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John Cena rose to superstardom in WWE's post-Attitude Era, now famously dubbed the Ruthless Aggression Era. Cena, Batista, Randy Orton, and Brock Lesnar are cited as the benchmarks of this time period, even though Lesnar's initial run with the company was only for two years. Needless to say, John Cena was the flagbearer of World Wrestling Entertainment for many years.
He rose to superstardom after winning his first WWE Championship in 2005 from John "Bradshaw" Layfield, someone fans loved to hate. Their feud that year culminated in a violent "I Quit" match at Judgment Day, which was an utter bloodbath.
On Something To Wrestle's latest episode, which was themed around John Cena, JBL opened up about his character's fall at the hands of Cena, who ended his 280-day reign with the WWE Title. While the Hall of Famer does not wish to take a lot of the credit as he believes The Cenation Leader would have made it regardless, he noted that his job was to put the rising star through hell:
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"My role now is to make John [Cena]. I don't want to take too much credit for making John; John's going to make it anyway, I want to always say that. But my role was to walk him through hell and to make him earn it," JBL recalled.
The Hall of Famer further articulated his vision of John Cena carrying the torch and what he understood working with the 16-time World Champion:
"I knew he was a really tough guy, and he could wrestle. I'd been in the house shows with him and had different matches every single night with him. I knew what he can do. I wanted the world to see this. I wanted so badly for the world to see—this is a tough son of a b**ch, and he's going to be a great champion. And I thought we did a great job with him," JBL said. [From 1:09:41 to 1:10:20]
*WARNING: The video below contains pictures from their "I Quit" match at Judgment Day 2005, in which men are covered in blood.
John Cena will return on WWE RAW's Netflix debut in 2025
John Cena's Farewell Tour will commence on January 6, 2025, when WWE RAW debuts on Netflix. Cena has also been announced for Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber: Toronto, and WrestleMania 41 as of this writing. According to the 16-time World Champion, his tour will end in December. By then, he will have completed around 30-40 dates for WWE.
Cena also noted that once he retires, the fans will no longer see him wear his iconic jorts ring gear ever again. Instead, he will continue being a part of the company in some capacity.
If you use any of these quotes, please credit Something To Wrestle and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.
