10 Wrestlers Who Blamed Themselves For Failing In WWE
3. John Cena
Beyond an oft-celebrated debut that saw him accost Kurt Angle with "Ruthless Aggression," immediately scoring the respect of such luminaries as The Undertaker, John Cena's early WWE run was so big a flop that it brought him to the brink of release, with only an impromptu tour-bus rap battle saving him from the chop. The story goes that Stephanie McMahon heard 'Big Match John' spitting hot 16s on the road before 'The Doctor of Thugonomics'' genesis, thus sowing the seeds for a decade-long run as WWE's franchise player.
Cena's saccharine babyface act was wearing thin before that. One of the more revelatory moments from WWE's recent Ruthless Aggression series saw Cena acknowledge this, stating that tactics like wearing local sports jerseys were desperate and uninspired, implying that if the company had let him go, it would have been fair.
Fast-forward a few months to WrestleMania 36's tremendous Firefly Fun House match, in which Cena showed remarkable self-awareness for his role in what was essentially an extended dissection of every complaint thrown at his Hulk Hogan-esque main event character, taking ownership once more.