bottom to seal the victory.^[172]

Brock Lesnar faces off with John Cena after his return in April 2012.

The following night on Raw, Cena would address the Rock, with the crowd chanting "Your a Loser". Stating that though he lost his career's most important match, he would own up and accept his loss. Cena would call out the Rock to congratulate him only to be interrupted by Brock Lesnar, who proceeded to hit Cena with an F5.^[173] On the April 9 episode of Raw Cena attacked Lesnar at the opening,^[174] after John Laurinaitis announced that Cena would face Lesnar at the main event of Extreme Rules.^[175] John defeated David Otunga later in the main event only to get hit with another F5 by Lesnar.^[176] On April 16, it was announced on WWE.com that Lesnar versus Cena would be an Extreme Rules match.^[177] On the next episode of Raw, Cena was confronted by Edge who would acknowledge Cena's loss to the Rock causing him to have a lack of focus, Edge would go on to tell Cena to wake up from his loss to the Rock and beat Brock Lesnar for all the superstars that supported the WWE is Lesnar's absence.^[178] Later that night, Cena showed his lack of confidence by bringing a chain to the contract signing and refusing to fight Lesnar.^[179] Cena received a Kimura lock and lacerations to the head during the match, but managed a victory against Lesnar,^[180] though he strained the muscles in his arm.^[181] This dovetailed into a rivalry with John Laurinaitis, who was angered at Cena because of his victory against Lesnar and his mockery and declared himself as Cena's opponent at Over the Limit.^[182] Cena would go on to lose the match against Lauranitis due to interference from Big Show. ^[183] The following night on Raw, Lauranitis would announce that Cena would be facing Show at No Way Out.^[184]

Other media[link]

Film[link]

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

WWE Studios, a division of WWE 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 US$7 million at the United States box office.^[185] After ten weeks in theaters, the film grossed $18.7 million.^[185] Once the film was released on DVD, it fared better, making $30 million in rentals in the first twelve weeks.^[185]

John Cena filming on the set of 12 Rounds.

His second film, also produced by WWE Studios, was 12 Rounds.^[186] Filming began on February 25, 2008 in New Orleans;^[186][187] the film was released on March 27, 2009.

Cena co-starred in his third film produced by WWE Studios, titled Legendary, which was played in selected theaters starting on September 10, 2010, for a limited time,^[188] then it was released on DVD on September 28, 2010.^[189]

That same year, Cena starred in the children's film Fred: The Movie, a film based on Lucas Cruikshank's YouTube videos of the same name, where he plays Fred's father.^[190] The movie was released on the Nickelodeon channel in September 2010.^[191]

Guest appearances[link]

Before his WWE debut, Cena made an appearance on the Internet stream show Go Sick as Bruebaker, an angry, cursing wrestler in 2001.^[192]

During his WWE career, Cena has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! three times. Cena has also appeared on 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.^[193]

In January 2007, Cena, Batista, and Ashley Massaro appeared representing WWE on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,^[194] giving the children of the family whose house was being renovated WWE merchandise and eight tickets to WrestleMania 23.^[195] 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.^[196] On April 9, 2008, Cena, along with fellow wrestlers Triple H and Chris Jericho, appeared on the Idol Gives Back fund-raising special.^[197] In March 2009, Cena made an appearance on Saturday Night Live during the show's cold opening sequence.^[198] On March 7, 2009, he was a guest on NPR's quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! in a Not My Job sequence titled "Sure, pro wrestling is a good gig, but when you win, do they throw teddy bears into the ring?"^[199]

Television[link]

In 2001, between his training in Ultimate Pro Wrestling and Ohio Valley Wrestling,^[21] 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.^{[200][201][202]}

Cena was also featured on the ABC reality series Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, which aired in June 2007,^[203] making it to the final round before being eliminated on June 24, placing third in the competition overall.^[204]

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."^[205] 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".^[206] A text interview on the website with Cena later had him saying the news outlet should apologize for misrepresenting him,^[207] which CNN refused in a statement, saying they felt the true answer to the question began with the phrase "My answer to that question".^[208] They did, however, edit the documentary on subsequent airings to include the "Absolutely not".^[208]

Cena hosted the Australian Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards with Natalie Bassingthwaighte on October 11, 2008 in Melbourne, Australia.^[209]

He guest starred as Ewan O'Hara in an episode of the fourth season of the comedy drama Psych, as the brother of Juliet O'Hara, played by Maggie Lawson.^[210]

He also guest starred in the seventh episode of Disney Channel's Hannah Montana Forever as himself.

Make-A-Wish Foundation[link]

Cena signing merchandise for a young fan

Cena posing with children

John Cena has granted over 250 wishes for Arizona children with life-threatening illnesses through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and is the biggest wish granter in Make-A-Wish history.^[211][212] In 2009, Cena received the Chris Greicius Celebrity Award.^[213]

Endorsements[link]

Before his professional wrestling career, Cena appeared in an advertisement for Gold's Gym.^[214] As a wrestler he has endorsed the energy drink YJ Stinger,^[215] appearing in commercials beginning in October 2003, and Subway,^[216] 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 endorsed two "signature collections" of energy drinks and energy bars sold by American Body Builders.^[217] In 2008, Cena filmed a commercial as part of Gillette's "Young Guns" NASCAR campaign.^[218]

In 2009, Cena expanded his relationship with Gillette by introducing a new online campaign called "Be A Superstar" featuring himself alongside WWE Superstars Chris Jericho and Cody Rhodes. The campaign features motivational videos.^[219]

Fashion[link]

For the extent of his WWE career, Cena's attire has attempted to reflect the most current thug fashions and stylings within the hip hop culture that his character represents. Cena started out wearing "throwback jerseys" until WWE produced specific Cena merchandise which he began wearing.^[220] While Cena 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."^[221] He also wore a chain with a large padlock, occasionally using it as a weapon,^[222] 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 The Marine was released, Cena 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."^[223] 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.^[224] He then wore shirts that promoted Cenation and his trademark line "You Can't See Me." From late 2011 until Wrestlemania XXVIII, Cena again switched to camo shorts (honoring the U.S. Armed Forces), to coinincide with his black "Rise Above Hate" T-shirt promoting WWE's "Be a Star" anti-bullying campaign.

Music[link]

	"The Time is Now" by John Cena & Tha Trademarc (2005) noicon Sample from "The Time Is Now" by John Cena & Tha Trademarc.
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In addition to his wrestling career, Cena is a rapper and a hip hop musician. Cena 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.^[225]

Cena's 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." Cena will appear on Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins' upcoming album Still Cool featuring other guests.^[226]

Albums

• You Can't See Me
  • Released: May 10, 2005
  • Chart positions:^[227][228] 15 U.S. Billboard 200, 10 U.S. Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, 3 U.S. Rap, 103 UK Albums Chart
  • Singles: "The Time Is Now", "Bad Bad Man" (featuring Bumpy Knuckles), "Right Now"

Filmography[link]

Film[link]