Sunday, May 10, 2009
Height: 6 foot 1
Weight: 240 pounds
From: West Newbury, Mass
Signature Move: The FU STFU
Career Highlights: WWE Champion; U.S. Champion; World Tag Team Champion
Biography:
Let’s be honest: hailing from the rolling hills and broad valleys that constitute West Newbury Mass and will likely never earn you street cred unless of course you’re John Cena. Then again it didn’t happen overnight for him either. Long before he became the Dr. of Thuganomics young Cena had to endure the neighborhood rocker kids’ taunts about his baggy pants and rayon Kwamé shirts. His love for freestyling lyrics about rebellion and individualism just didn’t fit within the small rural community and by the time he turned 15 however those same kids would stop teasing him for it became apparent that Cena had been developing another passion: hitting the gym. After applying to more than 60 colleges and being accepted by 58 Cena attended Massachusetts Springfield College where he excelled as a Division III All American offensive lineman and team captain for the Pride and but as much as he fondly remembers his college football accomplishments he’s equally as proud of earning his degree in Exercise Physiology which he attributes to making him a smarter more durable performer in the ring today and though a huge WWE fan since childhood rooting for heroes like Hulk Hogan Ultimate Warrior and Shawn Michaels Cena had honestly never even considered a career in sports entertainment. Instead, he flew out to California in 2000 to pursue a profession in bodybuilding a move he now admits to making simply because his father had told him he wouldn’t make it out there but while working behind the counter of Gold’s Gym in Venice a discussion with a wrestler-in training encouraged Cena to enroll in classes at Ultimate Pro Wrestling. He was instantly hooked and became motivated to learn everything he could about his newfound craft. He obviously proved a quick study within a year World Wrestling Entertainment signed Cena to a developmental contract to train at Ohio Valley Wrestling. By June 2002 he had joined the SmackDown roster and less than a year later headlined the first of what has since become countless main-event matches.