John Cena Says Freestyle Rapping Saved His WWE Career

In hindsight, it's easy to see that John Cena was the face of WWE's Ruthless Aggression Era. However, it's easy to forget that he initially wasn't connecting with the WWE Universe when he was still known as "The Prototype." But just as he was about to be released from the company, his love of freestyle rap saved him from the chopping block.

While appearing on "Whiskey Ginger With Andrew Santino," the former world champion revealed that his job was saved thanks to a bus ride on what was meant to be his last UK tour. "The writing was on the wall, [so] I kept to myself. I didn't want to rock the boat, but my time's coming to an end, so I'll enjoy this. On the tour bus overseas, some of the guys are freestyling in the back. I just went in the back and waited for my turn and joined in and just did the best I could and just tried to unleash the fury. And at the front of the bus was Stephanie McMahon. She was head of writing at the time. She was like, 'How did you remember all that?' I kind of explained the concept of freestyle and she's like, 'Well make something up about me right now.' Sure enough on the spot, I spit a few bars."

McMahon was impressed and Cena appeared on the 2002 Halloween episode of "Smackdown" in a Vanilla Ice costume and dropped more bars. Though he continued to hone this character by going from over the top to top guy, the "Doctor of Thuganomics" was born. And instead of fading away into obscurity just over 20 years ago, he prepares to lead the Cenation into the first match of "Wrestlemania 39" to face Austin Theory for the United States Championship.