John Cena
Weighing in at 240 pounds and standing at 6 foot 1 inches, John Cena is at the peak of physical fitness. He has had a meteoric rise to worldwide stardom thanks to the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). His career is now not only in Wrestling, but he is also an accomplished rap artist, thanks largely to his WWE fans, and is even making an impact in Hollywood, thanks to the WWE movie production wing. But, undoubtedly his fame started and remains at its highest when he is in or around the squared circle of Monday Night Raw. His wrestling career highlights include numerous WWE Championships, World Heavyweight Championships and other such accolades including winning the 2008 Royal Rumble.
Charity Work
Cena’s seemingly endless passion and energy does not end in the ring, to his great credit he devotes a huge amount of time to charity work, most notably, The Make a Wish Foundation. Cena has been granting wishes for sick children not only in America, but all over the world since 2004. Such is and has been his dedication to the Make a Wish Foundation, that at Wrestlemania 26 he was awarded with the highest honour the foundation can bestow, the Chris Creicius Award, a great honour and achievement that Cena has greatly deserved.
Cena’s Path into the WWE
Originally from West Newbury, Mass., Cena’s intention when he went out to California was to become a professional body builder. When working out at his local gym, a wrestler who was training there convinced him to sign up to a wrestling promotion. Soon he was signed by WWE and sent to their developmental ground in Ohio Valley, where he soon earned himself a spot on the main roster.
Cena’s WWE Debut
What is obvious is that the WWE expected big things from Cena right from the off and gave him what anyone in the wrestling world would describe as a dream debut. He came from the crowd to answer an open challenge by one, Kurt Angle, the man regarded by most as the greatest wrestler of perhaps all time. Cena nearly caused the upset of the year, but Kurt Angle was ultimately victorious in a hard fought match. John Cena the wrestler was born.
Cena’s WWE Career
Since debuting in 2002, it took Cena just one year to become a main eventer, a position he has occupied since. When we look back over the history of the WWE, we can see that Vince McMahon seems to build his company around one man for that generation, i.e. Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Stone Cold and so on. This is undoubtedly the role envisioned for Cena, but, has he managed to fill it?
Cena “The Man” in WWE?
Cena is a huge marketing brand, within the colossus that is the WWE marketing machine, out-selling all other wrestlers in recent times. But his in-ring ability has come into question, as evidenced by boos and jibes he receives from some of the fans when he appears. The fans in question seem to be the slightly older generation. Cena’s main fan base is without doubt in the younger age groups. He has, in fact, publicly acknowledged that his appeal isn’t going over so well with some of the WWE Universe. He has dealt with this extremely well, taking it on the chin. In fact, the WWE have even used it when he and Triple H exchanged words, with Triple H using his young fan base to poke fun at Cena. It appears that this was a way for Cena to basically stand up and publicly make clear that he really didn’t care, perhaps, quite cleverly as to silence the boos.
An Icon?
What is evident is that, though a massive star and huge competitor, Cena doesn’t appear to have the universal appeal that the likes of Bret Hart or the Undertaker have. This could be due to the stagnant nature that his character has had to endure. Cena’s character has not really been given leave to evolve by the WWE. He has never had the opportunity to play the heel, (the bad guy) or even change his image, this isn’t really surprising. The amount that the WWE would risk losing in merchandise sales alone, preclude this from ever happening, at least in the near future. Without this fluidity of character evolution, it seems that Cena will never really attain the iconic status of other greats of the ring, such as the true icon of the WWE, the Undertaker.
Cena’s Future
This lack of universal appeal doesn’t seem to be slowing Cena down, he is still the man of the moment, the man to beat in the WWE. At the moment he is feuding with the Nexus stable, and the writers don’t seem to be shy at putting him in mammoth matches with them, sometimes against all of its members. Without doubt Cena lives up to his motto: “Hustle, Loyalty, Respect”. Perhaps to the last one most of all, respect. His energy and constant drive in all things seems to win over even the most hardened Cena critic. His relentless charity work, in an already punishing schedule, earns him respect out of the ring and with the fact that the WWE has recently gone PG, seems to suit his persona down to the ground, for he is, if nothing else, very PG friendly.