From Suplexes to SAG Cards - John Cena

You Can See Him... and You Should

I don’t typically do series on here. I tried to go through all the X-Men movies and stopped 2 movies in when I got to X-Men: Apocalypse because I realized I had no desire to write about it. But I may have hit upon one I can sink my teeth into because it doesn’t involve watching movies I don’t like:

From Suplexes to SAG Cards: Pro Wrestlers Turned Actors

I’m not going to be writing about a wrestler who took a movie or TV role because they thought it would be fun or needed health insurance (Most wrestlers are considered independent contractors and don’t get insurance from the company they are contracted to. It’s pretty terrible, honestly.) I’m going to be writing about wrestlers who were stars in the ring, and then made a full-time transition to Hollywood, and maybe popped back to wrestling to hear the roar of the crowd or for a money grab (Not faulting them there. I like money, too.)

Before I get into it, I want to make a note right off the bat that may help non-fans understand some facets of some of these posts. Wrestling is a unique phenomenon, and its fans are a rather unconventional lot. First off, people still in 2025 ask the question, “But isn’t it fake?” Crazy, but true. Yes, of course it is scripted and choreographed, and the idea is not to hurt the person you are wrestling. However, most wrestlers are athletes, and they do take a pounding. Many take painkillers, and drugs were rampant in the business back in the day, and many died young. It’s a lot cleaner these days, the schedule is lighter, and there are a lot less concussions and overdoses. However, if a wrestler decides to put less stress on their body by applying their skills in a movie or TV show rather than in the ring, they should be applauded. But it didn’t always work that way, because as I said, wrestling fans are a tad unconventional, and they are also uber-passionate. Back in 2001, when Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, at the height of his popularity, took some time away from the ring to play the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns, nobody really minded because he came back to wrestling pretty quick. When he starred in The Scorpion King standalone movie a year later, and there was suddenly buzz in Hollywood about this handsome young stud, wrestling fans booed him upon his return. Part of it was because he had already been cast in yet another movie, so was scheduled for more time off, and yet he continued to claim that the WWE was his “home.” But wrestling fans are possessive and they felt that The Rock was turning his back on them. Basically, they only wanted to watch him wrestle and not do anything else.

And who can blame them?

But The Rock is no dummy. So, in early 2003, he made another return to wrestling (a couple months before Wrestlemania, because that’s where the big payday is), but this time he went with the boos and became a bad guy, or in wrestling parlance, a “heel.” And he was *such* a great heel that the fans started to like him again, which was always one of the pitfalls of being The Rock. Unfortunately, by the summer, he was gone again, and has only made sporadic returns since, always claiming upon each return that he was “home,” but nobody was buying it. Movie-making was easier on his body, made him more money, and was way more fun. Wrestling fans like to think they are in charge by booing or cheering for whoever they like or don’t like, but if the wrestler wants to go make a movie, that’s their choice and nobody can stop them.

I’ll cover more of that when I write a post on The Rock, but for now, that’s the groundwork: wrestlers like wrestling until their body starts to break down and they realize there’s always money in the banana stand. Movies and TV are better, physically and financially, and even wrestling fans have now started to understand that. So, when John Cena did pretty much the same thing a few years ago, fans were a little more forgiving. And as I’ll get to in a bit, a large segment of them already booed him anyway.

The Champ Is Here

In the early 2000’s. The WWF (soon to be rechristened WWE, thanks to the World Wildlife Fund) had a developmental territory called Ohio Valley Wrestling that would hire young wannabe wrestlers and train them to be “superstars.” At that time, OVW was flush with young talent, including names you may know like Brock Lesnar, Dave Batista and John Cena. Since The Rock (as mentioned above) was transitioning out and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s neck was basically a stack of dimes by that point, some of these young guys were going to have to grow up fast. So, a young rookie Cena (25) was brought to the main show on June 27, 2002. Cena had been a bodybuilder who shifted to wrestling when he discovered there was no money in bodybuilding. He wrestled around California a bit, and was soon scooped up by WWE because he had “the look.”

The problem was, he kind of sucked. He had some charisma, which you can’t teach, but he didn’t move vry well in the ring, which you can teach, but he was going to have to learn that in front of live fans on live TV. He was also trotted out there as what they call a “white-meat babyface:” a plucky, young hero who stood up to the heels and sometimes won and sometimes lost, but who always put up a good fight nonetheless. That kind of thing worked in the 70’s and 80’s, but this was 2002 and wrestling fans needed something a little more.

Cena wasn’t learning fast enough and was said to be on the chopping block when WWE head writer Stephanie McMahon, daughter of Vince, overheard Cena on a bus while on a European tour doing some freestyle rapping to entertain his fellow grapplers. She was amused and wondered why they haven’t let this guy do this schtick on TV. Stephanie obviously had some pull, so Cena was immediately repackaged from white-meat babyface to Eminem with muscles. He began dressing in backwards hats, gold chains and throwback sports jerseys, and would rap his way to the ring, making fun of the fans and sports teams of whatever city he was in, and as they say in the wrestling biz, he got “over like Rover.” (In inside wrestling lingo, “over” refers to the amount of fan reaction. If a wrestler or a move gets a lot of cheers or boos, it is considered over. If the fans don’t react at all, that is not over, and that’s cause for concern.) John Cena, the Doctor of Thugonomics, was born.

