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Vince McMahon once almost fired a future WWE Hall of Famer and one of the greatest superstars in the company's history.
John Cena carried WWE for more than a decade as its top superstar. However, Cena's career started off slow after debuting as a generic babyface in 2002. A heel turn, and a new gimmick helped save his career and become the 16-time WWE World Champion he is now.
In an appearance on the Pancakes and Powerslams Show, John Cena Sr. shared the story of how Vince McMahon almost fired his son.
"(Bruce Prichard) and Vince (McMahon) were standing (in the locker room) and John walked by," Cena Sr. said. "Vince said, 'We gotta get rid of this dude. I can't have a steroid freak walking around here.' (And others said), 'The guy's legal. We test him every day, you know, he's there.' That's how it all became, and then, I guess they got down, they sat down and they worked out the Doctor of Thuganomics," said Cena Sr. (16:51 - 17:10)
Firing John Cena would have been one of the worst decisions Vince McMahon ever made. It would be difficult to imagine another wrestler having the impact Cena has had, and to take the company to the next level, considering Brock Lesnar walked out in 2004.
John Cena firm on his WWE future
In the post-Fastlane press conference, John Cena gave an update about his future. Cena expects his current run will end once the SAG-AFTRA strike gets resolved.
"I made it perfectly clear, you can't do both because of the liability and insurance," Cena said. "If I were to try and juggle both, that's very selfish because I would put a whole lot of people in the movie business out of work if something happened to me. ... As soon as we get back to work, we go back to work, but I don't control any of that."
John Cena and LA Knight are fresh off a victory over Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso at Fastlane. With Cena expected to work with WWE until the end of the SAG-AFTRA strike, fans should savor every time he appears on television.
Which superstar would have stepped up if Vince McMahon fired John Cena in late 2002? Share your answers in the comments section below.
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