John Cena officially wrapped up his in-ring career last year when he was defeated by Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Throughout his career Cena achieved massive success with WWE, but it all started with a humble beginning.
Cena made his debut on the June 27, 2002 episode of WWE SmackDown when he faced off against Kurt Angle. The moment has since become infamous, but the 17 time champion recently explained during a New York Q&A (via Undisputed) that Randy Orton pulled a big prank on him before he made his way out to the ring.
“In 2002, I went to Chicago as an extra talent–someone not to be used. I was then told I was going to have a match against an Olympic gold medalist. Randy Orton tied my boots together in a locker where I couldn’t even reach them, so I had to cut the laces and wrestle with half of my laces. I had to go off campus to get one of the worst haircuts that people watching on television had ever seen.”
“That was my welcome to the WWE, and it was better than I ever could have imagined. A moment that was supposed to be celebratory was also humbling. It was filled with tough love that belongs to our fraternity, and I was grateful to go through that.”
Randy Orton is considered by many to be one of John Cena’s greatest rivals, and the two stars faced off one last time during John Cena’s retirement tour when Orton challenged Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship at Backlash last year.