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WWE icon John Cena has opened up about when WWE almost axed him and stated that his rap character saved his career.
In a recent interview with Buzzfeed, Cena believes that if it wasn't for his freestyle rapping in a WWE tour bus, he would have been fired early on in his career.
The 16-time World Champion believes that his first character in WWE was stale and entertaining, and he was to be close to being fired by Vince McMahon's promotion.
“So I debuted as John Cena, the most stale, unentertaining character you can imagine, and was just about to be fired after a year and a half of me trying to connect with the audience. On what was supposed to be one of my last tours – when we go overseas we all travel together – and in the back of the bus, people were freestyling. I remember I just went back and joined in and in the front of the bus, the creative department was like ‘hey how did you remember all that?’" (H/T TJR Wrestling)
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John Cena explained to the creative team that his freestyle rapping helped him "think on his feet."
He stated that he was bullied for his freestyle rapping, but that changed his life with WWE.
John Cena says his first WWE gimmick was "rotten"
John Cena wrestled on WWE's then-development territory OVW before he was called up to the main roster.
There, he performed a character called The Prototype, a half-man and half machine gimmick. Cena thought the character was rotten, but it helped him get his foot in the WWE door.
"And my character was The Prototype – half man, half machine, and a hundred percent f*****g rotten.”
“It was so bad, but I was invested in it and it was enough to catch the eye of a scout to send me to Kentucky," said John Cena.
WWE told him to drop the gimmick, cut his hair and be a babyface, which eventually brought him success.