Cena soon became the next main event star of pro wrestling; the guy they would send to the Today Show or army bases or to visit sick kids (It is not fake wrestling PR that John Cena has the Guinness World Record for granting the most Make-a-Wishes in history, and it’s not even close. He has more than double whoever is in second. Just thought I’d mention that.) Eventually, he dropped the rapper gimmick because it seemed odd for the top guy, and he became John Cena, Fake Marine, having never done a day of military service, but that’s fine. Sgt. Slaughter never did either, and he’s been living that gimmick for 50 years.

Problem was, older males liked the rapper gimmick, and liked Cena when he wasn’t The Chosen One. They liked him when, much like The Rock, he was Their Guy. Nobody tells modern wrestling male fans who they must like, so when Cena would come to the ring, he was met with a chorus of loud boos from male fans. However, kids liked the guy because he was funny and they aren’t cynical and misanthropic like those old grumps, so Cena was also showered with high-pitched screams of joy from his younger fans when he would run to the ring. Either way, Cena worked hard, and sold a lot of merchandise, so despite the outcry from those grumpy older fans, the WWE brass stuck with him as their top star. Eventually, for one of Rock’s comebacks, he was put in matches with Cena as a sort of generational battle (despite Rock only being 5 years older). Cena had criticized Rock for always saying that he was coming home and then leaving after a couple months. The Rock retaliated by making fun of Cena’s brightly-colored t-shirts and ring gear, which consisted of jorts and sneakers.

Did I mention he sold a lot of merchandise?

Eventually, after Cena defeated him in the ring, Rock endorsed John for his hard work, and even the old grumpy fans eventually warmed up to him (and he did learn how to wrestle, so there’s that.)

After a while, Cena started getting the pull towards Hollywood. And not just lame action movies like The Marine or 12 Rounds. He did “real” movies, and he was pretty good. He started wrestling less and doing movies more, and he eventually had to apologize to The Rock on social media, basically saying that he gets it now. But fans wouldn’t boo him (Sometimes they would, but only ironically. Wrestling is very strange.) when he came back because he never lied to them. He would come back when he wanted to wrestle, not because he needed to wrestle. According to Google, the dude is worth north of $80 million. He doesn’t have to take clotheslines if he doesn’t want to.

Still, Cena was in his 40’s and nobody can pin Father Time in the ring. He had a lot of Hollywood commitments, but when he was cast as Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad, and then James Gunn and Warner Brothers gave him a series, all that hustle, loyalty and respect really paid off. (Side note: Gunn originally wrote Peacemaker thinking that he would cast another former wrestler, Dave Batista, who played Drax in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When Dave was unavailable, Cena got the role, and there was much rejoicing.)

Do You Really Wanna Taste It?

I am a huge fan of Peacemaker, and it is mostly because of Cena. As much as I enjoy him in the Fast & Furious movies, I must admit that he’s mostly playing John Cena. In fact, when he would do comedies, they were mostly funny because he was John Cena, a big dude put in funny situations.

I mean, nobody watches those movies for the performances, anyway. But Peacemaker is a different animal. It has the humor and characterization that Gunn brought to the Guardians franchise, plus the R-rating that allows him to express his real inner whack-job. If you haven’t watched it because you don’t dig super-hero stuff, you can put that right to bed. This is a show that, yes, has some messed-up storylines and some gross-out moments, but the characters are so layered and well-written, that I find myself falling in love with them, and I’m not the type of person who usually does that. I will admit that it took two seasons to get there, but that’s the cool thing. I enjoyed the first season enough, and watched the second season for that reason, but it was a slow-burn. By the second season finale, I was singing along to the theme song (which I originally thought was inferior to the first season one. What can I say? They got me.)

Like pro wrestling, a TV series is a unique phenomenon in entertainment. Fans need characters to get behind, like wrestling fans did with John Cena. Fans were apathetic to him at first because all he had was “the look,” but eventually he learned how to wrestle and how to work the crowd, and I think the same principle applies to his Hollywood career, and TV series’ in general. You didn’t watch Breaking Bad at first because Walter White is such a cool guy, and he certainly didn’t have “the look.” But the premise and the writing was so compelling that eventually you grew to love him and the other characters, and you needed to see what would happen to them. It might be blasphemy to compare Breaking Bad to Peacemaker, but personally this is what has happened to me: I grew to like the characters so much that I just had to see what happened to them. And it’s basically the same thing that happened in Cena’s wrestling career. He learned how to act the same way that he learned how to wrestle and talk in the ring, and he became one of the best talkers in the business. He’s not the best actor in Hollywood, but with the help of some good writing and a great ensemble, the guy helped carry a whole show, so that’s something. He apparently also learned Mandarin for fun. The guy just works really hard.

At 48, Cena is retiring from wrestling in a matter of weeks, which is good because you don’t want to hang on too long. I’m more sad that I recently learned that there are currently no plans for a season three of Peacemaker. But that’s ok, too. The character is sure to return as part of Gunn’s DC Extended Universe. And Cena, the man, is sure to hustle on to whatever project he chooses next.

Hopefully another Fast & Furious movie.

Thanks for reading, as always. Don’t forget to subscribe and share, and check out my podcast, and if you want to help keep the lights on, you can donate in small amounts at Buy Me a Coffee or grab a t-shirt or hoodie from my Printify shop.

And as always, keep on keepin’ on.