20 Shocking WWE Plans You Won’t Believe
13. John Cena Vs. Jay Z
John Cena put himself on the map with the Vanilla Ice-inspired white rapper gimmick that kicked-off his ascent to superstardom. Though Cena’s actually a half-decent rapper for a professional wrestler, he almost found himself woefully out of his depth at WrestleMania 19, and should probably count himself thankful that WWE couldn’t follow through on his original plans.
Cena spent much of WM XIX’s build-up trying to goad celebrities into battle rapping him at the show. Jay Z and Beyonce were widely rumoured to be in attendance, so Jay naturally became the subject of Cena’s open invitations. Cena and Jay (who is generally considered one of the greatest rappers of all time) were set to square-off, but Jay Z had to cancel, and the plans were altered.
Fabolous, another New York rapper, was scheduled to fill the void, but he cancelled and opted to attend another event instead. WWE’s compromise was to instead have Cena aim his raps at a set of Jay Z and Fabolous cardboard cutouts on Mania’s pre-show, which is probably a good thing. Cena’s “Doctor of Thugonomics” act was still in its early stages, and the last thing he needed was to be lyrically outclassed by a professional rapper on the biggest stage of them all.