Some Spontaneous Freestyling Likely Saved John Cena From Being Fired By WWE

John Cena's illustrious WWE career is known for its many highs, with debatably very few low points. Say what you want about Cena's run at some points, it's undeniable that the fans absolutely loved him. But what some may not know is just how desperate things got before Cena rocketed into stardom as the "Doctor of Thuganomics." Cena gave some stunning insight into the dire circumstances during a GQ interview.

"A bunch of my peers were ... freestyling on the back of an overseas tour bus. I usually never join that peer group, but I joined in," he said, "Everybody was impressed, including some decision makers at the front of the bus. One being the daughter of Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon. She asked if I wanted to play that persona on TV. I was about to be fired, so, as a last chance I said, 'Sure."

Cena was clear that he didn't go halfway on the persona — he was all in. "I didn't just rhyme, I tried to embrace as much hip hop culture as I possibly could," he said. "And it kind of started this whole thing."

"This whole thing" is a very humble way to put what would happen next. The persona would go on to be a smash success, launching Cena's career all the way to the point of his first WWE Championship win over JBL at Wrestlemania 21 before eventually fading away into the version of Cena that stuck around for the rest of his WWE career. Undeniably, without the "Doctor of Thuganomics," we may not have Cena's illustrious history to look back on today.