John Felix Anthony Cena is an American professional wrestler, actor, and former rapper currently signed to WWE. With the most world championship reigns in WWE history, Cena is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.

Cena moved to California in 1998 to pursue a career as a bodybuilder and switched to professional wrestling in 1999, and made his debut for Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW). He signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 2001 and was assigned to its developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), winning the OVW Heavyweight Championship and OVW Southern Tag Team Championship. After moving to SmackDown in 2002, Cena gained fame and success after adopting the character of a trash-talking rapper. After winning the WWE Championship in 2005, Cena transitioned into a clean-cut, heroic character which he described as a "goody-two shoes Superman". He led the company as its franchise player and public face for the next decade.

A joint-record 16-time world champion, Cena is a record 13-time WWE Champion and three-time World Heavyweight Champion. He is also a five-time WWE United States Champion, a two-time WWE Tag Team Champion, a two-time World Tag Team Champion, a two-time Royal Rumble winner, and a one-time Money in the Bank winner. He has also headlined multiple major WWE pay-per-view events, including its flagship event, WrestleMania, five times. His professional wrestling career has been met with mixed critical and audience reception, with praise for his character work and promotional skills, but criticism for his perceived over-representation and on-screen dominance relative to other wrestlers.

Early life

Cena was born in West Newbury, Massachusetts on April 23, 1977, to Carol (née Lupien) and John Joseph Cena. His mother is of English and French-Canadian descent, while his father, a former ring announcer for Chaotic Wrestling, has Italian ancestry. His maternal grandfather was baseball player Tony Lupien, while his maternal great-grandfather was businessman Ulysses J. Lupien. He is the second oldest of five brothers: Dan, Matt, Steve, and Sean. A fan of wrestling growing up, he would create championship belts out of cardboard for himself and his brothers. He is a cousin of computer scientist Natalie Enright Jerger and was raised Roman Catholic. Cena was teased and beaten up while in school, and asked for a weightlifting bench at the age of 12.

Cena attended Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts, before transferring to Cushing Academy, a private prep boarding school in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. He then attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was an NCAA Division III All-American center and captain on their football team. He graduated from Springfield College in 1999 with a degree in exercise physiology and body movement, after which he pursued a bodybuilding career and worked as a limousine driver. Cena worked in the store area of Gold's Gym for $6 an hour.

Professional wrestling career

Ultimate Pro Wrestling (1999–2001)

Cena idolized Hulk Hogan growing up, moving to California in 1998 to begin training for a professional wrestling career the following year at Ultimate Pro Wrestling's (UPW) Ultimate University, operated by Rick Bassman. He started wrestling in local flea markets, and once he was placed into an in-ring role, Cena began using a semi-robotic character known as The Prototype. Some of this period of his career was documented in the Discovery Channel program Inside Pro Wrestling School. He held the UPW Heavyweight Championship for 27 days in April 2000, and wrestled for the UPW until March 2001.

World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE

Ohio Valley Wrestling (2000–2002)

On October 10, 2000, while billed as The Prototype, Cena made his unofficial debut for then World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on a SmackDown! taping in a dark match against Mikey Richardson, which he lost. He received another tryout on January 9, 2001 at a SmackDown! taping in Oakland, California, defeating Aaron Aguilera before wrestling again in a dark match at a SmackDown! taping on March 13.

In 2001, Cena signed a developmental contract with the WWF and was assigned to its developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). During his time there, Cena wrestled under the ring name The Prototype and held the OVW Heavyweight Championship for three months and the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (with Rico Constantino) for two months.

Throughout the early months of 2002, Cena constantly found himself competing on house shows for the WWF, where he wrestled against the likes of Shelton Benjamin and Tommy Dreamer. After his main call up in June 2002, he continued to appear on OVW programming until September 25, when he lost to Kenny Brolin in a Loser Leaves OVW match. He would later appear in a one-off appearance for the developmental farm in November under the ring name Mr. P in a six-man tag team match, where he teamed with Hall of Famer Big Boss Man and Charlie Haas, in a winning effort against Lance Cade, Trevor Murdoch and Sean O'Haire.

