John Felix Anthony Cena (born April 23, 1977) is a part-time professional wrestler, actor, and former rapper from the United States. He is currently under contract with WWE. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, and he shares the most recognised world championship reigns in professional wrestling history with Ric Flair.
Cena moved to California in 1998 to pursue a bodybuilding career before switching to professional wrestling in 1999 and making his debut for Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW). In 2001, he signed with the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) and was assigned to its developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he won the OVW Heavyweight Championship and the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship.
Cena rose to prominence and success after joining SmackDown in 2002 and adopting the persona of a trash-talking rapper. After winning the WWE Championship in 2005, Cena transitioned into a clean-cut, heroic character which he described as a "goody-two shoes Superman". For the next decade, he served as the company's franchise player and public face.
Cena is a joint-record 16-time world champion, having won the WWE Championship 13 times and the World Heavyweight Championship three times.
He has also won the WWE United States Championship five times, the WWE Tag Team Championship twice, the World Tag Team Championship twice, the Royal Rumble twice, and Money in the Bank once. He has also five times headlined multiple major WWE pay-per-view events, including the company's flagship event, WrestleMania. His professional wrestling career has received mixed critical and audience reactions, with praise for his character work and promotional abilities but criticism for his perceived over-representation and on-screen dominance in comparison to other wrestlers.
Cena debuted in The Marine (2006) and has since received praise for his roles in Trainwreck (2015), Ferdinand (2017), Blockers, and Bumblebee (both 2018). He played Jakob Toretto, Dominic and Mia's brother, in F9 (2021), and Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad (2021) and the eponymous television series (2022–present). You Can't See Me (2005), his debut studio album, was certified platinum. Cena is well-known outside of the entertainment industry for his involvement in a variety of charitable causes, most notably the Make-A-Wish Foundation, where he has granted over 650 wishes.
Net Worth:
John Cena has an estimated net worth of $80 million as an American professional wrestler, bodybuilder, rapper, and actor. John Cena rose to prominence as a WWE professional wrestler. He has since evolved into an A-list actor and television host. He is also the current host of Nickelodeon's Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? and has appeared in a number of films and television series.
Cena's Hometown:
Cena was born on April 23, 1977, in West Newbury, Massachusetts, to Carol (née Lupien) and John Joseph Cena. His mother is English and French-Canadian, and his father, a former Chaotic Wrestling ring announcer, is Italian. Tony Lupien, a baseball player, was his maternal grandfather, and Ulysses J. Lupien, a businessman, was his maternal great-grandfather. He is the second oldest of five brothers, the others being Dan, Matt, Steve, and Sean. Growing up, he was a wrestling fan who would make championship belts out of cardboard for himself and his brothers. He was raised Roman Catholic and is a cousin of computer scientist Natalie Enright Jerger. Cena was bullied and beaten at school and requested a weightlifting bench when he was 12 years old.
Early Life:
Cena attended Lawrence Central Catholic High School before transferring to Cushing Academy, a private prep boarding school in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. He then went on to attend Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was an NCAA Division III All-American centre and captain of their college football team, wearing number 54. He earned a degree in exercise physiology and body movement from Springfield College in 1999, after which he pursued a bodybuilding career and worked as a limousine driver. Cena worked in the Gold's Gym store area for $6 an hour.
Professional wrestling career:
Cena grew up idolising Hulk Hogan and moved to California in 1998 to begin training for a professional wrestling career at Ultimate Pro Wrestling's (UPW) Ultimate University, which was run by Rick Bassman. He began wrestling in local flea markets, and once in the ring, Cena began using a semi-robotic character known as The Prototype. Some of his career during this time period was documented in the Discovery Channel show Inside Pro Wrestling School. In April 2000, he held the UPW Heavyweight Championship for 27 days and wrestled for the UPW until March 2001.
WWF/WWE Career:
On October 10, 2000, Cena made his unofficial debut for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as The Prototype on a SmackDown! He was filming a dark match against Mikey Richardson, which he lost. On January 9, 2001, he was given another tryout at a SmackDown! In Oakland, California, he defeated Aaron Aguilera before wrestling again in a dark match at a SmackDown! March 13th is the date for filming.
