Weird Things About John Cena Everyone Just Ignores

From his proclamations of "you can't see me" becoming a viral meme that just won't quit, to his interesting use of social media to follow fans and see all their opinions, to his historic wrestling career, which is now coming to an end with WWE in the year 2025, John Cena is a beloved mainstream babyface in the hearts of many. "The Doctor of Thuganomics," the leader of the "Cenation," and the DCEU's murderous anti-hero Peacemaker has been entertaining the masses since his main roster debut in 2002, and he's enjoyed plenty of success as a result.

Since that debut, Cena has racked up 16 World Championship wins, tied with WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair. With his retirement looming, Cena looks to break that record, and fans are staunchly by his side. He's been a beloved hero for years, and has refused to turn heel, putting his authentic self forward. However loveable he may be on-screen, or while granting his record-setting number of Make-A-Wish wishes, though, there are some weird things that fans tend to ignore about Cena. There are his numerous strict, strange house rules that were introduced to the world on a reality TV show, a pretty successful rap album that no one talks about anymore, and even his most embarrassing feud to a Z-list celebrity where he ate the pin. Cena may be wrapping up a historic wresting career, but there are aspects of his life both in and out of the ring that can't be overlooked.

For fans of the E! Network reality series "Total Divas," this strange fact about John Cena may not come as a shock. At the time, though, viewers of the show were appalled at the rules he imposed on Nikki Bella when they were dating, before she moved into his home in Tampa, Florida. During the beginning of their relationship in 2013, Cena presented the former Divas Champion with a 75-page contract, which stated legally, she was just a guest in his home. The document also stated that if the couple broke up (which they did in July 2018), Bella would leave the house as soon as possible with all of her belongings.

The infamous rules even applied to members of Bella's family, as seen in a season of "Total Bellas," when Nikki's twin sister, Brie Bella, and her husband, the then-Daniel Bryan in WWE, moved in with the couple for a short time as Nikki was recovering from neck surgery. One of the rules stated that every week, Cena would host a "formal dinner" for the family, which required everyone to be dressed up inside the home for the meal. In one of the episodes, Cena even outlined that once dinner was over, the women would go to the drawing room, and the men would go to the cigar room to hang out for the evening. The family house rules went even further, with Cena requiring they all have coffee together every morning and if someone was going to be up late, to text him and let him know.

When Cena explained that he had valid reasons for the contract — to protect his fortune so he could always provide for his family and those in his life — Bella signed the document. In a later episode, Cena compared it to a prenuptial agreement before marriage, as he had been through the divorce process once before.

Many fans are aware of John Cena's relationship and previous, very public, engagement to Nikka Bella, but tend to ignore the other chaotic aspects of his love life. Cena was initially married to his high school sweetheart, Elizabeth Huberdeau, from 2009 to 2012. When the couple split, reports said that Cena had presented his then-wife with the divorce out of the blue, blindsiding her. He also reportedly requested a pre-divorce financial settlement agreement. TMZ reported that Huberdeau challenged their prenuptial agreement, and believed Cena was cheating on her. Their divorce was settled in July 2012, and Cena began dating Bella shortly after.

Cena's relationship with his fellow WWE star was extremely public, from their romance being shown to the world on two different reality television series, to their engagement in the middle of the ring at WrestleMania 33, after years of Bella allegedly arguing with him about marriage following his divorce. The pair were reportedly at odds over having children, with Bella wanting kids and Cena being against it. The pair called off their wedding in April 2018 – just days before the actual ceremony date that May — and split for good a few months later.

Cena married his now-wife, Shay Shariatzadeh, in a small Tampa, Florida, ceremony at an attorney's office in October 2020 during the pandemic, and had a more public ceremony in Vancouver, Canada, almost two years later. The couple met while Cena was filming "Playing with Fire" in Vancouver. Bella bore no hard feelings toward Cena, and congratulated him on his nuptials in December 2020. She also revealed Cena reached out to her after she gave birth to her son that July. However, it seems that Cena remains adamant about his decision to not have children of his own.

