25 Things You Didn't Know About John Cena
8. It Was His Call To Stop Rapping
Many fans likely believe that WWE changed Cena's character from witty rapper to real-life Barney The Dinosaur in 2008 once the promotion went PG, but that's wide of the mark. Watch company content from before that switchover and you'll find that John had actually started downplaying most of his 2002-2007 characteristics pre-PG.
Cena himself revealed on the WWE Network-produced ‘Ruthless Aggression Era’ series that he marched into Vince McMahon’s office and said they had to change things up “right now”. Why? Well, he’d spotted that more kids and families in general had started attending WWE shows before the PG change, and he wanted to embrace that rather than risk turning them away.
Thus, he toned down his style, softened the edges, and went from bad boy rapper to family friendly character. It's fascinating to learn than that was his call, not McMahon’s. In fact, it's likely why the then-boss trusted John as much as he did. He had his finger on the pulse of the WWE audience, and he noticed that things were visibly changing before his very eyes. Live events had more children around ringside again, and he wanted to meet that halfway rather than thumbing his nose and being stubborn.
It was a marketing masterplan.
WWE would've probably told Cena to tone things down anyway following the PG stuff, but he was ahead of the curve and did it himself. Unfortunately, that shift also led to aforementioned moments like the 'JBL Is Poopy' stuff and his infamous outburst about "baloney, fudge, mustard". At times, JC acted like a man child, and it didn't suit everybody in the audience.