John Felix Anthony Cena, Jr.[6] (pronounced /ˈsiːnə/; born April 23, 1977)[4] is an American actor, rapper, and professional wrestler employed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its Raw brand.
In WWE, Cena has won fifteen championships in total, including nine World Titles (having won the WWE Championship seven times and the World Heavyweight Championship twice). In addition, Cena has also won the WWE United States Championship three times[7] and the World Tag Team Championship also three times (once with Shawn Michaels, once with Batista[8] and once with David Otunga). Cena also won the 2008 Royal Rumble match, and the 2009 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award.[9]
Cena started his professional wrestling career in 2000, wrestling for Ultimate Pro Wrestling, where he held the UPW Heavyweight Championship. In 2001, Cena signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) where he held the OVW Heavyweight Championship and the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (with Rico Constantino).
Outside of wrestling, Cena has released the rap album You Can't See Me, which debuted at #15 on the US Billboard 200 chart, and starred in the feature films The Marine (2006), 12 Rounds (2009), and Legendary (2010).[10] Cena has also made appearances on television shows including Manhunt, Deal or No Deal, MADtv, Saturday Night Live, Punk'd, and Psych. Cena was also a contestant on Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, where he made it to the final round before being eliminated, placing third in the overall competition.
Early life
Cena was born April 23, 1977, in West Newbury, Massachusetts,[4] the son of Carol and John Cena, Sr.[11] He is the second eldest of five brothers – Dan, Matt, Steve, and Sean.[12] After graduating from Cushing Academy, Cena attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts.[13] In college he was a Division III All-American center on the college football team,[14] wearing the number 54,[13] which is still used on some of his WWE merchandise.[15][16] He graduated from Springfield in 1998 with a degree in exercise physiology,[17] after which he pursued a career bodybuilding,[18][19] and also worked as a chauffeur for a limousine company.[20]
Training
Cena started training to become a professional wrestler in 2000 at the California-based "Ultimate University" operated by Ultimate Pro Wrestling. Once he was placed into an in-ring role, Cena began using a semi-robotic character known as The Prototype.[21][22] Some of this period of his career was documented in the Discovery Channel program Inside Pro Wrestling School.[19] While in UPW, Cena held the UPW Heavyweight Championship for just shy of a month in April 2000.[23] In 2001, he signed a developmental contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and was assigned to its developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW).[24] During his time there, Cena wrestled as both The Prototype and Mr. P, and held the OVW Heavyweight Championship for three months and the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (with Rico Constantino) for two months.[
Feuding with and joining Nexus (2010)
On the June 7, 2010 edition of RAW, which was a 3-hour Viewer's Choice episode, Cena was suddenly thrust into a new storyline when during his main event match against CM Punk, he was attacked by all eight former contestants of WWE NXT Season 1, with Wade Barrett as their leader. Punk, his follower Luke Gallows, and other personnel around the ring were attacked as well, but Cena took the worst of the attack and was carried out on a stretcher. This group would later refer to themselves as The Nexus [133] At June's Fatal 4-Way event, Cena lost the WWE title to Sheamus in a fatal four-way match that also involved Edge and Randy Orton due to interference by Nexus.[134] The following month, in a WWE title rematch against Sheamus in a steel cage match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, the group interfered, thus costing Cena the chance of regaining the championship.[135] Being fed up with their interference and attacks on other WWE superstars, Cena formed an alliance with Edge, Chris Jericho, John Morrison, R-Truth, The Great Khali and Bret Hart to face the group at SummerSlam. At the event, Cena's team defeated Nexus with the returning Daniel Bryan, a former member of Nexus, who replaced Khali after getting injured.[136] However, Nexus's actions did not stop after SummerSlam. Hoping to end Nexus for good, Cena challenged Wade Barrett to a match at Hell in a Cell only to lose due interference by two fans later identified as Husky Harris and Michael McGillicutty. Due to the stipulations in place, Cena was forced to join Nexus.[137] Cena had originally planned to destroy Nexus from within as a member of the group, but the Raw general manager ordered him to follow orders from Barrett, or else he would be fired. At Bragging Rights, Cena and Nexus member David Otunga defeated "Dashing" Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre to win the Tag Team Championship.[138] Later, Cena was forced to help Barrett win or lose his job. However, Cena twisted his words around and attacked Barrett giving Barrett the win via disqualification but not Orton's title.[138] The following day, Cena and Otunga lost the Tag Team Championship to fellow Nexus members Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel, when Barrett ordered Otunga to lay down and lose the title.[139] At Survivor Series, Cena officiated a match for the WWE Championship between Wade Barrett and Randy Orton. As a part of a pre-match stipulation, if Barrett did not win the championship, Cena would be fired from the WWE. Orton defeated Barrett to retain the title, thus ending Cena's career (kayfabe) in the WWE.[140] The following day on Raw, Cena gave a farewell speech, before costing Wade Barrett the WWE Championship by interfering in his rematch with Randy Orton.[141]
Film
WWE Studios, a division of World Wrestling Entertainment which produces and finances motion pictures, produced Cena's first movie — The Marine, which was distributed theatrically by 20th Century Fox America beginning on October 13, 2006. In its first week, the film made approximately $7 million at the United States box office.[142] After ten weeks in theaters, the film grossed $18.7 million.[142] Once the film was released on DVD, it fared better, making $30 million in rentals in the first twelve weeks.[142]
His second film, also produced by WWE Studios, was 12 Rounds.[143] Filming began on February 25, 2008 in New Orleans;[143][144] the film was released on March 27, 2009.
Cena co-starred in his third film produced by WWE Studios, titled Legendary, which was played in selected theaters starting on September 10, 2010, for a limited time,[145] then it was released on DVD on September 28, 2010.[146]
That same year, Cena starred in the children's film Fred: The Movie, a film based on Lucas Cruikshank's YouTube videos of the same name, where he plays Fred's father.[147] The movie was released on the Nickelodeon channel in September 2010.[148]
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