Freddie Prinze Jr. Details Thankless Burden John Cena Hefted For WWE

In his current state, John Cena is a major heel who has vowed to ruin professional wrestling during his record-breaking 17th world title reign in WWE. Rewind to WWE's PG era, though, and he painted quite a different picture of himself. In fact, he tried to lead WWE through one its most criticized time periods as a babyface.

"[Cena] was the world champion of WWE during the PG era, which was a big burden to carry because you didn't get to say all the cool stuff like DX did," former WWE writer Freddie Prinze Jr. said on "Wrestling With Freddie." "You didn't get to be in the last hour of Monday Night Raw when the rating could be a little racier and they could float to PG-13. That's when Hunter would cut his promos. But John Cena had to cut them first hour, and it was a thankless job. The crowd hated him. They would chant or hold signs that said, 'If Cena wins, we riot.'

"You dorks never rioted," Prinze Jr. continued. "They would scream 'You can't wrestle! You can't wrestle!' They would s*** all over him if they were of a certain age."

During the PG era, WWE heavily featured Cena in its programming, advertising, and merchandise, so much so that many fans felt he was overexposed and teased the aforementioned act of rioting. A dozen of Cena's 17 world title wins came within this timeframe (2008 through about 2014), with Randy Orton, Batista, Sheamus, CM Punk and The Miz as notable challengers. Despite the critics of both WWE and himself, Prinze Jr. commends Cena for his fortitude, which has now come full circle with one final showdown between Cena and Orton at WWE Backlash. 

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Wrestling With Freddie" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.