The Legacy of John Cena: A Journey Through the Eras
John Cena’s iconic phrase, “My time is now,” will soon echo in the past. The 48-year-old wrestler announced last summer that 2025 will mark the end of his active career in WWE. Each match is a step closer to hanging up the jorts, with his final stop at WWE’s inaugural Wrestlepalooza on September 20th.
Join us on a journey through the different stages of an exceptional career, both inside and outside the ring: the John Cena Eras Tour.
The Protagonist
John Cena’s 23-year WWE career will come to a close at the end of 2025.In 2001, WWE signed John Cena, a former college American football player and aspiring bodybuilder. Without the jorts, chains, or the famous “You can’t see me!”, Cena appeared with a shaved head and prominent muscles. He was “The Prototype”, a character who described himself as “50% man and 50% machine”.
After winning the OVW championship in February 2002, Cena was promoted to the main roster of WWE, where he quickly transformed into something more… “aggressive”.
Implacable Aggression
In June 2002, during an episode of “SmackDown”, Kurt Angle challenged the wrestlers in the locker room. Cena, dressed in red and black trunks, entered the ring with confidence.John Cena confronted Kurt Angle in his WWE debut in 2002.Angle asked Cena what quality he possessed to face the best. Cena’s answer was a resounding: “Relentless aggression!”, followed by a surprise attack. Although the outcome of the match didn’t matter, a star had been born.
The Doctor of Thuganomics
After several months, Cena found himself at a crossroads. During a European tour, he discovered his talent for rap. Stephanie McMahon, from the WWE creative team, encouraged him to incorporate freestyle into his character. Thus was born the rapper from Boston, with a style reminiscent of Vanilla Ice. His emblematic phrase was “Word Life”, and his entrance theme, “Basic Thuganomics”, written by Cena himself.During John Cena’s first heel turn in 2003, he portrayed a Boston-born rapper.Cena became a villain, facing figures like Rikishi and Brock Lesnar. Despite his stance, his charisma won over the public. At Survivor Series 2003, Cena captivated the audience with his catchphrase: “You can’t see me”.
A few months later, Cena was crowned WWE champion for the first time.
The Reign of the “Spinner Belt” (First World Title)
In 2006, Cena starred in the movie “The Marine”, marking the beginning of his successful acting career. In 2004, he opened WrestleMania XX by winning his first major title in WWE.
After winning the United States title for the third time, Cena customized the belt with a spinning design. This belt became a symbol of Cena and an object of desire for the fans.
The Face of the PG Era
With his charisma and rivalries with figures like Chris Jericho and Edge, Cena became an icon. But on July 22, 2008, WWE adopted a TV-PG rating, aimed at families. Violence was reduced, and Cena transformed into a hero for children, preaching “Hustle, Loyalty and Respect”.
The most cynical fans criticized his style, creating the “Cena Wins LOL” meme. Despite this, Cena had a lot of support, especially among young people.
Nexus
John Cena played a key role in the WWE’s Nexus angle in 2010.In 2010, WWE presented “NXT”, where young wrestlers were trained by veterans. On June 7, 2010, Nexus, led by Wade Barrett, stormed the ring attacking everyone, including Cena. The arrival of Nexus was one of the most impactful debuts.
However, the angle lost strength. Criticism pointed out that Cena “buried” his opponents to stay strong.
Two Times in Life vs. The Rock
John Cena and The Rock headlined back-to-back WrestleManias in 2012 and 2013.In 2011, The Rock returned to WWE and announced that he would host WrestleMania XXVII. Cena and The Rock began a rivalry that culminated at WrestleMania XXVIII in April 2012, with a match promoted as “Once in a Lifetime”.
The Rock defeated Cena. The following year, Cena won the Royal Rumble and faced The Rock for the WWE title at WrestleMania, obtaining the victory and his thirteenth world title.
John Cena’s United States Open Challenge
After losing the title, Cena began a new stage, responding to the open challenge. This period offered exciting matches and revealed new talents.
This stage was notable for one of Cena’s defeats for the United States title at SummerSlam 2015. He faced WWE World Champion Rollins in an exciting title match that ended after Cena received a chair shot from Jon Stewart.
Matching the Record
John Cena defeated AJ Styles in 2017 to tie Ric Flair’s record for most world championships.The search for historical records can change the perception of athletes. In the WWE world, Ric Flair held the record for 16 world championships. At the 2017 Royal Rumble, Cena faced AJ Styles, winning and tying Flair’s record.
Cena is an example of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, where he has granted more wishes than anyone in history. This gesture has been a counterweight to the criticism he has received throughout his career.
