John CenaFans who tuned into WWE during the PG era missed quite a lot of action. We are seeing some lengthy matches and some good wrestling in between the ropes, but WWE wasn’t always this calm. There was a sense of controversy and edge to the product in the past and that is something that the new age PG Era fans would find it hard to digest.For instance, to them, John Cena has been a perfect role model. Cena doesn’t do anything wrong and teaches some excellent values to the children. However, just like WWE and everyone else, Cena also had a forgettable past that he would probably cringe about. And this list is going to dwell right into that.
#11 Honorable Mention: The guy used to pump his Reebok
Ever saw John Cena pump his shoes? The guy was a master in the art form.
#10 Cena had this magical power of tapping out
PG era fans are familiar with a lot of magical powers that Cena has with Kicking out at two during an atomic explosion being the most notable one. However, Cena has another magical power that PG era fans are not familiar with. He can TAP OUT. I know it is hard to digest but he did have the power back in the good old days.
Currently, no matter how much pain he is in, Cena will somehow drag himself to the rope and break the submission hold. But back then, Cena somehow knew that he could break the hold by hitting the mat with his hand. And that, PG Era fans, is something you guys cannot see now.
#9 He wasn\'t always Fruity Pebbles
John Cena is criticized a lot for his fruity pebbles T-shirt. He has almost all the colors under the sun in his closet, but it wasnt always like this. Cena used to have cool T-Shirts back then and some of his shirts even read Ruck Fules. Ill give some time to decode that. Ruck and Fules, just some wordplay is all you need.
Got it? Exactly. And this was just one slogan from his collection. His rapper gimmick came up with similar Shirts all the time and it was way better than the advertisements he wears now. It would be impossible to see such T-shirts during the PG era.
#8 John Cena was in Ready To Rumble
WCW was pretty high on Ready to Rumble. They went to all limits to promote the film and even made David Arquette the WCW Champion. Why? You might think that it was because the film had Diamond Dallas Page, Goldberg, Billy Kidman, Booker T and a string of other WCW superstars but in reality that was never the reason.
The real reason why WCW promoted the film so much was because of John Cena. Cena appears in the film for around two seconds. It’s like he even kicked out of the film before three seconds. Anyways, the Film bombed, WCW died and Cena went on to become the most popular WWE superstar.
#7 Dissing a handicap man in his hometown
Respect is one of the marketing slogans that John Cena has now. Cena apparently respects everyone he comes across but just like all the other slides in this list, Cena had a forgettable past. And in that past, he went as far as dissing a handicaped man. It was pure heel brilliance from Cena and if dissing a handicaped man was not enough, he did it in Detroit which was the hometown of that handicaped man.
He later went on to call Detroit a crack-head filled city and dropped some more insults. It was a classic heel promo from Cena, and Vince McMahon should watch these videos when he gets time because it shows how good Cena can be as a heel.
#6 Cena once had enforcers
Super Cena has enough power in him to protect himself. Cena overcomes all of the hurdles alone and doesn’t need any helping hand most of the time. Pre-PG Era John Cena was a different guy. He had enforcers beside him so that he could get help if someone comes behind him. First he was accompanied by Barry Buchanan (I’ll give you a medal if you remember the guy without Google).
Then Cena broke up with Buchanan and joined hands with Rodney Mack. WWE soon dropped the enforcer idea for Cena and he eventually became Super Cena who needed no help whatsoever to defend himself.
#5 About his divorce
John Cena and Nikki Bella are one of the hottest couples in WWE right now. WWE is celebrating their love story all over the Internet and so is the WWE fan base. Cena has a bad reputation for not proposing to Nikki but then again, the fans see them as a good pairing. But we often forget about Cena’s ex-wife.
The Cenation Leader married his girlfriend Elizabeth Huberdeau in 2009 and the duo divorced in 2012. Just months after his divorce, Cena started dating Nikki Bella. He was also rumored to be in a relationship with Mickie James at one point. Now, I’m not saying that Cena isn’t loyal, I’m just stating the facts.
#4 It was FU before it became AA
Attitude Adjustment is a move with which Cena won many matches. The name indicates that he would adjust the Attitude of anyone who has an attitude problem. It is a PGfied (is there even a word like this?) name for John Cena’s finisher as he had a pretty controversial name in the past.
Cena’s finisher was once called FU. The U stood for you and the F stood for the most popular word in the world that starts with F and ends with K and for the record, it is not Facebook. And if you think naming a move like this was outrageous, he had a similar name for his submission move as well.
#3 And STF was STFU
Just like Attitude Adjustment, STF is a move that has helped John Cena a lot. He has made numerous superstars with the submission move but just like Attitude Adjustment, STF was also renamed. Previously, it was known as STFU. The ‘S’ stood for Shut, ‘T’ stood for the, ‘F’ stood for that popular word that starts with F and ends with K and ‘U’ stood for up.
WWE later buried the same when Cena turned PG and now expands the STF to Stepover Toehold Sleeper. The first name was way cooler right? That, ladies and gentlemen, is the difference between PG era and Ruthless Aggression Era.
#2 The meaning of Five Knuckle Shuffle
Another move in John Cena’s arsenal is the Five Knuckle Shuffle. It is a ridiculous wrestling move to be precise. However, the meaning of Five Knuckle Shuffle is something that WWE wouldn’t want kids to know. It is a slang term for Masturbation and Cena used it intentionally during his initial run in the WWE.
Cena used to pull off Promos about Masturbation as well. It wasn’t a big problem back then. And since the move was so iconic, WWE decided to keep the name and at the same time, kept a lid on the actual meaning of it. PG Era fans, take a note before shouting Five Knuckle Shuffle next time.
#1 He spanked Stephanie McMahon once
This is something that WWE would love to erase from their history. John Cena was an upcoming wrestler, Stephanie McMahon was the daughter of Vince McMahon, it was the national television, it was Vince McMahon’s company, and John Cena spanked Stephanie McMahon.
It was a great moment for the Ruthless aggression era but if it had happened today, the Internet would have crashed! Cena spanked Stephanie and went on to have a successful career afterwards. So there is your answer for why Triple H is so successful. Jokes apart, it was clearly not a PG era moment and Cena would probably want everyone to forget the same.