Cena's call-up to the main roster meant that he was part of OVW's now legendary Class of 2002, alongside Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton and Batista, a class which would eventually become known as the "OVW 4".

WWE Champion (2005–2007)

On January 30, 2005, Cena took part in the Royal Rumble match, making it to the final two. He and Batista went over the top rope at the same time, at first ending the match but the match was restarted and won by Batista. At No Way Out on February 20, Cena defeated Kurt Angle to earn a spot in the SmackDown! brand's WrestleMania 21 main event match, beginning a feud with then WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) and his Cabinet in the process. In the early stages of the feud, Cena lost the United States Championship to Cabinet member Orlando Jordan. At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Cena defeated JBL to win the WWE Championship, his first world championship. Now with a spinner WWE Championship belt, JBL took the original title belt and claimed he was still the WWE Champion, until Cena defeated him in an "I Quit" match at Judgment Day on May 22 to retain the title.

Cena was drafted to the Raw brand on the June 6 episode of Raw, becoming the first wrestler selected in the annual draft lottery. Cena immediately entered into a feud with Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff, after refusing to participate in the "war" against the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) roster at the 2005 ECW One Night Stand. At Vengeance on June 26, Cena retained the title against Christian and Chris Jericho in a triple threat match. With Bischoff vowing to make Cena's stint on Raw difficult, he hand-picked Jericho to take Cena's championship from him. During their feud, even though Cena was portrayed as the "face" (hero) and Jericho as the "heel" (villain), a vocal section of the live crowds, nonetheless, were cheering Jericho and booing Cena during their matches, most notably on August 21 at SummerSlam, when Cena defeated Jericho to retain the title. Crowds booed Cena again during his next feud with Kurt Angle, who took over as Bischoff's hand-picked #1 contender after Cena defeated Jericho in a You're Fired match on the August 22 episode of Raw. Cena held on to the WWE Championship through his feud with Angle, losing to him by disqualification on September 18 at Unforgiven, pinning Shawn Michaels in a triple threat match involving Angle at Taboo Tuesday on November 1, and pinning Angle on November 27 at Survivor Series. The feud with Angle saw Cena add a secondary, submission based, finishing maneuver—the STFU (a stepover toehold sleeper, though named for a stepover toehold facelock)—when he was put into a triple threat submissions only match on the November 28 episode of Raw.

World Heavyweight Champion (2008–2010)

On January 27, 2008, at Royal Rumble, Cena made a surprise return as the final participant of the eponymous match, winning it and the traditional WrestleMania XXIV title shot, last eliminating Triple H. Instead of waiting until WrestleMania, the shot was cashed in against WWE Champion Randy Orton at No Way Out on February 17, winning by disqualification, therefore not being awarded the title. The following night on Raw, Cena was placed back into WrestleMania's WWE Championship match on March 30, defeating Orton in a non-title match with Triple H as special guest referee, making it a triple threat match, during which he was pinned by Orton. On April 27 at Backlash, Cena failed to regain the title in a fatal four-way elimination match, in which he was eliminated by Orton. During the match, Cena eliminated JBL, renewing their feud from 2005. Cena defeated JBL on May 18 at Judgment Day and at One Night Stand on June 1 in a First Blood match. Cena failed to regain the WWE Championship from Triple H on June 29 at Night of Champions. JBL defeated Cena in a New York City Parking Lot Brawl at The Great American Bash on July 20 to end their feud.

On the August 4 episode of Raw, Cena won his second World Tag Team Championship with Batista, defeating Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase but failed to retain the championship the following week against the former champions. At SummerSlam on August 17, Batista defeated Cena. Cena was named one of four contenders for CM Punk's World Heavyweight Championship in the Championship Scramble match at Unforgiven on September 7, but was replaced by Rey Mysterio after suffering a herniated disc in his neck in his SummerSlam match, which required surgery. Cena underwent successful surgery to repair the injury.