Dinner in Hollywood
After equaling Flair’s record, Cena became a superstar. His acting career took off, starring in films like “Blockers” and “Bumblebee”. In 2021, he joined the “Fast & Furious” saga and played Peacemaker in “The Suicide Squad” and its subsequent HBO series.
In 2020, Cena faced Bray Wyatt’s “The Fiend” character in a cinematic match that explored different eras of WWE, including an iconic image of Cena as a member of nWo.
John Cena had gone to Hollywood, although he hadn’t turned “heel”… yet.
The Farewell Tour
After helping Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania XL, Cena announced his retirement at the end of 2025. Could he break Flair’s record before retiring? Cena declared that he would compete in the 2025 Royal Rumble to get a title opportunity.
In Elimination Chamber, Cena won the match when Rollins interfered. Cena won the match when Rollins, previously eliminated by Punk, returned to interfere with a stomp. As Jey Uso had already declared that he would face Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 41, which means Cena would face Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship.
The Heel Turn
John Cena turned heel at Elimination Chamber and eventually won the WWE championship for a 17th time.At the end of Elimination Chamber, Rhodes came to the ring to meet his WrestleMania challenger face to face and to answer whether he would give his eternal soul to The Rock.
Rhodes and Cena embraced. Cena looked over Cody’s shoulder at The Rock, who made a throat-cutting gesture. Cena’s face turned stoic. He low-blowed Rhodes and then led an attack on the champion with The Rock and Travis Scott.
The seemingly impossible had happened: John Cena had turned heel again after two decades as a babyface.
During the weeks leading up to WrestleMania, Cena cut promos on the fans, using those decades of divided crowd reactions to accuse them of taking him for granted. On March 17 on Raw in Brussels, Belgium, Cena unleashed an all-time promo, criticizing the fans for what he called “an abusive relationship” for most of his career. “The only thing you do is rob me,” he said. “You rob me of my personal moments. You rob me of my time. You’ve made me your toy. I am an object to you. You’ve made me the laughingstock of a stupid invisible joke for 15 years, and you still think it’s funny. It’s not funny. It’s pathetic.”
Although there was some scorching catharsis there, Cena would only take the heel act to a certain point. He didn’t drastically change his appearance or presentation.
Once again, the crowd’s reaction changed when the story was on the line at WrestleMania. Cena entered as the villain, but ended up with more crowd support than Rhodes. Thanks to the interference of Travis Scott (who would never appear in WWE again to date), Cena defeated Rhodes and broke Flair’s record with his 17th world championship.
The logic of this heel turn was problematic. The mechanics didn’t really work, including The Rock, who had no role in it after being its catalyst. The timing was strange, as Cena turned against the same fans he praised during his retirement announcement. We’re still not sure about the soul selling thing. But with all that established, Cena’s heel turn is among the most impactful and transcendental moments in wrestling history.
John Cena’s brief heel turn ended before his rematch against Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam.Cena defended his title against Randy Orton, a classic rival from his beginnings, and Punk before being confronted by Rhodes for a rematch at SummerSlam. And by “confronted” we mean “intimidated into signing a contract that included a clause that it would be a street fight”.
In the SmackDown before SummerSlam, Cena faced Rhodes… to thank him for finally making him see reason.
“For 25 years, day after day, I have built a reputation for hard work, honesty, and respect. And now I realize that, five months ago, I threw it all away chasing a false glory when I believed someone’s crazy idea of making shocking television,” Cena said.
“And we did it. We impacted the world. We made great television,” he continued. “But then the dust settles, and everyone goes back to their normal lives. And the people who were supposed to be on my team? They left. And they left me alone, trying to pretend I’m something I’m not.”
Cena then declared that that was the night “John Cena returned to WWE”.
I was right: The lack of involvement from The Rock, who was the catalyst for this story, left Cena having to do things like call the kids who bought his shirts and threaten to “ruin” the sport he loves. It had become quite obvious that the heel persona was like Cena wrestling in jeans instead of jorts: ill-fitting.
Rhodes covered Cena for the title at SummerSlam after a match that received praise. Cena handed him the belt and embraced him, this time without any nefarious trickery. After that, Cena remained in the ring to say goodbye at his last SummerSlam… until Lesnar’s music hit to the surprise of the audience. One F-5 later, and Cena had a villainous beast to play the underdog against at Wrestlepalooza.
With the retirement tour nearing its end, returning to be the face that runs the place was the obvious move. He was The Prototype. He was the Doctor of Thuganomics. He was a champion when WWE was for mature audiences and when it was cleaned up for kids. He was a heel and he was a face during what will someday become a Hall of Fame career. Now, in the final matches of his last era, John Cena will retire with the only personality that really matters: As John Cena.
