BEFORE HE WAS widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, John Cena was foundering in the business.

He struggled to connect with the wrestling audience despite being identified as the future of WWE during the mid-2000s. Expecting to be released from WWE, Cena had one last hurrah at trying to stand out as a personality and found it on a bus during a European tour when other wrestlers were freestyling. Cena joined in. His freestyle left his colleagues in awe and helped give birth to a new character: "The Doctor of Thuganomics."

The persona breathed life into Cena's wrestling career, catapulting him to stardom. But his freestyling on WWE "SmackDown" wasn't just a gimmick; it was a byproduct of who Cena was before wearing the jorts and throwback jerseys.

"He

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