John Felix Anthony Cena
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John Cena tore his pectoral muscle in 2007 while wrestling Mr. Kennedy, an injury requiring seven months of rehab. He returned to win the 2008 Royal Rumble. Cena holds 16 WWE world championships and starred in films like The Marine 2006 and 12 Rounds 2009. He also released the rap album You Can’t See Me in 2005.
Names, aliases, and relatives of John Cena — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
John Cena by the numbers — life, work, and family.
John Cena — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
John Cena’s parents, Carol and John Cena Sr., welcomed their son on April 23, 1977 in West Newbury, Massachusetts. His father is of Italian descent; his mother has French-Canadian and English roots. Cena attended Cushing Academy and later Springfield College, where he earned degrees in exercise physiology and human anatomy. He played football in college, then worked as a bodybuilder and limousine driver before pursuing wrestling.
John Cena made his WWE debut on June 27, 2002, losing to Kurt Angle. He won the United States Championship from Big Show in 2004 and later captured the WWE Championship. In 2006, he starred in the WWE film The Marine. Cena released his debut rap album You Can’t See Me in 2005, which debuted at #15 on the Billboard 200. He feuded with top stars like Edge, Randy Orton, and John Bradshaw Layfield. In 2007, Cena tore his pectoral muscle and was stripped of the title, but returned to win the 2008 Royal Rumble.
Cena has been married twice: to Elizabeth Huberdeau from July 11, 2009 to July 19, 2012, and to Shay Shariatzadeh since October 12, 2020. He was engaged to Nikki Garcia from April 2, 2017 to April 15, 2018. Cena is the second oldest of five brothers and is close friends with wrestlers Randy Orton and John Hennigan. He is also friends with Sacha Baron Cohen.
John Cena captured 16 world championships and multiple Slammy Awards in WWE. He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. Cena became the first celebrity to grant 500 wishes through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Outside wrestling, he starred in the Fast & Furious franchise and the HBO Max series Peacemaker. His catchphrase Never Give Up remains a fan favorite. Cena served as the face of WWE for over a decade.
The complete filmography of John Cena — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by John Cena — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from John Cena — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
You Can’t See Me!
Word Life!
The Champ Is Here.
Whether Fighting or Spitting, My Discipline Is Unforgiving!
If You Want Some, Come Get Some!
I Haven’t Backed Down from a Fight in My Life, and I Won’t Start Tonight.
Kicking Ass and Taking Names. Making Checks and Breaking Necks.
I Never Back Down, I Never Quit!
I Regret Nothing and Fear Less.
Live Fast, Fight Hard, No Regrets!
My Time Is Now!
I Admire the Military. I Guess in a World of Villains and Heroes, They’re My Heroes. Their Dedication, Their Commitment, Their Discipline, Their Code of Ethics.
I Have Certain Things That I Stand For, Certain Things That I Believe In, and If You Don’t Like It and You Tell Me to Go to Hell, I Think That’s Your God-given Right as a Fan. It’s One of Those Deals Where I’m That One Guy Who Is Outside of That Realm of Good Guy, Bad Guy. I’m Just Me, and It Elicits a Response Both Positive and Negative.
I’m the One Person Who Wears the Words ‘Hustle, Loyalty, Respect’ on My T-shirts and Merchandise. My Audience Is Children. It’s Very Flattering to See a Kid Wear Your T-shirt; It’s Even More Flattering to Have a Dad Come up to You and Say, ‘I Watch You with My Kid. Keep Doing What You’re Doing. You’re a Role Model for My Son.’
When People Show Loyalty to You, You Take Care of Those Who Are with You. It’s How It Goes with Everything. If You Have a Small Circle of Friends, and One of Those Friends Doesn’t Stay Loyal to You, They Don’t Stay Your Friend for Very Long.
I Don’t Have Any Elaborate Uniforms; I Come to the Ring in a T-shirt, a Pair of Sneakers and Some Shorts.
Seriously, I Grew up a Fan of Hulk Hogan, and I Think I Bring Some of His Best Values to the Ring… the Values of a Superhero. Always Do Your Best. Never Give Up… I Think Kids Want to Believe in That, and They Should Believe in That.
