Grading the Ohio Valley Wrestling Class of 2002

#1 John Cena

Who would have thought that someone called The Prototype would blossom into the biggest star to ever step foot into the squared circle?

Debut: June 27, 2002

Love him or hate him, there is no bigger star than John Cena in the WWE. For everything his OVW cohorts achieved, Cena has been the true flag-bearer of the WWE and is one of their most recognisable icons.

The Prototype is a former OVW Heavyweight Champion, having had feuds with the Leviathan and Randy Orton in the territory. Along with that, he also held the tag belts with Rico Constantino. The robotic man was built like a machine, so he acted like one and got this ridiculous gimmick over.

He debuted on SmackDown, answering an open challenge by Kurt Angle. His answer to why he thought he could beat the Olympic champion was simply - "Ruthless Aggression", and a new era was born in WWE. This era had 4 cornerstones, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton and Batista.

Cena was a super cool and edgy character in his early days as a WWE wrestler. He was a rapper that cut scathing promos on his opponents and cheated to win. He was a despicable heel, who won the fans over (ironic now, isn't it?). He feuded with Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar and The Big Show right at the start of his career. He beat The Big Show for his first ever singles title at WrestleMania 20, winning the United States Championship and JBL for the WWE Championship the following year. He has been on a rocket to the moon since, and no amount of turbulence has been able to stop him.

Cena is THE MAN in WWE. No one is bigger than him on TV and he is the biggest deal in wrestling today. He is up there with the industry giants like Hulk Hogan, The Rock and Steve Austin. Cena will be remembered as one of the best ever, because of everything he has achieved and will be remembered and cherished as an icon of this industry.

Grade: A+