Cena made his in-ring return at Survivor Series on November 23, defeating Chris Jericho for his first World Heavyweight Championship. He retained the title against Jericho at Armageddon on December 14. After defeating JBL at the Royal Rumble on January 25, 2009, Cena lost the championship at No Way Out on February 15 to Edge, who attacked Kofi Kingston and took his place in the Elimination Chamber match. Cena received his rematch for the title at WrestleMania 25 on April 5 in a triple threat match involving Big Show and won. He lost the championship back to Edge in a Last Man Standing match at Backlash on April 26 after interference from Big Show, who chokeslammed Cena through a spotlight. Cena defeated Big Show at Judgment Day on May 17 and Extreme Rules on June 7 in a submission match by applying the STF. During Cena's feud with Big Show, The Miz challenged him to a match on the April 27 episode of Raw, but as Cena was out due to injury, Miz claimed an unofficial win via forfeit and continued to do this over the following weeks, until Cena defeated him at The Bash on June 28.

Cena as WWE Champion in 2010

At Night of Champions on July 26, Cena challenged for the WWE Championship in a triple threat match against Triple H and defending champion Randy Orton (a rematch from WrestleMania XXIV), but was pinned by Orton after interference from Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase. The next night on Raw, Cena won a beat the clock challenge to earn another shot at the WWE Championship at SummerSlam on August 23, where Orton used underhanded tactics to retain. At Breaking Point on September 13, Cena defeated Orton in an "I Quit" match to win his fourth WWE Championship. He lost the title back to Orton in a Hell in a Cell match on October 4 at Hell in a Cell, but regained it at Bragging Rights on October 25 in a sixty minute Anything Goes Iron Man match. Cena retained the title against both Triple H and Shawn Michaels in a triple threat match at Survivor Series on November 22 but lost it to Sheamus on December 13 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in a tables match. The next night on Raw, Cena competed in a tournament to crown the 2009 Superstar of the Year, defeating CM Punk in the first round and Orton in the finals later that night to win the honor. He would get his rematch for the title against Sheamus on the December 28 episode of Raw, where he won by disqualification, but did not win the championship.

Professional wrestling style and persona

In-ring style

Cena's original gimmick portrayed a white rapper who wore jerseys, backwards hats, a chain with a padlock around his neck, and was known as the "Doctor of Thuganomics". First as "The Prototype", and later under his real name, Cena sometimes used underhanded tactics to score victories, such as using his chain as a weapon behind the referee's back. Cena often rapped before his matches, insulting his opponents, events that happened in the media and even the crowd. Cena also regularly performed "rap battles", where he and his opponent took turns rapping on each other. In 2006, shortly after his debut film, The Marine, his wrestling character shifted from that of a rapper to a young military upstart, wearing dog tags and cargo shorts to the ring and also performing a salute to the crowd. Cena said in a 2011 interview with WWE.com that "every night when I do that salute, it's also a sign of respect to the men and women that don the uniform of the Armed Forces."

During WWE's change from TV-14 to TV-PG in mid-2008, the name of Cena's finishing move, the FU, was changed to the Attitude Adjustment and his finishing submission move, the STFU, was renamed the STF to fit with the WWE's new policies. During his career, he has been known for ending his matches with a sequence of moves, dubbed the "Five Moves of Doom". The moves typically go in the following order: flying shoulder block, sit-out hip toss, protobomb, Five Knuckle Shuffle, and Attitude Adjustment.

