Stephanie McMahon has recalled JohnCena's early years inWWE and how she thought he had the potential to be something big.
McMahon was part of the WWE creative team when Cena joined the main roster, and in a recent interview with Megan Morant of WWE, she stated that Cena was impressive but didn't initially click with the audience.
"I don't remember meeting him on his very first day. I remember when he first started. And I remember always thinking he had something, you know? And I was like, who is this kid? Where is he from? Although at the time he wasn't a kid to me, 'cause he was, who's this person, is what I should say. He always seemed to have something, but we couldn't quite figure out what it was. You know, it wasn't registering yet with the audience. You know, I can't remember if he was the Prototype when he first started. I know that's what he was prior to WWE,but we were trying to figure it out. But I remember being very impressed," she said.
Cena has famously recounted how Stephanie helped him bring out the rapping gimmick on WWE television, which she remembered as being very good.
"Well, if you listen to John Cena, he gives me a lot of credit. But it wasn't working, his gimmick, necessarily at the time. It just really wasn't resonating.And again, we all felt like he really had so much to offer, so much potential.But it wasn't clicking. And you try to figure it out, you know? And somebody told me that he could freestyle. It's one thing to be able to rap,it's another thing to be able to freestyle and have it be really, I mean, at least from my perspective, is really good," she added.
McMahon remembered how Cena freestyle rapped about the tuna she was eating, which she called "clever and smart," following which she asked if he would consider performing it on WWE television.
