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John Cena made his main roster debut in 2002, and he was given an old school build up in WWE. He started working as a lower mid card, and soon he was promoted to a mid card status. He became quite famous among the WWE fans because of his controversial rapper gimmick, and by late 2003, he established himself as one of the most over stars of the promotion.
He won his first Championship in WWE at WrestleMania XX, when he defeated the Big Show to win the WWE United States Championship. It was also the beginning of his main event push. He started shining as a main event star in early 2005 when he performed excellently at the Royal Rumble 2005 and went on to win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21.
John Cena compared the time between his start and retirement
He had been promoted as a concrete main eventer of WWE ever since he won the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21, and he went on to become the face of the promotion in the upcoming years. He had an illustrious 24 years long career in WWE, and recently he announced his retirement from in ring action. Recently, he spoke with Cody Rhodes on his “What Do You Wanna’ Talk About?” podcast, where he talked about the changes from the time of his beginning to his retirement. He said;
John Cena made his main roster debut in 2002
“We wouldn’t be doing this 10 years ago. We might be doing this, but it wouldn’t be for you guys. The amount of opportunities for performers is exponential, and the company is far more empathetic and inspirational, and like, go out there and get it. We went from trying to be accepted, and this is why it was tough to let talent flex different muscles, ’cause man, I can’t take you away from the thing. This is another benefit of less live events. You can do more things, you can grow.
John Cena continued, "If you’re a creative and you want to grow your tentacles, it’s fine. So another, that’s a pro of less live events. Money’s never been better for talent. Creative outlet has never been better for talent. We have great partnerships now, I believe that we’re accepted on far more of a global plane. I think the overall attitude of talent is, we’re in the consumer service business and consumer first. I think in the days of old it was very like, I’m talent, stay the F outta my way.
John Cena announced his retirement on December 13, 2025
"And I know there is some breach of personal boundaries that everybody’s trying to discover with all the new technology out there, whatever. But I think our talent is very consumer-friendly. And consumer aware. I think that’s now an aspirational position that we’ve done a great job with our partnerships with Fanatics and sports licensees used to make it a universal truth. Oh yeah. That like, yo, that’s a symbol of greatness.”
John Cena had a year long retirement tour in 2025, and he had an amazing year overall. He worked in his retirement match on December 13 at the Saturday Night's Main Event show against Gunther. Things have definitely changed a lot between 2002 and the present time. In some points, wrestling has changed for the better, but in some cases, it has gone worse.
