10 Best Rookie Years In WWE History
7. John Cena
It was very clear that WWE had grand designs for John Cena from the day he debuted.
Marching-out to answer Kurt Angle’s open challenge on a June 2002 episode of SmackDown, the brazen rookie pushed Angle to his absolute limits in a hard-fought loss that brought post-match congratulations from veterans like Faarooq and The Undertaker, and immediately stood Cena out as one to watch.
After prevailing over Chris Jericho at Vengeance ‘02, Cena continued his winning ways against the likes of Chavo Guerrero and Test, before debuting the Vanilla Ice-aping rapper gimmick that helped establish him. Cena was on fire, cutting his opponents apart with sharp, witty lines during his freestyle rap promos, and winning legions of fans over with his charm and charisma on the microphone.
A feud with then-WWE Champion Brock Lesnar followed, and while Cena was unsuccessful in his initial pursuit, he was well on his way to becoming one of the biggest stars in the business. Cena hit the ground running from day one, and the fans adored him, even when attempting to play a villainous role.
John Cena might be the most widely complained-about superstar in WWE today, but his rookie performances showed the world he was going to be a company mainstay for years to come.