I’m the Guy Who’ll Drive 250 Miles Tonight and Be at the Gym Tomorrow at 10 A.M., When People Are Still Sleeping In. I’m the Guy Who’ll Fly to Australia and Find a Gym. Fly Back and First Thing I Do off the Plane Is Work Out Before I Shower or Eat.
I Think the Greatest Hip-hop Artist of All Time Is Jay-Z, Without a Doubt. He Just Keeps Amazing Me with His Performance, and Since ’96, That Guy Has Been Producing at Least One Hit Every Summer and Every Winter. That’s a Pretty Good Resume.
People Can Say Whatever They Want About the Sport of Bodybuilding, but to Get Prepared to Do a Contest or Even Think About Doing a Contest, or Even to Get into Decent Shape, It Requires a Certain Amount of Discipline, and It Comes from Taking a New Year’s Resolution to a Lifestyle.
By the Time I Was 15 and I Stepped in the High School Gym, I Was Just Stronger Than Everybody.
Paul Bearer Was Very Influential in the Early Stages of My Career. He Constantly Hounded Me and I Just Think He Realized the Potential That Was There. He Convinced Me That I Was in the Right Place and Doing the Right Thing.
I’m Not Trying to Brainwash My Critics. If They’re Critics, They’re Critics, and That’s Their Job to Be Critical, but I Certainly Enjoy the Involvement I Have with My Fans. I Enjoy the Time I Get to Spend with Them, and I Don’t Waste Time with Someone Stubborn Who Is Not Going to Come Around.
If You Don’t Learn from Your Mistakes, Then They Become Regrets.
As a Kid, What Brought Me in the Gym, What Got Me in There Every Day Was a Chance to Break Your Personal Best, a Chance to Be Strong; I Just Really, Really Dig That.
Winning the Royal Rumble Is as Big an Accomplishment as Anything.
I Hang Out with a Lot of the People I Did When I Was in High School, When I Was in College, and I Have a Strong Unit of People Around Me, Whether It Be Friends or Family, and If My Head Gets Too Big, They Will Definitely Check Me Immediately.
‘Tropic Thunder’ Is One of My Favorite Movies of All Time. ‘Blazing Saddles.’ Anything That Will Get Me to Smile.
I Don’t Doll Myself up for TV Because I Want People to Accept Me for Who I Am.
My Favorite Thing About ‘Saturday Night’s Main Event,’ It Was That One Time Where I Could Stay up Late with My Dad and Four Brothers, and We Would All Beat the Tar Out of Each Other While the Show Was On, and It Was All Okay Because My Dad Was a Wrestling Fan.
I Hate Any Match That Isn’t a Traditional Tag Team Match or a Traditional Singles Match, Because Anything Can Happen. It’s Truly One of Those Deals Where It’s All About Being in the Right Place at the Right Time.
Pretty Much My Feel Toward MCs Is, If You Really Got Heart, You Got Passion, Let’s Get on and Do Something. I Like Doing Stuff with People That’s Real.
But I’ve Been Freestyling and Messing Around with Rhyming Since I Was 13. That’s When I Really Started Listening to Hip-hop Music.
My Home Is at the WWE. I Truly Do Love Performing. the Atmosphere Here Isn’t Like Anything Else. It’s Truly Where I Belong.
I Don’t Play a Character. It’s Totally Just an Extension of Myself.
I’m Fine with Being Beat-up and Pushed Around, but I’m Really Scared of Heights and Scared of Ledges.
My Dad Is the Reason I Actually Started Watching Wrestling. My Dad Was Never Big into Sports; We Were All Big into Sports as Kids, and He’d Go to Our Little League Games or Whatever and Not Really Know What Was Going On, Because He Didn’t Know About Sports, but He Knew About Wrestling.
I Watch Just as Much WWE as Almost Anyone, but I Love To. It’s Something I Enjoy Doing. I Don’t Force Myself to Watch. I Get Excited for Mondays. I Get Excited to See the Show.
A Lot of the Stuff That I Say Doesn’t Even Make TV Because It Gets Cut Out. so If You’re at the Live Events You Get to Hear What I Have to Say, but If You’re Watching on TV, You’re Only Getting About 50% of It.
