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Although it may be hard to believe today, there was a time early on in his WWE career where John Cena was struggling to get over and he himself revealed that he was on the verge of getting fired at one point. Here's what Cena himself said about the situation:
“I was about to be fired. I was in a Becky Lynch-type scenario where I was forgotten and I was about to be let go and I took a chance on myself. I took a chance on redefining my character and it worked and I’ve never stopped. And I wasn’t the corporate headquarters first, second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth choice, but the audience began to make noise."
"And I connected with the audience and the rest is history. And that’s what’s wonderful about WWE. It truly is an enterprise system for any performer to connect with the audience. And once they connect with the audience, it doesn’t matter if they’re male or female."
Veteran pro wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer has also spoken about his early run in WWE, saying that Cena was called up too soon because someone behind the scenes didn't like the youngster. Although Cena failed to connect initially, Stephanie McMahon took a liking to the rookie and that is definitely one of the things that helped Cena avoid the axe early on. Meltzer:
“John Cena worked OVW for a while, which is where he really learned his craft. He was called up too soon, which everyone knew, and there’s political reasons why that happened, and it nearly cost him his career. If it wasn’t for Stephanie McMahon taking a liking to him after they’d just about decided to let him go, he could’ve been gone.”
As Cena himself said, he later came into his own and is now one of the most successful WWE Superstars in history as a 16-time world champion. Cena is currently a part-timer and is concentrating on his acting career. His last WWE appearance came at WrestleMania 35 where he interrupted Elias and paid homage to his Dr. of Thuganomics gimmick.
