John Cena Biography Facts,

John Felix Anthony Cena Jr. is one of five sons born on 23 April 1977 to John Cena Sr. and Carol Cena. Cena has a diverse background as he is English-Canadian through his mother and Italian through his father. Cena was raised as a Catholic and went on to attend a Catholic school, Central Catholic High School before he moved to Cushing Academy.

Cena had always been interested in sport as his grandfather, Tony Lupien was a professional baseball player who played for various Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. Cena attended Springfield College and played American football in college. Cena who played as a centre wore the no. 54 jersey. His top football skills earned him a place in the centre position of the NCAA Division III All-American team. Following his graduation from college in 1998, Cena went on to work as a bodybuilder as he earned a degree in exercise physiology and body movement. He also took up a Limousine driving job.

John Cena Professional Wrestling Career

Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) (1999–2001)

In 1999, a young energetic John Cena decided to venture into wrestling and thus began training at Ultimate Pro Wrestling’s (UPW) Ultimate University, located in California. He went on to win the UPW Heavyweight Championship in April 2000, but after 27 days was defeated. At UPW, he earned ‘The Prototype‘ nickname as a result of his robotic movements. While still wrestling under The Prototype alias, Cena fought in dark WWF match and lost in October 2000.

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) (2001–present)

In 2001, he signed a deal with the WWE and went on to wrestle in the Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he won the Heavyweight Championship and the Tag Team Championship. He continued to receive tryout matches which gave him a shot at featuring in WWE fights. In June 2002, he fought in his first televised WWE fight against Kurt Angle which he narrowly lost. He thus became ad fan favourite and defeated Chris Jericho in the WWE Vengeance match. He also defeated Chavo Guerrero and others. He and Billy Kidman unsuccessfully attempted to win the Tag Team Championship in October 2002.

Cena began to include rapping in his gimmick and made another unsuccessful attempt with B-2 to win the Tag Team Championship. He then went on to emerge as the no. 1 contender to fight Brock Lesnar for the World Championship. He then began feuding with Undertaker. Still a fan favourite, he made several unsuccessful attempts to win the World Championship title and the United States Championship. Following a worked injury and return from filming the Marine Movie, Cena won the US Championship. He lost his title to Orlando Jordan, following his feud with The Cabinet crew, which Jordan is a member of. After he defeated JBL to emerge as WWE Champion again, he made a new WWE belt, but JBL took the original belt and claimed he’s the champion, but that was settled in a rematch which Cena won. Cena, however, lost his title to Kurt Angle and retained it, before he lost it again to Edge.

Cena continued in this fashion, losing and retaining his title until he sustained torn muscle injury in October 2007, which led to him being stripped of his title. Upon his return, he made an unsuccessful attempt to reclaim the WWE Championship title before he emerged as tag team champion in August 2008. He lost the title after a week. He suffered a neck injury which required surgery after which he returned to win the WWE Heavyweight Championship for the first time in November 2009. After several unsuccessful attempts to defeat WWE Champion, Randy Orton, he succeeded in August 2010 but was eventually defeated by Sheamus. Cena eventually retained the title, after he fought against Batista in WrestleMania XXVI.

Cena went on to be involved in a feud with the Nexus, who made him lose his WWE Championship. He eventually joined The Nexus after he lost to leader Wade Barrett, in Hell in a Cell where it was agreed that if he lost, he will join The Nexus but if he won, The Nexus will disband. Cena then won the Tag Team Championship, with David Otunga. Cena contract with the WWE was cancelled in a kayfabe manner, after Randy Orton prevailed over Wade Barrett, in a game which was agreed that if Barrett lost, his contract will be cancelled. He eventually gave a kayfabe departing speech.

The Rock vs John Cena - WrestleMania 28

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson vs John Cena — WrestleMania XXVIII (28) in April 2012. (Image credit: wwe.com)

Throughout 2011 to 2013, Cena won the Tag team Championship and the WWE Championship but was involved in a very intense feud with The Rock. He eventually lost his titles and made several bids to win them which he was unsuccessful. Cena determined to win a championship, set his eyes on the Heavyweight Championship which he won on his return to Hell in a Cell. After he challenged Randy Orton to unify their titles, they fought for the unified World WWE Heavyweight Championship, which he lost. In June, he eventually won the title. But he was defeated by Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.

John Cena's Attitude Adjustment against Randy Orton.

John Cena’s Attitude Adjustment against Randy Orton. (Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

In March 2015, Cena won the US Championship. He had his eyes set on becoming a World WWE Heavyweight champion but was defeated by Seth Rollins for the title. He reclaimed the title before losing it to Alberto Dio Rio in Hell in a Cage. In January 2016, he came down with shoulder injury which required surgery. From 2016 to 2017, he and AJ Styles were involved in feuds over the WWE Championship, which he won to emerge as the wrestler with the most Championship wins. He lost the championship after two weeks.

In July 2017, he became a free agent which meant he’ll feature in WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown. He and his then-girlfriend Nicki Bella regularly fought together. He was set to fight in Saudi Arabia in late 2017 but turned down the offer after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. In 2019, Sports Illustrated awarded him the Muhammad Ali Legacy Award.