10 Greatest Promo Guys Of The Ruthless Aggression Era 3

3. John Cena

Before he became the polarising face of the WWE, Cena came up through the ranks as an outspoken heel with a white rapper gimmick. The story goes that Cena had been flopping as a vanilla babyface after a roaring start in his debut match against Kurt Angle. The company were about to axe him when Stephanie McMahon overheard him freestyle rapping on the tour bus and the Doctor Of Thugonomics was born.
Berating his opponents with freestyle rhymes where he came across as an overblown cocky heel, Cena was arguably a lot more free, easy and creative on mic back then compared to nowadays. His constant rapping eventually got him over and made him the fastest rising star of the era, especially after the departure of Brock Lesnar.
We all know the mega star Cena would go on to be and it could be argued that for better or worse, none of it would have happened without the Vanilla Ice-esque character that made him a household name.