12 Biggest WWE Storylines Ever (And How You Never Saw Them Coming)
6. John Cena Has “Ruthless Aggression”. John Cena IS "Ruthless Aggression".
It wasn't a great promo. It wasn't even really a good promo. But John Cena had just followed an instruction extremely well and was about to be given the showcase of a lifetime from one of the industry's best ever.
He'd later come to define the era he'd labelled more than every peer that populated the company underneath him.
Just 24 hours removed from a rather-on-the-nose ra-ra speech by Vince McMahon on Raw, debutant Cena fronted up to Kurt Angle promising plenty of the "RUTHLESS AGGRESSION" the Chairman had begged for one night prior. The match was stellar, and Cena - all Johnny Unitas in first name, look and (eventual) haircut - was a canny composite of all the qualities McMahon openly coveted before Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock transformed his entire industry without them.
The catchphrase, the ethos and the era was a step back trojan horsed by the chiseled form of the future 'Big Match John' to make it look like a giant leap in the right direction. Only when he dumped half of the aesthetic did he actually get over, but his entire success was framed around this sort-of iconic snapshot.