10 Biggest Breakout Stars Of WWE's Original Brand Extension

Wrestling's biggest star was a product of the brand extension, a breakout performer whose journey to greatness started with an impromptu match against Kurt Angle and intensified with some freestyle raps and a Vanilla Ice costume.

Truth be told, Cena was going nowhere some four months after his debut. He was briefly entangled in a six-person feud involving Edge, Rey Mysterio, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero but was replaced shortly thereafter as writer Paul Heyman crafted his SmackDown Six vision. It was not until Cena let revealed his knack for rapping during an overseas tour that he stumbled upon the element that would break him out of mediocrity and into relevance.

The Doctor of Thuganomics became one of the most popular stars on the brand, his ability to come up with freestyles about his opponents that both dissed them and provided audiences with a few laughs his greatest weapon.

Steadily, Cena rose through the ranks. He went from heel to babyface, United States champion to No. 1 contender to the top prize. At WrestleMania 21, he captured the WWE Championship before embarking on a decade-long odyssey that would see him become the poster boy for Vince McMahon's company as well as a mainstream celebrity.

Eleven years into his reign over WWE, the significance of the brand extension and Cena's emergence from it has never been more evident.