Cena has portrayed a heroic character throughout his WWE career, except for a villainous run in 2002–2003. His signature ring gear includes jean shorts, sneakers, wristbands, and armbands. He also wears a variety of T-shirts and baseball caps, which commonly include one of his catchphrases: "Never Give Up", "You Can't See Me", "Hustle, Loyalty, Respect", and "Respect. Earn it". He has a history of returning from both real and scripted injuries much sooner than expected. ESPN reporter David Shoemaker said in April 2016, "Never underestimate Cena's recuperative abilities. He's somewhere on the recovery scale between German platelet-rich plasma therapy and Deadpool." Fellow wrestler Big Show said he felt most stable being lifted by Cena, despite Cena being over 200 lbs lighter and almost a foot shorter—a testament to Cena's functional strength.

Fashion

During his WWE career, Cena's has used his attire in an attempt to reflect the most current fashions and styling within the hip hop culture that his character represents. Cena started out wearing "throwback jerseys" and Reebok pumps until WWE produced specific Cena merchandise which he began wearing. While Cena was a member of the SmackDown brand, one of his WWE-produced T-shirts bore the suggestive spoonerism "Ruck Fules". Whenever it appeared on television, the image was censored, not by the network, but by WWE to sell more shirts under the premise that it was "too hot for TV". He also wore a chain with a large padlock, occasionally using it as a weapon, until WrestleMania 21, when it was replaced with a chromed and diamond studded "Chain Gang" spinner medallion matching his spinner title belt.

Around the time The Marine was released, Cena began wearing more military related attire, including camouflage shorts, dog tags, a Marine soldier cap, and a WWE produced shirt with the legend "Chain Gang Assault Battalion". Shortly after WrestleMania 23, when promotion for The Marine ended, the military attire diminished and was replaced with apparel bearing his new slogan "American Made Muscle" along with denim shorts, not seen since he was a member of the SmackDown roster. He then wore shirts that promoted Cenation and his trademark line "You Can't See Me".

Legacy

Cena has been called the greatest professional wrestler of all time by his peers Kurt Angle, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, and veteran industry personality Paul Heyman. When discussing Cena's legacy on his podcast, Jim Cornette (who was head booker of OVW while Cena was there) stated "I think [Cena is] the last big star in wrestling", praising his work ethic, athletic ability and microphone skills.

WWE chairman Vince McMahon said he regarded John Cena as the WWE's Babe Ruth. Bleacher Report named Cena one of the 10 greatest WWE wrestlers of all time. In 2012, WrestleMania XXVIII, headlined by the John Cena vs. The Rock main event, became the highest drawing event in WWE history with 1,217,000 buys. The event held the record for the highest grossing live event in WWE history as of 2012; grossing $8.9 million.

Acting career

Film

Cena, with members of the United States Marine Corps at the premiere of his film The Marine, 2006
WWE Studios, a division of WWE which produces and finances motion pictures, produced Cena's first movie—The Marine, which was distributed theatrically by 20th Century Fox America beginning on October 13, 2006. In its first week, the film made approximately US$7 million at the United States box office. After ten weeks in theaters, the film grossed $18.7 million. Once the film was released on DVD, it fared better, making $30 million in rentals in the first twelve weeks.

His second film, also produced by WWE Studios, was 12 Rounds. Filming began on February 25, 2008, in New Orleans; the film was released on March 27, 2009.

Cena co-starred in his third film produced by WWE Studios, titled Legendary, which was played in selected theaters beginning on September 10, 2010 for a limited time. It was then released on DVD on September 28, 2010. That same year, Cena starred in the children's film Fred: The Movie, a film based on Lucas Cruikshank's YouTube videos of the same name, where he plays Fred's imaginary father. The movie was first aired on Nickelodeon in September 2010.

In 2015, Cena made appearances in the comedy films Trainwreck, Sisters and a cameo in Daddy's Home. In 2017, Cena starred in the war drama The Wall and lent his voice for the animated films Surf's Up 2: WaveMania and Ferdinand. He also appeared in Daddy's Home 2, reprising his role in a larger capacity than the 2015 film. In 2018, Cena starred in the comedy Blockers, and had a leading role in the Transformers spin-off prequel, Bumblebee. In 2019, he starred in Playing with Fire, playing the role of smokejumper superintendent Jake Carson. In 2020, he voiced Yoshi, a polar bear, in the adventure comedy film Dolittle.

