ber 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
