When Did This Happen...

[Black Lushus 0]

Like I've said in the past, 2001 to early 2004 is pretty much a blur to me with the WWE...while I tuned in from time to time, I just wasn't committed to watching the 2 weekly shows (Raw I still watched, somewhat, Smackdown I NEVER watched) and the PPVs like I was prior to 2001 and after the Rumble this year...basically there are a few guys that were once character A, but when I started paying attention again were character B and character B was a COMPLETE transformation:

 

John Cena-I remember when he first appeared on Smackdown, answering an open challenge to, I believe it was Kurt Angle and coming within a hair of beating him...he was not "Thuganomics Dude" but just some basically jobber looking guy...next thing I know, he's rapping, "thugging" etc. etc. Midcarding for awhile and then eventually blowing up to, what looks like the eventual WWE Champion...at what point does he go from random dude to Thuganomics John Cena? What promo does he cut or does he just one day come out rapping to the ring and it eventually sticks? When does he end up becomming a good guy, was it an actual act or was it just another case of fans loving a heel so much they turn him face?

 

John Bradshaw Layfield-I sorta recall him dumping Faarooq earlier this year when Faarooq was released on an episode of Smackdown...next thing I know he's some wallstreet clean cut blonde haired dude driving limos and such...did he just arrive one day like that, was it a slow transition? I know he's always been involved in money (in the real non-WWE world), but I'm not quite clear how he transitioned from cigar-smoking, beer swilling thug-for-hire to Wallstreet Tycoon Champion...

 

Randy Orton-Another guy I kind of recall...I remember him showing up on Smackdown, I believe, as a "rookie blue chipper", long hair and all, and they were playing off his wrestling heritage...all I could think was, they're trying to make another Rock, oooookay...then I guess he gets an injury or something and shows up every week on Raw bragging about getting all kinds of fan support through his recovery, though fan reactions indicated otherwise...at what point does he return, cut the hair and join Evolution? What promo was cut for this transition?

 

thanks in advance for any insight you can give...

[TheFranchise 0]

Quick recap to as good as i can do...

 

John Cena i think first started a transformation after he was injured by Brock and he did a promo basically saying he was coming back soon (chance on me being right.. 20%)

 

JBL was advised to 'make an impact' on SmackDown and he did so by attacking Eddie Guerrero, then used his success on 'wall street' as an excuse for a WWE title reign (which for some reason has continued to this day) (chance of me being right.. 60%)

 

Randy Orton came to Raw by signing a contract.. Basically became JR's favourite kid/blue chipper.. Got injured, did some GREAT Randy Injuries Updates and then joined Evolution.. (chances of me being right... 70%)

 

Edit.. What were those updates called? RNN?

[Aero 0]

Here's Cena...

 

In the Smackdown Tag Team Title tournament that ended at No Mercy 2002, Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit beat Kidman & John Cena (jobber look) in the first round. Cena basically turned heel after the loss and blamed Kidman for the loss because he tapped out, not him. At the Smackdown Halloween party (10/31/02), Cena dressed as Vanilla Ice and started rapping. I guess he got a decent reaction, and it became permanent, although he wasn't actually taken seriously until after WM XIX when he won an 8-man tournament to get a title shot against Brock at Backlash 2003.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

John Bradshaw Layfield-I sorta recall him dumping Faarooq earlier this year when Faarooq was released on an episode of Smackdown...next thing I know he's some wallstreet clean cut blonde haired dude driving limos and such...did he just arrive one day like that, was it a slow transition? I know he's always been involved in money (in the real non-WWE world), but I'm not quite clear how he transitioned from cigar-smoking, beer swilling thug-for-hire to Wallstreet Tycoon Champion...

The week after the Faarooq dumping episode, Bradshaw came out to address the fans about the Faarooq situation. He heeled it up by saying that he did the right thing. And that started the semi-slow transition (he completed the character transformation within the next month)

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

 

John Bradshaw Layfield-I sorta recall him dumping Faarooq earlier this year when Faarooq was released on an episode of Smackdown...next thing I know he's some wallstreet clean cut blonde haired dude driving limos and such...did he just arrive one day like that, was it a slow transition?  I know he's always been involved in money (in the real non-WWE world), but I'm not quite clear how he transitioned from cigar-smoking, beer swilling thug-for-hire to Wallstreet Tycoon Champion...

The week after the Faarooq dumping episode, Bradshaw came out to address the fans about the Faarooq situation. He heeled it up by saying that he did the right thing. And that started the semi-slow transition (he completed the character transformation within the next month)

While the character transformation took around a month, the transition from opening match jobber to main event star took....one week. On the March 18th edition of SD, Bradshaw did the clean job to Rikishi. The next week, he laid out Eddie Guerrero after the main event. And just like that we were meant to take him seriously as a threat to WWE Title.

