17 Things We Learned From John Cena On Chris Jericho's WWE Network Podcast

9. The Genesis Of The Doctor Of Thuganomics

Y2J talks about how, even after their PPV match it wasn't long before Cena was shunted back down the card doing jobs for Bull Buchanan, and what does he think caused it? Cena says that he had no identity; nothing to set him apart. He wasn't allowed to talk so the fans only identified him as "wacky roll-up guy", and in a company full of great workers and other rookies with more impressive pedigrees, there was nothing to make you take notice of him. It wasn't until he hit with the hip-hop gimmick that he found success, to which Jericho asks about the origin. He repeats the often-told story about jumping in a freestyle session among some of the veterans on a bus during a European tour, and there just happened to be "some decision makers at the front of the bus" - always reported as being Stephanie - who heard it and were impressed. He says he was lucky to have the right people on the bus because when he got stateside they asked if he wanted to do it on television, and that was the chance he needed to establish an identity. John says he wanted to look as outlandish as he could, dressing crazy to draw attention to himself since most of the gimmicks were a little more serious post-Attitude Era.