audience on
SmackDown.
[9][10] Cena later transitioned to his current character, which he describes as a "
goody-two shoes Superman".
[11]
However, Cena has been labeled as the "most polarizing pro wrestler
ever" as his character has many supporters and many detractors.
[12] In 2015, WWE credited Cena as being the "face of WWE",
[13] while in 2012,
IGN described Cena as WWE's
franchise player since 2005.
[14]
So far in his career, Cena has won 24
championships, with 15 reigns as a
world champion (
12 times as
WWE Champion – with his last reign being as WWE World Heavyweight Champion
[15] – and
three times as WWE's
World Heavyweight Champion),
[16][17] five reigns as
United States Champiober 10, 2000, while billed as The Prototype, Cena made his unofficial debut for the then
World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on a
SmackDown! taping in a
dark match against Mikey Richardson, which he lost.
[38] He received another tryout on January 9, 2001 at a
SmackDown! taping in Oakland, California, this time defeating Aaron Aguilera. Cena wrestled again in a dark match at a
SmackDown! taping on March 13.
Ohio Valley Wrestling (2001–2002)
In 2001, Cena signed a developmental contract with the WWF. He was assigned to its
developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW).
[39] During his time there, Cena wrestled under the
ring name The Prototype. He held the
OVW Heavyweight Championship for three months and the
OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (with
Rico Constantino) for two months.
[40][41][42]
Throughout 2001, Cena would receive four tryouts for the WWF main roster as he wrestled multiple
enhancement talent wrestlers on both WWF
house shows
and in dark matches before WWF television events. Through the early
months of 2002, Cena constantly found himself competing on ho
sion debut on the June 27, 2002 episode of
SmackDown! by answering an open challenge by
Kurt Angle.
After declaring that he possessed "ruthless aggression", Cena gave
Angle a hard fight and only lost by a pinning combination. After the
match, Cena was congratulated by
The Undertaker,
Rikishi,
Faarooq and
Billy Kidman.
[43][44] Following the near-win, Cena became a
fan favorite and started
feuding with
Chris Jericho, defeating Jericho at
Vengeance.
[43] On that weeks episode of
SmackDown! Cena continued his winning ways defeating
Test in a
singles match. In September, Cena feuded with
Eddie and Chavo Guerrero and Cena picked up a victory over
Chavo Guerrero on the September 3, 2002 taping of
Velocity. Cena went on to defeat the likes of
Albert and
D-Von Dudley as he was restricted to appearances on
Velocity for the rest of September.
[citation needed]
In October, Cena and
Billy Kidman took part in a
tag team tournament to crown the first
WWE Tag Team Champions of the SmackDown!
brand, losing in the first round.
[45] The next week on
SmackDown!, Cena
turned on and attacked Kidman, blaming him for their loss, becoming a villain for the first and only time in his career.
[43] At
Rebellion, Cena teamed with
Dawn Marie to take on the team of Billy Kidman and
Torrie Wilson in a
mixed tag team match in a losing effort. On the October 17 episode of
SmackDown!, Cena defeated Kidman in a singles contest,
[46] but was defeated by Kidman in a rematch on the October 24 episode of
SmackDown!.
[47]
Shortly after the Kidman attack, on a
Halloween themed episode of
SmackDown!, Cena dressed as
Vanilla Ice performing a
freestyle rap.
[43] The next week on
SmackDown!, Cena received a new character: a
rapper who
cut promos while rhyming.
[43] As the
gimmick
grew, Cena began adopting a variant of the 1980s WWF logo – dropping
the "F" – as his "signature symbol", along with the slogan "
Word Life".
[48] Moreover, he was joined by an
enforcer,
Bull Buchanan, who was rechristened B-2 (also written B² and pronounced "B-Squared").
[43] Cena and B-2 failed to capture the WWE Tag Team Championship from
Los Guerreros (
Eddie and
Chavo Guerrero), resulting in Cena replacing B-2 with
Red Dogg,
[43] until he was sent to the
Raw brand in February.
For the first half of 2003, Cena sought the
WWE Championship and chased the reigning champion
Brock Lesnar after
WrestleMania XIX, first having to go through
Chris Benoit, who mocked him by wearing a "Toothless Aggression" shirt.
[49][50][51] Cena won a number one contender's tournament against Lesnar at
Backlash. However, Cena was defeated by Lesnar.
[52] At
Vengeance, Cena lost a singles match against
The Undertaker.
[43][53] Cena pursued the
United States Championship, but lost to then champion Eddie Guerrero in a
Latino Street Fight for the title.
At the end of the year, Cena became a fan favorite again when he joined Kuhow at
WrestleMania XX.
[60]
The reign ended almost four months later, when he was stripped of the
title on July 8 by Angle after he accidentally knocked him over, thus
attacking an official.
[61] Cena won the championship back defeating
Booker T in a
best of five series that culminated at
No Mercy,
[62] only to lose it to the débuting
Carlito Caribbean Cool the next week.
[63] After the loss to Carlito, the duo began a feud, which resulted in Cena allegedly being stabbed in the
kidney while at a Boston-area nightclub by Carlito's
bodyguard,
Jesús.
[64][65] This
worked injury was used to keep Cena out of action for a month while Cena was filming
The Marine.
[41] Immediately on his return in November, Cena won the United States Championship back from Carlito.
[66][67]
WWE Champion and championship feuds (2005–2007)
Cena took part in the
2005 Royal Rumble match, making it to the final two. Cena and
Batista
went over the top rope at the same time, ostensibly ending the match.
The match was restarted in which Batista eliminated Cena to win.
[68] The next month, Cena defeated Kurt Angle to earn a spot in the SmackDown brand's
WrestleMania 21 main event match,
[69] beginning a feud with then
WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) and his
Cabinet in the process. In the early stages of the feud, Cena lost his
United States Championship to Cabinet member
Orlando Jordan,
[70] Cena defeated JBL at WrestleMania winning the WWE Championship, giving Cena his first
world championship.
[71] Cena then had a spinner WWE Championship belt made,
[72] while JBL took the original belt and claimed to still be WWE Champion,
[72] until Cena reclaimed the original belt in an
"I Quit" match at
Judgment Day.
[73]
Cena was drafted to the Raw brand on June 6, 2005, becoming the first wrestler selected in the annual
draft lottery.
[74] Cena immediately entered a feud with
Eric Bischoff, after refusing to participate in the "war" against the
Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) roster at
One Night Stand.
[75] With Bischoff vowing to make Cena's
