WWE icon John Cena is no stranger to rap, and has thrown out his picks for the four greatest artists worthy of Mount Rushmore. Speaking to Club Shay Shay, Cena recognized that his picks would be controversial and that “everyone has their bias.” Cena’s first three picks were Nas, JAY-Z and Rakim.
“But I was brought up in East Coast, boom bap. I love wordplay, I love poetry. It’s what I based my [WWE] character on.”
Cena’s fourth and final pick for the Mount Rushmore of rappers was Eminem, an artist that the 16-time WWE World Champion has been a fan of since the very start. Speaking to Esquire in 2022, Cena called the real Slim Shady ” one of the most gifted, prolific poets I’ve ever had the chance to listen to.” Cena added that Eminem would “put me to shame” if their music ever met.
Before he was a squeaky-clean babyface headlining PLEs, Cena’s wrestling career was saved by his love of rap. The story goes that Cena was set to be released by WWE in 2002 before he began delivering some freestyle barbs on a tour bus. After Stephanie McMahon caught wind of Cena’s skills, his character on TV was changed from a generic good guy to a trash-talking white rapper, and the rest is history.
Cena has broken out his doctorate in Thuganomics a handful of times in the years since leaving his rapper character behind. With Cena’s upcoming retirement tour approaching, don’t count out Cena resurrecting this character that helped make him a WWE icon.