In 2019, Cena was cast in Justin Lin's F9, playing Jakob Toretto, the brother of Vin Diesel's character Dominic Toretto. During the film's promotional tour in 2021, Cena referred to Taiwan as "a country". He subsequently posted an apology on social media as China considers Taiwan a part of China. Comedian and political commentator Bill Maher criticized Cena for his apology to China.

Cena also was cast as Christopher Smith / Peacemaker in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, a role originally intended for Dave Bautista. In 2023, he reprised his role as Jakob Toretto in Fast X, which premiered in theaters on May 19, 2023. He was also the voice of Rocksteady in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, which was released on August 2, 2023.

Guest appearances

Before his WWE debut, Cena made an appearance on the webcast Go Sick as Bruebaker, an angry, cursing wrestler in 2001.

During his WWE career, Cena has appeared on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! three times. He has also appeared on morning radio shows including the CBS and XM versions of Opie and Anthony as part of their "walkover" on October 10, 2006. Other appearances have included NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Fuse's Celebrity Playlist, Fox Sports Net's The Best Damn Sports Show Period, FOX's MADtv, G4's Training Camp (with Shelton Benjamin), and two appearances on MTV's Punk'd (August 2006 and May 2007), as the victim of a practical joke. He also served as a co-presenter, with Hulk Hogan, at the 2005 Teen Choice Awards, as a guest judge during the third week of the 2006 season of Nashville Star, and appeared at the 2007 Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards.

Cena in 2008

In January 2007, Cena, Batista, and Ashley Massaro appeared representing WWE on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, giving the children of the family whose house was being renovated WWE merchandise and eight tickets to WrestleMania 23. Two months later, he and Bobby Lashley appeared on the NBC game show Deal or No Deal as "moral support" to longtime WWE fan and front row staple, Rick "Sign Guy" Achberger. Edge and Randy Orton also appeared, but as antagonists. On April 9, 2008, Cena, along with fellow wrestlers Triple H and Chris Jericho, appeared on the Idol Gives Back fund-raising special. In March 2009, Cena made an appearance on Saturday Night Live during the show's cold opening sequence. On March 7, 2009, he was a guest on NPR's quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! in a Not My Job sequence titled "Sure, pro wrestling is a good gig, but when you win, do they throw teddy bears into the ring?".

Television

In 2001, between his training in Ultimate Pro Wrestling and Ohio Valley Wrestling, Cena was involved in the UPN produced reality show Manhunt, in which he portrayed Big Tim Kingman, leader of the group of bounty hunters who chased down the contestants who acted as fugitives. The show, however, was mired in controversy when it was alleged that the portions of the show were rigged to eliminate certain players, scenes were re-shot or staged to enhance drama and contestants read from scripts.

Cena was featured on the ABC reality series Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, which aired in June 2007, making it to the final round before being eliminated on June 24, placing third in the competition overall.

In 2007, Cena was interviewed for the CNN Special Investigations Unit documentary Death Grip: Inside Pro Wrestling, which focused on steroid and drug use in professional wrestling. When asked if he had taken steroids he was heard to reply, "I can't tell you that I haven't, but you will never prove that I have". The day after the documentary aired, WWE accused CNN of taking Cena's comments out of context to present a biased point of view, backing up their claim by posting an unedited video of Cena answering the same question – filmed by WWE cameras from another angle – in which he is heard beginning the same statement with "absolutely not". A text interview on the website with Cena later had him saying the news outlet should apologize for misrepresenting him, which CNN refused, saying they felt the true answer to the question began with the phrase "my answer to that question". However, they did edit the documentary on subsequent airings to include the "absolutely not".

