Early life

John Felix Anthony Cena Jr.[24] was born on April 23, 1977, in West Newbury, Massachusetts,[25] the
son of Carol (née Lupien) and John Felix Anthony Cena Sr.[26] His mother is of English and French-
Canadian descent, while his father has Italian ancestry.[27] His maternal grandfather was baseball player
Tony Lupien.[28][29][30] He has an older brother named Stephen, and three younger brothers named
Dan, Matt and Sean.[31] He is a cousin of noted computer scientist Natalie Enright Jerger. Raised
Catholic, he attended Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts, before transferring to
Cushing Academy, a private prep boarding school in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. He then attended
Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts,[32] where he was an NCAA Division III All-American
center on their college football team.[33] He wore the number 54,[32] which is still used on some of his
WWE merchandise.[34][35] Cena graduated from Springfield College in 1998 with a degree in exercise
physiology and body movement,[36] after which he pursued a career in bodybuilding[37][38] and worked
as a limousine driver.[39]

Professional wrestling career

Ultimate Pro Wrestling (1999–2001)

Cena began training to become a professional wrestler in 1999 at Ultimate Pro Wrestling's (UPW)
California-based Ultimate University operated by Rick Bassman. Once he was placed into an in-ring role,
Cena began using a semi-robotic character known as The Prototype.[4][40] Some of this period of his
career was documented in the Discovery Channel program Inside Pro Wrestling School.[41] He held the
UPW Heavyweight Championship for 27 days in April 2000.[42] Cena wrestled for the UPW until March
2001.[43]

WWE

Early appearances (2000–2001)

On October 10, 2000, while billed as The Prototype, Cena made his unofficial debut for then World
Wrestling Federation (WWF) on a SmackDown! taping in a dark match against Mikey Richardson,
which he lost.[44] He received another tryout on January 9, 2001, at a SmackDown! taping in Oakland,
California, this time defeating Aaron Aguilera wrestling again in a dark match at a SmackDown! taping
on March 13.

Signing and Ohio Valley Wrestling (2001–2002)

In 2001, Cena signed a developmental contract with the WWF and was assigned to its developmental
territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW).[45] During his time there, Cena wrestled under the ring name
The Prototype and held the OVW Heavyweight Championship for three months and the OVW Southern
Tag Team Championship (with Rico Constantino) for two months.[46][47] Throughout 2001, he received
four tryouts for the WWF main roster, as he wrestled multiple enhancement talent wrestlers on both
WWF house shows and in dark matches before WWF televised events.