Cena signed a developmental contract with the WWF in 2001, and was assigned to the WWF's developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). Cena wrestled under the ring name The Prototype and held the OVW Heavyweight Championship for three months and the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (with Rico Constantino) for two months during his time there.
Throughout the early months of 2002, Cena was constantly competing on WWF house shows, where he faced off against wrestlers such as Shelton Benjamin and Tommy Dreamer. He continued to appear on OVW programming after his main call up in June 2002 until September 25, when he lost to Kenny Brolin in a Loser Leaves OVW match. Later, in November, he made a one-time appearance for the developmental farm under the ring name Mr. P in a six-man tag team match, winning with Hall of Famer Big Boss Man and Charlie Haas against Lance Cade, Trevor Murdoch, and Sean O'Haire.
Cena's call-up to the main roster meant that he was part of OVW's now legendary Class of 2002, alongside Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton and Batista, a class which would eventually become known as the "OVW 4".
Acting Career:
WWE Studios, a division of WWE that produces and finances motion pictures, produced Cena's first film, The Marine, which was released theatrically on October 13, 2006 by 20th Century Fox America. The film grossed around $7 million in its first week at the box office in the United States. The film grossed $18.7 million in ten weeks in theatres. When the film was released on DVD, it performed much better, grossing $30 million in the first twelve weeks.
His second film, 12 Rounds, was also produced by WWE Studios. Filming began in New Orleans on February 25, 2008, and the film was released on March 27, 2009.
Cena co-starred in Legendary, his third film produced by WWE Studios, which was released in select theatres on September 10, 2010 for a limited time. On September 28, 2010, it was released on DVD. Cena played Fred's imaginary father in the children's film Fred: The Movie, which was based on Lucas Cruikshank's YouTube videos of the same name. The film premiered on Nickelodeon in September 2010.
Cena appeared in three comedies in 2015: Trainwreck, Sisters, and Daddy's Home. Cena appeared in the war drama The Wall in 2017 and provided voice work for the animated films Surf's Up WaveMania and Ferdinand. He also appeared in Daddy's Home 2, reprising his role from the previous film in a larger capacity. In 2018, Cena appeared in the comedy Blockers and the Transformers spin-off prequel Bumblebee. In 2019, he starred as smokejumper superintendent Jake Carson in the film Playing with Fire. In the adventure comedy film Dolittle, he voiced Yoshi, a polar bear.
Cena was cast as the brother of Vin Diesel's character Dominic Toretto in Justin Lin's F9 in 2019. Cena referred to Taiwan as "a country" during the film's promotional tour in 2021. He later apologised on social media, as both China and the United Nations consider Taiwan to be a part of China. Bill Maher, a comedian and political commentator, chastised Cena for his apology to China.
Cena was also cast in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad as Christopher Smith / Peacemaker, a role that was originally intended for Dave Bautista.
Music career:
Cena is a rapper in addition to his wrestling career. "Basic Thuganomics," his fifth WWE theme song, was featured on the WWE soundtrack album WWE Originals. He also recorded a song called "Untouchables" for the WWE ThemeAddict: The Music, Vol. 6 soundtrack album. He worked on a remix of the song "H-U-S-T-L-E" with Murs, E-40, and Chingo Bling.
You Can't See Me, Cena's debut album, was produced by his cousin Tha Trademarc. It includes his entrance theme, "The Time is Now," as well as the single "Bad, Bad Man," for which a music video was created that parodied 1980s culture, including the television show The A-Team. The second single, "Right Now," which debuted on the August 8, 2005 episode of WWE Monday Night Raw, also received a video. Cena and Tha Trademarc were later featured on a track called "Champion Scratch" by The Perceptionists. Cena made an appearance on T-album, Boz's Still Cool.
Cena appeared on two songs with rapper Wiz Khalifa for his singles "All Day" and "Breaks" for the WWE 2K15 video game soundtrack in October 2014.
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