WWE's John Cena Details Similarities Between 2002 And 2024 Versions Of Him

John Cena has come a long way since his humble beginnings as a plucky upstart full of "ruthless aggression" in WWE. Back in 2002, Cena was one of the many bright prospects coming out of Ohio Valley Wrestling who got a spot on WWE's main roster, and despite a rocky start, has gone on to become not just one of the most successful WWE superstars of all time, but a movie star as well.

During a media tour for his upcoming movie "Ricky Stanicky," Cena joined Chris Van Vliet for an episode of his "Insight" podcast, where he compared the Cena of 2002 and the Cena of 2024. 

"I think the things that they share in common are gratitude, grit, perseverance, and humility." Despite some similarities, Cena was very critical of his past self, claiming he lacked self-worth and didn't know the opportunity that was presented to him. "The John Cena in 2002 gets to go out and fight Kurt Angle under the impression of two words, ruthless aggression, and it was a failure because I was neither ruthless, nor aggressive, and I wasn't able to see the opportunity."

Cena admitted that he should have taken advantage of the fact that he was given a gimmick from day one, but did nothing with it. He revealed that he loves to visit "NXT" and the WWE Performance Center these days to suggest ideas and help out the next generation. In the end, not being ruthless or aggressive turned out to be a blessing in disguise as he would eventually discover his "Doctor of Thuganomics" character, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Please credit "Insight" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.