Inside John Cena's WWE career as he comes to Dublin one last time
For the first time ever, the WWE will be airing live out of the capital, when Friday Night SmackDown comes to the 3Arena this Friday (August 22) — with 17-time World Champion John bringing his retirement tour to Dublin ahead of his final appearance as a professional wrestler this December.
But after 22 years of what is often considered the greatest career ever, just how did we get here? Cena debuted in 2002 to answer Kurt Angle's open challenge. Pic: Michael Owens/WWE via Getty Images
Answering an open challenge from Kurt Angle, an unassuming muscular Massachusetts wrestler named John Cena appeared for the first time, telling Angle that he had 'ruthless aggression' — something that would end up being used as the WWE's 'era' for six years — and from there… nothing really happened of note.
Cena was put into a feud in 2002 with Chris Jericho, but was mainly relegated to shows such as Velocity (if you remember that, it's essentially the show 'before the show' such as SmackDown.) And even by his own admission, he had a feeling that he was going to be released later that year.
However, on the Halloween episode of SmackDown, he dressed up as Vanilla Ice and began rapping in front of Stephanie McMahon, the then on-screen General Manager. From there, his fortunes changed drastically. In 2003, Cena got his huge break as the Dr of Thuganomics, a white rapper who'd freestyle as a way of doing his promos. Pic: Dexter A. Jones/FilmMagic
Cena began the 'white rapper' gimmick as the Dr of Thuganomics (a course available in the School of Hard Knocks, ya see), where he'd dress up in throwback jerseys — which was the style at the time — and freestyle rap as a way of dressing down his opponents.
Starting out as a heel (bad guy), the character became incredibly popular, with him becoming a babyface (good guy) in 2003: a position where he'd remain until February of this year.
He'd win the United States Championship in 2004, beating The Big Show at WrestleMania 20, before defeating John 'Bradshaw' Layfield one year later for the WWE Championship. He was then drafted to Monday Night Raw a few months later, where he'd be the flag bearer for the company for the next two decades. Kicking off his acting career in the 2005 action flick The Marine, Cena went on to a huge career on the big and small screen — with his most recent role being Peacemaker. Pic:Some people who may know John Cena as an actor will have no trouble telling you that his debut as a leading man (minus work as an extra on Ready to Rumble — never forget) was in The Marine, as the excellently named John Triton.
His other credits during the next eight years included action film 12 Rounds, drama Legendary, and a recurring role in the Fred: The Movie series, where he played the then YouTube star Fred Figglehorn's imaginary father. Good times.
In the ring, Cena's popularity began waning as he stopped rapping and became, in all essence, a superhero — with him catering more to the children who were fans of his rather than adults, who'd deride him as 'Super Cena' and cause a stink surrounding him 'always' winning and being the same babyface.
He'd go on to have some of his most memorable feuds throughout this period, however — including with Edge on-and-off from 2006, Randy Orton from 2007, CM Punk in 2011, and of course, fellow wrestler-turned-actor The Rock; who he faced twice at WrestleManias 28 and 29 in 2012 and 2013. Cena received acclaim from wrestling critics for his US Open Challenge, which kicked off in 2015. Pic:After winning the United States Championship in 2015, Cena began the US Open Challenge — where he'd challenge wrestlers in a match against him for the belt every week on Monday Night Raw.
It was there where detractors finally began warming to him, as he put on — to quote Dublin wrestler Sheamus — banger after banger after banger, with him going on to have critically acclaimed feuds with AJ Styles, Seth Rollins and 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt in the 'Firefly Funhouse' match during WrestleMania 36 which took place during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic (seriously, if you think the Firefly Funhouse match is bizarre in 2025, try watching it live as it happened at 4am like I did!)
In 2024, Cena made a surprise appearance at the Money in the Bank PLE (Premium Live Event) in Toronto, where he announced that he was retiring in 2025. Cena announced his retirement last year, with his final match in a WWE ring to take place this December. Pic: Michael Owens/WWE via Getty Images
Which brings us here.
It's been a weird one, to say the least, when it comes to the 'John Cena retirement tour.' In February at Elimination Chamber, he finally turned heel (became a bad guy) for the first time in 22 years when he turned on Cody Rhodes at the behest of The Rock (who was never seen after that…)
He won the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 41 from Cody in a match that was reviled by critics, but two days before SummerSlam earlier this month, he became a good guy again after denouncing his wicked ways in a hasty 'ok, I'm a good guy again' moment. But hey, fans were happy to have him back! He proceeded to lose the belt to Cody in the exact opposite of their WrestleMania match, an acclaimed affair.
This Friday, Cena will be at the 3Arena in Dublin as part of WWE's Clash in Paris tour, where he'll be building to his match in France against… *sigh* Logan Paul. From there, he's advertised for two more events in October, before one final match in December against an opponent that's TBD.
After that, the memes will finally come true as in the ring, we can't see him anymore.
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Pic: Michael Owens/WWE via Getty Images Which brings us here. It's been a weird one, to say the least, when it comes to the 'John Cena retirement tour.' In February at Elimination Chamber, he finally turned heel (became a bad guy) for the first time in 22 years when he turned on Cody Rhodes at the behest of The Rock (who was never seen after that…) He won the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 41 from Cody in a match that was reviled by critics, but two days before SummerSlam earlier this month, he became a good guy again after denouncing his wicked ways in a hasty 'ok, I'm a good guy again' moment. But hey, fans were happy to have him back! He proceeded to lose the belt to Cody in the exact opposite of their WrestleMania match, an acclaimed affair. This Friday, Cena will be at the 3Arena in Dublin as part of WWE's Clash in Paris tour, where he'll be building to his match in France against… *sigh* Logan Paul. 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