The untold story of John Cena's 2005 rap album, 'You Can't See Me' - ESPN

BEFORE HE WAS widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, John Cena was foundering in the business.

He struggled to connect with the wrestling audience despite being identified as the future of WWE during the mid-2000s. Expecting to be released from WWE, Cena had one last hurrah at trying to stand out as a personality and found it on a bus during a European tour when other wrestlers were freestyling. Cena joined in. His freestyle left his colleagues in awe and helped give birth to a new character: «The Doctor of Thuganomics.»

The persona breathed life into Cena's wrestling career, catapulting him to stardom. But his freestyling on WWE «SmackDown» wasn't just a gimmick; it was a byproduct of who Cena was before wearing the jorts and throwback jerseys.

«He was a kid that liked to rap, and then he became a wrestler,» longtime friend and rapper Esoteric (aka Seamus Ryan) told ESPN.

Those freestyles eventually turned into the full-length album «You Can't See Me,» which was released May 10, 2005. The album blended Cena's penchant for witty punchlines with gritty underground production. It debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 and spawned Cena's entrance theme, «The Time Is Now,» which he still uses 20 years later as he approaches his retirement match Dec. 13.

«His intentions were pure, and when he had the chance to merge the two, he jumped at it,» said Ryan, who became friends with Cena when he was in a rap group with the wrestler's cousin, Trademarc, in the mid-1990s. «John's a purist when it comes to hip-hop; he's fluent in Gang Starr, Hieroglyphics, Black Moon, EPMD, Wu [Tang Clan], all the good stuff.»

By the time he decided to make an album, Cena was committed to working with underground