WWE History: John Cena participates in bodybuilding competition in rare pre-WWE footage

The backstory

The spring of 2002 saw John Cena being promoted to the main roster, after having honed his craft in Ohio Valley Wrestling for a brief period.

Cena wrestled WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle in his very first match, and garnered the crowd's respect even though he lost the bout. Over the course of the next 10 years or so, Cena turned into one of the biggest Superstars of all time, and is now regarded as a strong contender to be a part of the Mount Rushmore of Pro Wrestling.

Cena as a bodybuilder

A long time before Cena decided to try his hand in Pro Wrestling, he was a bodybuilder and actively participated in bodybuilding competitions.

The following video shows Cena in a completely different light. It's strange to see Cena in this look, and one wonders what would have happened if he had made it big in bodybuilding.

The aftermath

It didn't take long for Cena to become a popular babyface in WWE, and he won his first WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21 by defeating JBL.

This was only the beginning though, as Cena went on to win a grand total of 16 World titles and headlined multiple WrestleMania events against the likes of The Rock, Triple H and Shawn Michaels. Cena is just one title win away from breaking WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair's record of the most number of World title victories.

It has been a long while since Cena actively wrestled for WWE. He is currently focusing on a movie career and will be appearing in "Fast & Furious 9", that's set to release in May 2020.

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