[7] While on a bus journey with other WWE superstars, Cena was involved in a freestyle rap session with Rikishi and Rey Mysterio, impressing Stephanie McMahon, leading to the gimmick's adoption.

[59] Cena won the title back by defeating Booker T in a best of five series that started on August 15 at SummerSlam[60] and culminated on October 3 at No Mercy,[61] only to drop it to the débuting Carlito Caribbean Cool the following week on SmackDown!.

[97] Cena retained the WWE Championship in a five-pack challenge on June 24 at Vengeance: Night of Champions,[98] and against Bobby Lashley on July 22 at The Great American Bash.

[124] After defeating JBL at the Royal Rumble on January 25, 2009,[125] Cena lost the championship at No Way Out on February 15 to Edge, who attacked Kofi Kingston and took his place in the Elimination Chamber match.

[133] The next night on Raw, Cena won a beat the clock challenge to earn another shot at the WWE Championship at SummerSlam on August 23,[134] where Orton used underhanded tactics to retain.

[144] Cena defeated Batista at WrestleMania XXVI on March 28 for the title,[145] and successfully defended it in a rematch at Extreme Rules on April 25 in a Last Man Standing match.

[152] Cena and fellow Nexus member David Otunga defeated Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre to win the WWE Tag Team Championship on October 24 at Bragging Rights.

[162][163] On the February 21 episode of Raw, Cena replied in rap form to comments made by The Rock the previous week, as he returned as the announced guest host of WrestleMania.

[176] Cena lost his rematch to Del Rio at Vengeance on October 23 in a Last Man Standing match due to interference by The Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth).

[193] After being sidelined with a legitimate arm injury,[194] Cena returned at Survivor Series on November 18, but was pinned by Punk in a triple threat match also involving Ryback.

[227] Cena invoked his title rematch clause against Lesnar for Night of Champions on September 21, nearly winning before Seth Rollins attacked him to cause a disqualification.

[233] On the December 29 episode of Raw, Rollins and Big Show held guest host Edge hostage, forcing Cena to reinstate The Authority.

[235] On the January 19 episode of Raw, Cena won a handicap match against Rollins, Big Show and Kane to retain his title shot at the Royal Rumble and win back the jobs of Ziggler, Ryback and Rowan.

[241] Cena issued an open challenge each week on the program with his United States Championship on the line, successfully defending the title against the likes of Dean Ambrose,[242] Stardust,[243] Bad News Barrett,[244] Kane,[245] Sami Zayn,[246] Neville,[247] Zack Ryder[248] and Cesaro.

[258] Cena retained his title against Rollins in a steel cage match on October 3 at WWE Live from Madison Square Garden,[259] while also restarting his open challenges.

[273] With Styles later winning the renamed WWE World Championship, Cena challenged him and Dean Ambrose in a triple threat match for the title on October 9 at No Mercy.

[276] On January 29, 2017, Cena defeated Styles at the Royal Rumble to win the WWE Championship and tie Ric Flair for the most recognized world title reigns at 16.

[285] Cena defeated Rusev in a flag match at Battleground on July 23,[286] Baron Corbin at SummerSlam on August 20,[287] and lost to Roman Reigns on September 24 at No Mercy.

[293] After defeating Triple H on April 27 at the Greatest Royal Rumble, he thanked the crowd for sticking by him during a tough period, referencing his loss to Undertaker and his recent breakup with Nikki Bella.

[296] Cena returned to WWE television on the January 1, 2019, episode of SmackDown, where he and Becky Lynch defeated Andrade Cien Almas and Zelina Vega in a mixed tag team match.

[297] On the January 14 episode of Raw, Cena lost to Finn Bálor in a fatal four-way match also involving Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin to determine the No.

He finally made his return to WWE programming at Money in the Bank on July 18, 2021, confronting Roman Reigns after the latter retained his Universal Championship against Edge in the main event.

[306] After initially being scheduled to face Finn Bálor for the title,[307] Cena ultimately highjacked a contract signing on the July 30 episode of SmackDown so he would challenge Reigns at SummerSlam.

[312] On the December 30 episode of SmackDown, Cena wrestled for the first time in over a year, where he and Kevin Owens defeated The Bloodline's Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn.

[333] Cena's original gimmick portrayed a white rapper who wore jerseys, backwards hats, a chain with a padlock around his neck, and was known as the "Doctor of Thuganomics".

[25] Cena has been called the greatest professional wrestler of all time by his peers Kurt Angle,[344] John "Bradshaw" Layfield, and veteran industry personality Paul Heyman.

As a wrestler, he has endorsed the energy drink YJ Stinger,[407] appearing in commercials beginning in October 2003, and Subway,[408] for whom he filmed advertisements with their spokesperson Jared Fogle in November 2006 that began airing the following January.

[410] In 2009, Cena expanded his relationship with Gillette by introducing a new online campaign called "Be A Superstar" featuring himself alongside fellow WWE wrestlers Chris Jericho and Cody Rhodes.

[423] His catchphrase "You Can't See Me" originates from 2005 when Cena was under production for his new theme song, during which he was dared by his little brother to do the yayo dance on TV, which consists of moving your head while looking into the palm of your hand.

[426] On May 10, 2021, Cena posted a video on his Weibo account, in which he sat in a car and ate ice cream while promoting the upcoming film Fast & Furious 9.