John Cena: WWE legend's forgotten competitive bodybuilding career

Fans will know John Cena most for either his career in WWE, or maybe more recently, his career in Hollywood.

But what you may not know is before stepping into the worlds of either wrestling or acting, Cena actually tried his hand at being a bodybuilder.

Cena was born in West Newbury, Massachusetts but moved to California at the age of just 21 in 1998 to pursue a career as a bodybuilder.

To make money at the time, Cena also served as a limousine rider, but the career was short-lived, and he transitioned into training to become a wrestler the year after.

In case you didn’t believe us, there’s actually footage of Cena back in his bodybuilding days, and if we’re being honest, he looks like an absolute machine.

Cena was leaner than we’ve ever seen him before, and was completely tanned up, as bodybuilders tend to do when they’re competing in these types of events.

You can check out the footage of Cena at the bodybuilding competition below.

You can even see from the images below just how lean Cena looked, and to be fair, he looked like an utter lean machine.

Cena won’t have regretted his career switch to wrestling though, becoming one of the most successful WWE Superstars ever.

He’s a 16-time World Champion, has main evented WrestleMania several times, and is one of the best wrestlers to ever step into the ring.

Since moving into acting in 2017, Cena has been unable to fulfil a full-time WWE schedule, but still pops by for a shorter run whenever his schedule allows for it.

However, WWE has announced that he’s coming back to Raw and making his return on the June 27 to celebrate 20 years since his debut.