John Cena is one of the most popular WWE stars of all time, but there are plenty of interesting facts not many fans know about the star.
Cena’s last WWE match is on the horizon, which will cap off his 2025 retirement tour and his incredible 26-year career.
The star has reignited several high-profile feuds in 2025, with matches against CM Punk, R-Truth, and Randy Orton, and Cena will face Logan Paul at Clash in Paris.
Before Cena retires in December 2025, here are 10 things you might not know about the 17-time champion.
He earned just $12,000 a year with his first WWE contract
Cena may have turned into one of the most popular, and successful, WWE stars in history, but he earned a criminally low amount during his early days with WWE.
The star earned just $12,000 a year, which resulted in the star having just $200 to live on after paying his rent.
Speaking on Kevin Hart’s Peacock series, Hart to Heart, Cena revealed: “I think my rent was $1,000 a month. So all my money is now rent.”
That didn’t stop his parents from being ecstatic with the star getting a job in the WWE, however. “I told my dad I got a job with WWE. [He said] ‘Oh, my son. This is unreal. It’s going to great. I can’t believe it.’”
Cena would soon rise through the ranks and become the highest-paid WWE superstar on the entire roster.
He nearly signed for WCW before he went to WWE
Cena may not have been paid very much by WWE, but the professional wrestling juggernaut were desperate to keep him away from its competition, WCW.
“I kind of got hired defensively so I wouldn’t go to WCW for peanuts,” said Cena in a 2023 interview with Busted Open Radio.
The landscape of the entire industry might have been very different if Cena ended up signing for WCW, but instead, that company was officially closed and bought by WWE in 2001.
John Cena’s ‘You Can’t See Me’ catchphrase started as a joke
Cena’s ‘You Can’t See Me’ taunt became one of the most popular breakout catchphrases in mainstream media during his early run with the company, but it was actually started thanks to his brother.
The star’s brother dared him to do the taunt on TV after seeing 50 Cent use it for his song ‘In Da Club’ and Cena took the bait.
He used it on television, and it became incredibly popular, helping Cena become the face of WWE in the mid-2000s.
John Cena teamed with Hulk Hogan on WWE Raw in 2005
Cena has often been dubbed the natural successor to Hulk Hogan as the face of WWE, but the two men unfortunately never got to face each other in a singles match.
They did, however, team together in a clash of eras on an episode of WWE Raw in 2005. Hogan and Cena teamed with Shawn Michaels to take on Chris Jericho, Christian, and Tyson Tomko.
The legendary team of babyfaces picked up the win as they continued the build toward Hogan and Michaels’ SummerSlam clash.
John Cena has never held the Intercontinental Championship in WWE
Cena has held 26 titles in WWE since winning his first-ever singles championship in 2004, but he’s missing one crucial piece of gold from his collection.
The 17-time champion has bizarrely never held the Intercontinental Championship in WWE, which is one of the most illustrious belts in the industry.
The likes of ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, Bret Hart, and The Rock have held the belt, but it’s eluded Cena in his career.
The star has not only never held the belt, but he’s also never competed for the championship in his career.
John Cena still wears the same knee pads from his time in WWE developmental, OVW
Cena’s jorts and trainers have become synonymous with the star since he made his WWE debut all the way back in 2002.
But the star has also been using the same piece of equipment since he made his professional wrestling debut in Ohio Valley Wrestling.
In WWE: Unreal, Cena confirmed he’d been wearing the same kneepads since his developmental days in the early 2000s.
“Sentimental value,” said Cena in the Netflix show. “They don’t work anymore at all,” he laughed. “Nope, they don’t.”
John Cena was nearly fired by WWE in 2002
Cena may have become the biggest star in the industry, but he struggled to gain a foothold in WWE during his early days.
The 17-time champion failed to get himself over before he found his ‘Doctor of Thuganomics’ character, and he was even told he would be fired from WWE.
Speaking on the A&E’s WWE Rivals, Cena said: “Everybody had their reservations about me. Nobody liked me.”
That led to Cena fearing for his job security in WWE, a far cry from the success he subsequently found in the company.
“The WWE used to make a series of cuts around late November called Christmas cuts,” explained Cena. “I was told I would be getting my release in Christmas cuts.”
He called Vince McMahon his favourite WWE wrestler
Vince McMahon made Cena a star in WWE with such incredibly strong booking fans began to dub him ‘Super Cena’.
Cena named Vince McMahon his favourite WWE wrestler in a WWE.com interview back in 2014. “Any time he comes out, something serious, weird, or seriously weird is going to happen,” said Cena.
He knows how to entertain,” continued Cena, about the star who decided the 17-time champion had what it takes to lead the company.
He got his first film role thanks to ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin
Cena has become one of Hollywood’s brightest sparks since moving to a part-time schedule in WWE, but he only got his first role due to Steve Austin turning it down.
Austin was offered the chance to star in The Marine, but he ended up rejecting the role due to creative differences.
“I was going to was going to be The Marine,” said Austin in an interview with Slash Film. “I got the script to The Marine, and I didn’t really like it too much, so I passed.”
Cena ended up taking the lead role in The Marine, which began his love affair with movie-making and Hollywood.
He’s wrestled over 2000 matches
Cena’s run at the top of WWE has lasted longer than Hogan’s, The Rock’s, or Austin’s, and his back catalogue of matches is proof of that.
The 17-time champion has competed in an incredible 2309 matches according to wrestling database, CageMatch.
That run comes between 1999 and 2025, an astounding 26 years in the professional wrestling industry that runs all the way up to his WWE retirement tour.
The star has competed in 10 matches on his retirement tour, more than the past three years up until 2021.