Cena hosted the Australian Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards with Natalie Bassingthwaighte on October 11, 2008 in Melbourne. Cena guest starred as Ewan O'Hara, brother of Juliet O'Hara, in an episode of the fourth season of the comedy drama Psych. He also guest starred as himself in the seventh episode of Disney Channel's Hannah Montana Forever.

On August 17, 2015, Cena guest co-hosted Today on NBC. Cena appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers on August 21, 2015. Cena co-hosted Today again on March 28–30 and May 9, 10, 13 and 30, 2016.

Cena hosted two seasons of American Grit on Fox, a reality television series with 10 episodes. 16 men and women were split into four teams, where challenges were given. A US$1 million prize was given to the winning team. American Grit premiered on Fox on April 14, 2016, and the finale of season 1 aired on June 9. Cena hosted the ESPN ESPY Awards on July 13, 2016, in Los Angeles. On December 10, 2016, Cena was the guest host of Saturday Night Live (SNL) on NBC.

On January 24, 2017, Nickelodeon announced that Cena would host the 2017 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards ceremony on March 11. On January 11, 2018, it was announced that he would be hosting the awards ceremony again on March 24, 2018, becoming the third host behind Whitney Houston and Rosie O'Donnell to host the ceremony back to back years. Two days later, the game show Keep It Spotless premiered with him as an executive producer. In addition, he was cast on Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as the voice of the villain Baron Draxum. The series premiered in July 2018. On February 14, 2019, it was announced that Cena would host a revival of Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader on the network, which premiered June 10, 2019.

In 2021, Cena co-hosted the TV game show Wipeout.

Music career

In addition to his wrestling career, Cena is a rapper. He performed his fifth WWE theme song, "Basic Thuganomics", and it was featured on the WWE soundtrack album WWE Originals. He also recorded a song, "Untouchables", for the company's next soundtrack album WWE ThemeAddict: The Music, Vol. 6. He collaborated on a remix for the song "H-U-S-T-L-E" along with Murs, E-40, and Chingo Bling.

Cena's debut album, You Can't See Me, was recorded with his cousin Tha Trademarc. It features, among other songs, his entrance theme, "The Time is Now", and the single "Bad, Bad Man", for which a music video was made that parodied 1980s culture, including the television show The A-Team. A video was also made for the second single, "Right Now", that premiered on the August 8, 2005 episode of WWE Monday Night Raw. Cena and Tha Trademarc were later featured on a track by The Perceptionists called "Champion Scratch". Cena appeared on T-Boz's album, Still Cool.

In October 2014, Cena was featured on two songs with rapper Wiz Khalifa for his two singles "All Day" and "Breaks" for the soundtrack to the WWE 2K15 video game.

In 2022, John Cena performed a piano rendition of Mötley Crüe's Home Sweet Home for the Peacemaker soundtrack.

Other ventures

Endorsements

Before his professional wrestling career, Cena appeared in an advertisement for Gold's Gym. As a wrestler, he has endorsed the energy drink YJ Stinger, appearing in commercials beginning in October 2003, and Subway, for whom he filmed advertisements with their spokesperson Jared Fogle in November 2006 that began airing the following January. For a time in 2007, he also endorsed two "signature collections" of energy drinks and energy bars sold by American Body Builders. In 2008, Cena filmed a commercial as part of Gillette's "Young Guns" NASCAR campaign.

In 2009, Cena expanded his relationship with Gillette by introducing a new online campaign called "Be A Superstar" featuring himself alongside fellow WWE wrestlers Chris Jericho and Cody Rhodes. The campaign features motivational videos. After Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson called Cena "Fruity Pebbles" during their feud (in reference to Cena's colorful merchandise) Cena appeared on the box of Fruity Pebbles cereal in 2013.

He was the pace car driver for the 58th annual Daytona 500. On October 13, 2016, Cena made his debut as the voice of Ernie the Elephant in a new commercial campaign launched by Wonderful Pistachios. He was named to Adweek's "Creative 100" and received praise for his performance. In 2020, Cena and Honda announced a partnership, with Cena becoming the new voice of Honda.