Before there was "The Doctor of Thuganomics" and "The Leader of the Cenation," there was "The Prototype," a young, muscled-up John Cena with a bleached blonde mohawk who graced Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). The Prototype character saw Cena portray a robotic-like wrestler who used a traditional style, as well as big power moves. It initially worked for him in OVW, and he won gold on two occasions, including holding the OVW Heavyweight Championship for three months. It didn't go over so well for him on the WWE main roster, however, and he was given his current moniker before his on-screen debut against Kurt Angle.

The wrestling world often ignores the fact it wasn't Cena we have to thank for the "Doctor of Thuganomics," but rather, Stephanie McMahon, who overhead Cena doing a freestyle rap during a European tour. Cena himself said that he was on the way out of the company at that point — until McMahon asked him to rhyme about a can of tuna fish, and he launched into a verse about the can, the plane they were about to get on, their destination, and McMahon herself. 

When asked if he could rap on TV, Cena said absolutely, and the gimmick was born. Cena put on the jean shorts, a variety of different basketball jerseys (depending on which city WWE was in), donned a large chain complete with lock around his neck, and took to the microphone to spit bars as he came out to the ring. Fans either really loved or hated the gimmick, but it got Cena his first championship win at WWE WrestleMania 21.

John Cena didn't just play a rapper on television — he actually had a relatively successful music career, despite only ever releasing one album. Cena's debut rap album, "You Can't See Me," which featured the WWE Championship on the album's cover, was released in May 2005 by the WWE Music Group and Columbia Records. Cena had a little help on the album, which featured his cousin Tha Trademarc, as well as guest appearances from other hip hop artists Esoteric and Bumpy Knuckles. 

"The Doctor of Thuganomics'" popularity in the wrestling world likely contributed to the success of the album, which reached number 15 at its peak on the Billboard 200 charts. Almost 45,000 copies were sold in the first week of its release, and 385,000 copies were sold by October 2014. 

At the time, Cena had been using his "Basic Thuganomics" entrance theme in the WWE, where his first trademark phrase at the time, "Word Life," came from. He initially said the track would be on his debut album, but instead, the world got to hear the song that would play Cena to the ring throughout the rest of his career for the first time on the CD. "The Time Is Now" is the first song that plays on "You Can't See Me," and it has been Cena's theme song since 2005.

Cena explained that the lack of hip hop in WWE was what led to the creation of his album. He said at the time, WWE was a rock-and-roll company, and he listened to his own stock music theme song and thought he could do better, so he wrote and recorded "Basic Thuganomics." He said he based his character on East Coast boom bap, and he loves wordplay and poetry in his music.

John Cena has spent most of his life being known as a WWE star, but there was a time when he was simply John Felix Anthony Cena of West Newbury, Massachusetts. Before he became a member of OVW's roster, Cena was a Division III All-American center at Springfield College in his home state. He was a captain of the team in 1998, when they went to the NCAA D-III Tournament after going 9-2 on the season. 

Unlike other major WWE stars, like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Cena didn't attempt his luck in the NFL Draft. Cena explained in an interview with Men's Journal that he never considered playing football as a career, because he thought he was too small. If he didn't start wrestling, he said he would end up teaching somewhere and coaching football, or in the military, specifically, the Marines. Though he never joined the force, Cena would star in the film "The Marine" in 2006.

He moved to California when he was 21 years old to pursue a career in bodybuilding, after he started training on a weightlifting bench at just 12. Cena noted that his grandfather convinced his dad to buy him the bench before he gained the confidence to start going to a public gym. Cena entered his first bodybuilding competition at age 21, and footage still exists of it online, showing a blonde mohawked athlete oiling himself up in a posing room at the competition, as well as on the stage.

Cena's physique caught the interest of Rick Bassman, owner of Ultimate Pro Wrestling, where he eventually began training, kicking off his professional wrestling journey. He even held the UPW Heavyweight Championship for almost a month in April 2000 before heading to OVW.

