John Cena is perhaps the first name that pokes up whenever a casual fan talks about WWE. He has been the franchise player of the promotion for a long time now. And the fan following of Cena is so strong that most fans even know the small details in his life. Currently, Cena might be under the Twilight of his career but then again, he has enough gas in him to give us a few more quality years.
Despite the polarizing character that he is, Cena deserves respect and this will be the motive of this list as well. We will be reliving some of the rare moments in John Cena’s journey so far through photos so tighten your seatbelts and read on.
10: The dancer Cena
The rapping skills of John Cena are something that we know about but not many would know about his dancing skills. The picture above showcases such a rare moment where Cena unleashes himself and moves his body around. Despite all being suited up, Cena seems pretty comfortable busting moves for his dance.
The funny part is, this comes under the list ‘Things you do for your girlfriend’ as it was a photo taken during the high school reunion of Cena’s girlfriend Nikki Bella. And no points for guessing who clicked the picture as it this comes straight from the TMZ archives.
9: With Dr. Amann
Blood is a treated as a big problem in WWE these days due to the PG transition. However, before the PG era came, the wrestler used crimson faces to add drama and more realism to their matches. Cena was no different. During his career, Cena has been involved in some wars and in the picture, we see him being treated by Dr. Chris Amann after a match.
You might be familiar with Dr. Amann as he was the controversial protagonist in the rant that CM Punk gave after walking out of WWE. Despite Punk’s claims, Amann is still the senior ringside physician for WWE.
8: Beard time
Wrestlers sporting beards became a major talking point recently thanks to the bearded revolution that Daniel Bryan sparked. The Wyatt Family also had their fair share of the limelight in the case. Meanwhile, John Cena is one of those superstars that barely show up with facial hair.
Whenever we see him, he has a cleanly shaved face that shines under the light. But the picture above tells a different story. The exact timing of the same is not known and it might’ve been taken while he was being injured as he never showed up on television with such a face.
7: Alongside Samoa Joe
Cena’s professional wrestling career began at Ultimate Pro Wrestling. He started training there back in 1999 and had a semi-robotic character which was named ‘The Prototype’. He was a heavyweight champion in the promotion for almost a month and his journey there was documented by Discovery channel as well. Ultimate pro Wrestling had some notable names on their roster like Rob Van Dam, Rikishi, Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper and Ken Shamrock being just some of them.
Another notable name from the promotion was Samoa Joe. In the picture, you can see Joe and Cena learning at UPW and it is fascinating to see the different paths that these two went after this.
6: The Ex-Wife
The first marriage of John Cena is something that barely gets the mention. Cena married Elizabeth Huberdeau back in 2009 and as Elizabeth was not a mainstream name like Nikki Bella, most of the wrestling fans do not know about the same. Elizabeth and Cena filed for divorce in 2012. A year later, he got into a relationship with Nikki Bella and it turned out to be one of the most talked about relationships in the wrestling business.
The photo above sees Cena and Elizabeth chilling out near the poolside with a good drink. With a pet and smiles around, they seem like a happy couple after all.
5: Pranks with Orton
The relationship between Randy Orton and John Cena dates back to their Ohio Valley Wrestling days. Cena, Orton, Shelton Benjamin and Brock Lesnar belonged to the same class and Orton and Cena, in particular, managed to build a strong friendship from that point. WWE gave us numerous matches between Orton and Cena and this friendship they had was probably the reason why all of them excelled.
The picture above shows the fun side of their friendship. The incident happened during a promotional event for SummerSlam 2004 where Orton and Cena were playing basketball. Cena decided to get funny and pulled Orton’s pants down in front of the public. As you might’ve noticed, Matt Hardy is looking at the incident with his ‘broken’ brilliance.
4: The best rapper in the picture
Sasha Banks is making her mark in the wrestling business right now and before all this came in, she was lucky enough to share some photo-time with the Cenation leader. Sasha, as we all know, is the cousin of Snoop Dogg and this was perhaps the reason why she managed to get so close to Cena even before making it into the World Wrestling Entertainment.
Snoop Dogg can be seen in the picture as well and at some point, this picture did make rounds on the internet with the caption “The World’s best rapper in the world, Sasha Banks, and Snoop Dogg”.
3: Trick or treat?
Halloween costume is perhaps the only thing that could explain this picture. And this is one could be a picture taken years before Cena attained fame in the wrestling business. He is seen sporting a weird doctor’s costume and if this was not enough, he also has a mustache. The story behind this photo is yet to be explored but later, during his wrestling career, Cena went on to earn the name Doctor of Thuganomics.
So perhaps this is what the Doctor of Thuganomics looks like. Anyways, this photo was rare and weird enough to get a spot on this list.
2: The dream
It is easy to have a dream, but it takes dedication to make this into a reality. Cena, as pictured above, was a fan of professional wrestling from young age itself and holding the title, was apparently a dream for him. Through years of struggle and hard work, Cena managed to revolutionize the wrestling business and in place of the made up belt, he had the real gold.
No matter how much someone hates Cena, the fact that he chased his dreams and went on to make his mark in the world deserves respect.
1: Bodybuilding days
John Cena’s bodybuilding career recently came to mainstream attention thanks to Conor McGregor. The UFC Featherweight champion called Cena a failed ‘bodybuilder’ and it immediately sparked off controversies. It is true that Cena tried his hand at Bodybuilding but at the same time, though he did not succeed at this, Cena managed to build a career in WWE that showed one always learns from failures.
This is a picture from the bodybuilding days of Cena and it is indeed an inspiring one just like the photo from his childhood. Though it might come across as a photo shop picture, this one has no filters whatsoever.
