8 Stupid WWE Gimmicks That Got Over Huge

By all accounts, white meat, hometown colour-wearing babyface John Cena was on the verge of being fired in late 2002. He'd had a hell of a start wrestling against the likes of Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero, but his momentum had stalled somewhat.

In November, he was stuck in a nothing feud with part-time tag team partner Billy Kidman. Something had to change, or the poster boy for 'Ruthless Aggression' was going to get his pink slip.

During WWE's European tour that month, the Smackdown locker room were introduced to John Cena: freestyle rapper on the tour bus. It turns out the guy wasn't just a generic jock in shorts and was actually creative and had charisma.

Who knew?

WWE management got wind of it and tried out the gimmick on television. It was a little bit lame, in all honesty, with the pseudo Slim Shady speaking out his rhymes - invariably filled with homophobic jokes - at a snail's pace and the baggy jorts and sneakers weren't exactly much of an improvement on his tights and boots.

He was whiter than white bread and his material could hit or miss but it was different and managed to catch on. Over the course of the next couple of years, the Doctor of Thuganomics would propel the former Prototype to the top of the card, which is where he's stayed for eleven years and counting.