“It was a failure” – When John Cena was almost fired but got saved by a tuna
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John Cena thinking in the ring at WWE RAW
With two decades in the WWE, John Cena has seen a lot of changes, from his early days as a newcomer battling Kurt Angle in his first bout, through his hip-hop rapper character, and eventually to his present generation as a fan favorite despite being despised by the people.
During a recent interview, the Cenation’s leader said that his career might not have reached this point if he hadn’t been nearly fired by two high-ranking WWE executives in his early days. He said that he was on the verge of being fired by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, only to be spared by a tin of tuna and Stephanie McMahon’s mother.
Cena said, “The people that remember the Ruthless Aggression John Cena and look back on that as a success, they’re not looking back on it correctly. It was a failure. I was stuck wrestling matches on Velocity, a program which none of you have heard of. I wasn’t stressed to be perfect; I was more stressed in the fact I didn’t know who I was. The WWE used to make a series of cuts around late November and Mid-May, I was told I would be getting my release in Christmas cuts. It just wasn’t working, but there was no argument – it wasn’t. They gave it to me on a silver platter. And I failed. I messed it up.”
Cena’s WWE career would be spared, despite the fact that there was little chance left for him. By way of a tuna can.
He continued, “I was on my last European tour, I think I was in mixed tag matches, this is how well it did NOT go. I was just there to maybe have one last time in the ring. I was on the way out. She (Stephanie) had a can of tuna fish and said, ‘rhyme about this’. And in two seconds I made a small rap about the tuna fish, the jetway, the plane we were about to go on, the destination. And then kinda closed it with a comment about Stephanie. She was like ‘would you like to do this on television’, I said ‘absolutely’”.
Also Read: Why WWE keeps revisiting Roman Reigns-Brock Lesnar feud over and over again?
John Cena: The biggest name in WWE today
With his TV debut in June 2002, John Cena exploded into the Sports Entertainment scene. He made his mark by accepting an open challenge from WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle by shouting ‘Ruthless Aggression’ into the microphone.
The WWE universe is grateful that John Cena is still a part of the promotion today, thanks to matches like his Last Man Standing match with Umaga, his I Quit match with JBL, and his epic match with CM Punk at the Money in the Bank premium live event more than a decade ago.
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)