John Cena is a fan-favorite for many reasons, but one of the strangest that people tend to ignore is the fact he follows so many people on social media. It might be ignored most of the time because it makes fans feel special to see Cena in their followers on X (formerly Twitter). As of this writing, Cena follows almost 951,000 people on X and has over 14 million followers. Cena explained to Chris Van Vliet on an episode of his "Insight" podcast that he follows so many people on the platform because it's a conversation starter.

He said to start a conversation, you should follow everyone, from all walks of life. Cena said that includes people that don't share your views or your values, and even people who have angered you. Cena said follow everyone, so you can engage, though he doesn't often seem to do that himself on the platform, and prefers to pen motivational posts or share the charitable works he's involved in.

His Instagram account also has fans scratching their heads, but for entirely different reasons. Cena's Instagram feed is a compilation of seemingly random photos that have a bit of meaning behind them, but presented without context. For example, he shared a photo of Batista winning the World Heavyweight Champion for "The Animal's" birthday and he posted pictures of McDonalds in honor of his collaboration with the fast food restaurant. Cena told Van Vliet his Instagram is interpretative, and he follows no one so his feed isn't curated by anyone else's posts. Almost 21 million people follow along with Cena's pictures with no context on the platform.

John Cena has had some excellent matches throughout his career, and even better feuds with the likes of Kurt Angle, Randy Orton, The Rock, and more. However, one fans tend to forget about, or straight up ignore, is Cena's feud during the "Celebrity Guest Host" era of WWE when he lost o Britney Spears' then-husband, wannabe rapper Kevin Federline.

Federline debuted in WWE when Johnny Nitro and Melina promised to bring a friend of theirs to "Raw." "K-Fed" went out to the ring with the pair, promised to play music off his album, then decided not to when the fans booed him relentlessly. Cena, who had since retired "The Doctor of Thuganomics" gimmick at this point, came out with his WWE Championship, spitting a verse, then hit an Attitude Adjustment on Federline to end the segment. Federline came back the next week to get payback on Cena and slapped him across the face. The rapper interfered again at Cyber Sunday, when Cena challenged for Booker T's World Heavyweight Championship, and hit him in the back with the belt. The next night on "Raw," "K-Fed" challenged Cena to a match.

On January 1, 2007, the pair squared off in a No Disqualification match. Federline was accompanied by Morrison, who eventually interfered so the rapper could get the low blow on Cena. Umaga, who was set to challenge Cena, hit him with a belt from behind, taking him out. Federline got the pin on Cena, leading to the leader of the "Cenation" taking possibly his most embarrassing loss in his wrestling career. Still, Cena got the last laugh that night, delivering another Attitude Adjustment to Federline.

One of John Cena's most famous movie and television roles is Peacemaker, the anti-hero of the DC Comic Extended Universe, who made his first appearance in the second iteration of "The Suicide Squad" before getting his own show on Max. Despite his performance being so well-received he got his own spinoff, Cena revealed on an episode of the "Happy, Sad, Confused" podcast that he actually had been rejected from numerous superhero roles before landing Peacemaker. He revealed he was rejected from a role in "Shazam," a film he really wanted to do, as the childish nature interested him. He also tried his hand at auditioning for the "Deadpool" Marvel/Sony series as Cable, a role that went to Josh Brolin.

On the podcast, Cena said he doesn't chase roles, but he made an exception for director James Gunn because of his reputation as a storyteller. Cena explained he got the role by accident, as the pair were both in the same place at the same time. Gunn invited Cena for a chat in his pre-production office and offered him the role, to Cena's surprise.

Despite the re-tooling of the DCEU following Gunn's hiring, Cena's Peacemaker character and season two of the show remain safe – unlike Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam – as season two of "Peacemaker" is set to hit Max in the summer of 2025. During the studio's restructuring, Gunn confirmed that season two will be canon with season one, despite one major scene at the very end of the first season, so Cena fans who haven't seen "Peacemaker" may want to catch up before the next installment drops this summer.