Whether You Like Me or You Don’t, I Still Dig Showing up for Work.
I Think the Way WWE Studios Is Going Now – They’re Going Away from Action, Doing More Drama, More Comedy – It Will Open a Lot of People’s Eyes. Because a Lot of People See Big Guy, Big Frame: Action Superstar. We’ve Proven, Especially with ‘Legendary,’ That That Is Not Always the Case.
If You Watch Wrestling, You Now Know the Hip-hop Culture Is Being Represented with Wrestling. for the Longest Time, the Cultures Have Almost Been Parallel.
My Most String-beanish, I Guess, Is When I Was 15 Years Old. from 15 to 16, I Went from 155 Pounds to 215. by the Time I Graduated from High School, I Was Between 235-250.
Ric Flair Is One of the Most Entertaining Guys to Sit Down with and by Entertaining I Don’t Mean He Has Catchy Phrases, but That He’s Been Through so Much and His Experiences Are so Genuine I Could Listen to Him Talk All Day.
When My Job Isn’t Performing in a WWE Ring, My Job Is to Get Back Performing in That Ring. When I’m Hurt, All I Have to Do All Day Is Get Strong and Get Better. I’m a Very Dedicated Physical Therapy Patient, and That Helps a Lot.
I Was Very Unique as a Child, Dressed a Certain Way, Acted a Certain Way, Didn’t Fit in with Everybody. so I Immediately Got Picked On, Especially Around the Age of 12 and 13, When You Start Going to Junior High and Start Mingling with the Older Kids. to Counteract That, Strictly for Self-defense, I Wanted to Get Bigger.
I Take Pride in the Fact That a Lot of Little Kids Dig What I Do.
We Really Do Have a Lot of Personality in WWE. You Have To, to Be in This Job. You Showcase a Lot of Personality.
The Conditioning and the Lifestyle Changes You Have to Make to Remain a Healthy Athlete Are What Molded Me into What I Am Today.
When I Hear People Boo, That Just Makes Me Want to Go Out There and Work Harder.
Little-known facts about John Cena — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
First celebrity to grant 500 wishes through the Make a Wish Foundation.
Before he became a professional wrestler full time, he was a struggling voice actor.
Is best friends with wrestlers Randy Orton and John Hennigan off-camera.
Good friends with Sacha Baron Cohen.
His wife Liz was his high school sweetheart. They became engaged in September 2007.
Has made a suggestion to WWE Films that they team up with Disney to do a film version of the 2004 animated series Dave the Barbarian, with himself playing the title character.
Is the second oldest of five brothers born to Carol Frances Lupien, from Vermont, and John Cena Sr., John Joseph Cena. He was raised in West Newbury, Massachusetts, where he played college football. Cena is a cousin of Tha Trademarc Marc Predka. He attended Springfield College in Massachusetts, graduating with a degree in exercise physiology and movement studies.
John Cena played the piano cover of Mötley Crüe’s Home Sweet Home in Episode 6 of the HBO Max series Peacemaker.
Writes his own raps
Sometimes known as The Marky Mark of Wrestling.
His paternal grandparents, Felix Joseph Cena and Caterino Ann Catherine DiVincenzo, were of Italian descent. His father has roots in Livorno in Tuscany and Lazio. John’s maternal grandfather, baseball player Ulysses John Tony Lupien Jr., was of French-Canadian descent, with deep roots in Québec, and his maternal grandmother, Natalie Nichols, was of Colonial American English ancestry, with roots in Massachusetts going back to the 1600s.
Replaced Danny Cooksey as the voice of Dave in the 2004 Disney animated series Dave the Barbarian, but the show was canceled before any new episodes aired.
His last name translates to dinner in Spanish.
Used to be known as Prototype before starting with the WWE
Engaged to Nikki Garcia from April 2, 2017 to April 15, 2018.
Teamed up with Randy Orton to face the whole WWE roster since Paul Levesque, aka Triple H, was general manager for the night.
Sported his own version of the WWE United States Championship Belt. The front plate had a sparkled red/blue background with US in big white letters. The center plate spun round like a turntable.
