10 Biggest WWE Developmental Success Stories
1. John Cena
The gold standard for WWE developmental prospects and the star pupil of Ohio Valley Wrestling's celebrated Class of 2002, John Cena had barely been wrestling a year when tryouts in 2000 and 2001 got him hired by WWE and deployed to OVW for some trademark seasoning.
He had already lined himself up for a career outside of wrestling with an Exercise Psychology degree and promising bodybuilding career, but his transformative years came within WWE's chief feeder system.
As The Prototype, Cena was given reigns with OVW's top singles and tag titles whilst juggling a stream of dark matches alongside fellow standouts Brock Lesnar, Shelton Benjamin and others to prepare him for a spot he was clearly groomed for. Outside of his colourful tights and ludicrous blonde dye job, there was very little different to separate the trainee from the 40-year-old 16 Time World Champion in 2017.
The 'Ruthless Aggression' spunky babyface that took Kurt Angle to the limit on his June 2002 Smackdown debut didn't resonate of course, but an now-famous Vanilla Ice-inspired rap he performed on the Halloween Episode five months later would kick the door down for him change the entire history of the company.