John Cena, a global icon known for his incredible strength and “Never Give Up” mantra, has revealed that his lifelong journey into fitness began as a direct response to being bullied as a young boy. Cena explained that he was targeted for the way he dressed and the music he listened to.
“I Didn’t Look Like Everybody Else”
On What’s Your Story? With Stephanie McMahon, Cena detailed what it was like growing up in a small Massachusetts farm town where his love for the burgeoning hip-hop culture made him stand out.
“Maybe They’ll Leave Me Alone”
The bullying eventually led him to ask his father for a weight set for Christmas when he was 12 years old. He explained his motivation wasn’t to learn how to fight, but simply to get bigger in the hopes that the bullies would move on.
“I grew up in a small town in northeastern Massachusetts that was pretty much 99.9% white. They listened to, like, hair band, metal, rock and roll. It was a farm town, so like, jeans and flannels, they drove trucks… This was also the crest of rap music… Because I was the one kid in an area who really connected with this as a rebellious way to say, ‘F— you’ to my parents, I embraced everything, like the rayon polka MC Hammer pants, the High Top Fade so like I was the only person who looked like that… My bus happened to be here, so I have to walk through all the high school kids. They just got done making fun of my brother. Boy, am I an easy target. There’s a kid in turquoise polka dots with the High Top Fade… So it was just, it was just kids… So I was like, ‘Man, I don’t want to fight, but if I make myself stronger, maybe they’ll leave me alone, because diplomacy sure ain’t working.'”
That first weight set ignited a passion for fitness that would eventually lead John Cena to a career in bodybuilding and later to WWE, where he became a 16-time world champion and one of the most inspirational figures in the company’s history.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit What’s Your Story? with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
