WWE: 10 Wrestlers Who Broke Out As Major Stars At WrestleMania

2. John Cena

While Batista was gaining momentum and moving up the ranks on Monday Night Raw, John Cena was doing the same on SmackDown. A former standout with developmental company Ohio Valley Wrestling, Cena debuted on the blue brand in June of 2002, immediately making an impact by nearly knocking off Kurt Angle in an unexpectedly competitive match. Unfortunately, that momentum was not sustained by Cena or creative and suddenly, the West Newbury native found himself floating aimlessly around SmackDown, winning some and losing some but doing nothing of any real significance. Then came the Halloween episode in October of 2002. Cena, dressed as Vanilla Ice, exhibited an ability to freestyle rap and the act caught on. Donning throwback jerseys and spitting rhymes on the mic, Cena gained a following as the self-proclaimed "Doctor of Thuganomics." While the gimmick was treated as a joke at first, Cena's rhymes became more and more entertaining and, like the Rock before him, he used the rapping to direct pointed insults at his opponents. It caught on with the audience and soon, Cena made the transition from yapping heel to popular babyface. Like some of the great stars before him, Cena rose up the ranks gradually, capturing the secondary United States Championship and doing his time in the midcard before receiving his first main event push in early-2005. He was the last man eliminated from the Royal Rumble, then defeated Kurt Angle to earn a shot at the WWE Championship. The champion at the time was John Bradshaw Layfield, who was a wealthy, loudmouth Texan who showed an innate ability to escape with his title no matter the competition or the hellish match type he was forced to compete in. With the white collar vs. blue collar storyline supporting it, the championship bout occurred on April 3, 2005 at WrestleMania 21. Like the Batista-Triple H match that would proceed it, the bout between Cena and JBL was far from a wrestling classic. The regular singles match really hurt the intensity of the feud, which would better be on display at Judgment Day two months later when they met in a bloody I Quit match. Cena was energized and it showed late in the bout as he ducked a Clothesline From Hell attempt by the champion, hoisted him on his shoulders and planted him with the Attitude Adjustment (then known as the F-U). The match completed Cena's journey to the top of the company and, unbeknownst to fans at the time, created the biggest star of this generation.