Philanthropy

Cena has granted over 650 wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses through the Make-A-Wish Foundation—the most in Make-A-Wish history, with his first wish dating back to 2002. The Guinness Book of World Records confirmed that not only had Cena granted this many wishes by mid-2022, but that second place was fewer than 200. In 2009, Cena received the Chris Greicius Celebrity Award.

From late 2011 until WrestleMania XXVIII, Cena wore a black "Rise Above Hate" T-shirt promoting WWE's "Be a Star" anti-bullying campaign. In September and October 2012, Cena wore pink and black with the phrase "Rise Above Cancer" in partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

In November 2016, Cena appeared in a public service announcement, "We Are America", sponsored by the Ad Council as part of its "Love Has No Labels" campaign.

Cena made a $1 million donation to Black Lives Matter in June 2020 as part of the #MatchAMillion initiative made popular by K-pop band BTS.

In popular culture

His catchphrase "You Can't See Me" originates from his early days of wrestling in the WWE where he was dared by his little brother to do the yayo dance on TV, which consists of moving your head while looking into the palm of your hand. Cena accepted the dare, but waved his hand in front of his face instead to make it look more visible to his brother. Over time, this evolved into his signature catchphrase "You Can't See Me". In mid-2015, Cena was the subject of the Internet meme "Unexpected John Cena", also known as simply "Unexpected Cena" or "IT'S JOHN CENA". He has also been the subject of many memes due to his catchphrase, "You can't see me" such as being invisible in photos.

On May 10, 2021, Cena posted a video on his Weibo account, in which he sat in a car and ate ice cream while promoting the upcoming film Fast & Furious 9. In the video, Cena speaks Mandarin and sings into the ice cream cone as if it were a microphone. The video was viewed by millions of users and inspired the creation of new memes like "Bing Chilling".

On May 24, 2021, a video of Cena apologizing to China was published on Twitter. While promoting Fast & Furious 9 in an interview, Cena stated Taiwan would be the first country to be able to view the film. This resulted in a backlash from Chinese social media users, prompting Cena to apologize in Mandarin in the video for the slip of the tongue. His apology received mixed reactions in China, and was the subject of further internet memes in the west.

Personal life

He has said numerous times that he does not want to have children because he does not want to be an absentee parent while he is focused on his career.

While promoting his 2009 film 12 Rounds, Cena announced his engagement to Elizabeth Huberdeau. They were married on July 11, 2009. On May 1, 2012, Cena filed for divorce, which was finalized on July 18. Later that year, he began dating fellow wrestler Nikki Bella. They became engaged when Cena proposed to her at WrestleMania 33 on April 2, 2017, but ended their relationship in April 2018; they had been scheduled to marry on May 5.

On October 12, 2020, Cena married girlfriend Shay Shariatzadeh, whom he had been dating since early 2019, in a private ceremony in Tampa, Florida. The two met during the production of Cena's 2019 film Playing with Fire, which was filmed in Vancouver, where Shariatzadeh works.

Cena started learning Mandarin Chinese in 2016 to help the WWE expand its reach, and he spoke in Mandarin at a press conference in China. He also revealed in April 2018 that he learned to play the piano.

In December 2017, the Ford Motor Company filed a lawsuit against Cena for selling his 2017 Ford GT, therefore violating his purchase agreement. According to Ford, he signed a contract to keep the car for at least two years but breached the agreement by selling it to make a net profit shortly after receiving it. On June 19, 2018, the two sides reached an undisclosed settlement, with Cena apologizing to Ford and Ford promising to donate the settlement to charity.

In July 2018, Cena briefly moved to China, where he settled in Yinchuan. He went on to create a YouTube show on WWE's channel, highlighting his trips to local stores and markets. He explained that he would be living there for five months while working on a film, Hidden Strike, with Jackie Chan. The shoot concluded in November 2018.