Former Wrestling Tag Team Champion with Rico Constantino and Ohio Valley Wrestling Heavyweight Champion.
Earned $8 million from the WWE for 2016.
November 23rd 2008 – won his first World Heavyweight Championship after defeating Chris Jericho at Survivor Series, his first match back from surgery for a herniated disc in his neck, an injury he picked up at Summerslam, in a match he lost to Batista.
Was involved in the only two instances when the holder of a Money In The Bank contract, which guarantees the contract holder a match for the Heavyweight or WWE Championship at a time and place of their choosing within 12 months of winning the contract, failed to capture the championship. The first time, Cena was the challenger who cashed in the contract but failed to capture the title, as he won the match via disqualification but championships don’t change hands under such circumstances. The second time, he was the champion and successfully defended the title by pinning the challenger. In all other cases, whoever held the Money In The Bank contract was able to cash in the contract to successfully capture the title, and winning the contract is generally seen as a guaranteed title reign down the road.
Was booked to be the 2003 King of the Ring before WWE decided to cancel the tournament for that year.
Usually wears knee-high denim shorts with a throwback and cap.
On July 18, 2021, John Cena returned to the WWE at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view event.
On April 2, on an edition of RAW, he and Shawn Michaels lost the World Tag Team Championships to Jeff and Matt Hardy in a Tag Team Battle Royal due to Shawn Michaels dumping him over the top rope.
Has flown back to Australia to continue filming of The Marine.
Lost WWE Championship to Rob Van Dam at ECW One Night Stand.
Lost to Kurt Angle at Unforgiven by DQ so kept his WWE title.
Defeated Jesus, pronounced Hay-Zeus, at WWE Armageddon in a street fight to retain his United States Championship.
Defeated Booker T to tie their series of 5, 2-2. The deciding match will most likely take place at WWE No Mercy 2004.
Defeated Triple H during Wrestlemania 22; kept the Championship belt.
2001 PWI Wrestling Rookie of the Year, 3rd runner-up.
Former World Tag Team Champion.
Won the WWE title back from Edge at the Royal Rumble.
4th August 2008, along with Batista, won the World Tag Team Championhips on Monday Night Raw, defeating Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes after Batista pinned DiBiase. This is Cena’s 2nd World Tag Team Championship, Batista’s 3rd.
Won the 21th Royal Rumble Match
Will face the number 1 contender at Wrestlemania 22 in Chicago, Illinois for the WWE Championship.
Former Ohio Valley Wrestling Tag Team Champion with Rico Constantino.
#2 on the PWI top 500 wrestlers list in 2005.
Successfully defended the WWE Championship inside the Elimination Chamber at New Year’s Revolution. But shortly after, Edge cashed in his Money in the Bank contract, allowing him to face Cena for the title. In about 2 minutes, Edge finished off Cena with 2 spears and got the victory, therefore winning the WWE Championship.
On the 03/17/2025 edition of WWE RAW, John Cena cemented his heel turn when he cut a scathing promo berating the fans in attendance and all of the fans who have supported him.
Defeated Booker T at Summerslam 2004 with the FU to win the first match in the Best of Five Series for the WWE U.S. Title.
On the August 1, 2025 edition of WWE SmackDown, John Cena returned to his baby face persona.
Will be facing Edge in a match for the WWE title on a special Thursday night Raw with Mick Foley as guest referee.
At the Royal Rumble he defeated Umaga in a Last Man Standing match retaining the WWE Championship.
Beat Randy Orton on WWE Raw so he can face Triple H and Randy Orton at WWE Wrestlemania 24.
Lost the United States Title to newcomer Carlito Caribbean Cool in Carlito’s debut match.
Wrestles on WWE SmackDown!
Is set to face the Game, Triple H and the legend killer, Randy Orton in a Triple threat Match for the WWE Championship at the Grand-daddy of’em all, Wrestlemania 24
Stripped of The WWE Title after being injured in a match against Randy Orton. Orton then became the WWE Champion as a result of being the #1 contender.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about John Cena.
Celebrities similar to John Cena — same craft, ranked by reach.
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