[Ed Wood Caulfield 0]

According to an interview with WWE Magazine, Cena saids the rapping gimmick was created after Stephanie McMahon heard Cena freestyle during a busride while they were doing their European tour back in 2002. Steph took it to the writers, and they decided to make a gimmick out of it since they thought he was a good rapper. Cena started rapping his promos the week after the SmackDown! Halloween Party in November 2002, and would start wrestling wearing baggy shorts and the throwback jerseys sometime in December 2002. He was considered to be a comedy character at first, and was defintley more over as a rapper then as a regular babyface (I remember he got a good pop at Royal Rumble 2003), but it wasn't until the spring/summer of 2003 that he became really over and was taken seriously.

 

Randy Orton debuted his current haircut and current tights in early March on an episode of RAW. He joined Evolution in February of 2003, and I think it was the February 24, 2003 episode of RAW when Triple H first called the group "Evolution" as in the "Evolution of professional wrestling." The past (Flair), the present (Triple H), and the future (Orton). Their name was actually "Evilution" for two or three weeks and JR even called them "Evilution" for a few shows before calling them Evolution from then on and that became the name of the stable. (Infact, the lead singer of Motorhead saids "Evilution" in the Evolution theme song so it was their name before somebody decided to change it for some reason).

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Cena also hung out with Bull Buchanan during the Smackdown Six era when Heyman had pretty much everyone on the roster, aside from Brock Lesnar and Undertaker, form a semi-regular tag team.

[LivingLegendGaryColeman 0]

Cena also hung out with Bull Buchanan during the Smackdown Six era when Heyman had pretty much everyone on the roster, aside from Brock Lesnar and Undertaker, form a semi-regular tag team.

the best part though was that Bull was thugged out also and was called B2, while he supplied some dance moves as Cena rapped.

[Papacita 0]

According to an interview with WWE Magazine, Cena saids the rapping gimmick was created after Stephanie McMahon heard Cena freestyle during a busride while they were doing their European tour back in 2002. Steph took it to the writers, and they decided to make a gimmick out of it since they thought he was a good rapper.

Only thing about that though is that when he first started with the gimmick, they were portraying him as the wannabe white boy who couldn't rap. Like, back when he first started out with the gimmick, they had him freestyle battling Rikishi, and if you listen, Cena was handling him on the mic, but they kept putting Rikishi over as the winner. Eventually, his rhymes started getting over and all of a sudden he went from being a wannabe to a legit thug.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

Cena also hung out with Bull Buchanan during the Smackdown Six era when Heyman had pretty much everyone on the roster, aside from Brock Lesnar and Undertaker, form a semi-regular tag team.

the best part though was that Bull was thugged out also and was called B2, while he supplied some dance moves as Cena rapped.

Plus he said "BOOYAH."

 

Then they released him. Y'know, because after keeping Bull around for like half a decade and FINALLY finding a role he was somewhat entertaining in, WWE logic stated that he must go.

[Special K 0]

Definite turning point for Cena was the promo on Borck while he was injured it was FANTASTIC. Sad to see the way his promos have devolved. He obviously doesn't have the delivery, but he used to be funny. Hell, I can come up with better rhymes given a week's time.

[Ed Wood Caulfield 0]

I enjoyed Cena back when he was considered a joke character. I mean, when they turned him into a serious character during the Brock feud I still liked him (I actually still do believe it or not), but I liked the "Wannabe White Thug who can't rap" gimmick better.

[Ed Wood Caulfield 0]

Only thing about that though is that when he first started with the gimmick, they were portraying him as the wannabe white boy who couldn't rap. Like, back when he first started out with the gimmick, they had him freestyle battling Rikishi, and if you listen, Cena was handling him on the mic, but they kept putting Rikishi over as the winner.

Yeah, I remember the first freestyle battle. That was the first time Cena dressed in Hip-Hop clothes. I remember that Rikishi's rhymes were about how he was just a fun loving guy having a good time, while Cena trash talked him. When I first saw it, I thought both guys freestyles sucked, but I thought Cena's sucked more.

[Papacita 0]

Only thing about that though is that when he first started with the gimmick, they were portraying him as the wannabe white boy who couldn't rap. Like, back when he first started out with the gimmick, they had him freestyle battling Rikishi, and if you listen, Cena was handling him on the mic, but they kept putting Rikishi over as the winner.

Yeah, I remember the first freestyle battle. That was the first time Cena dressed in Hip-Hop clothes. I remember that Rikishi's rhymes were about how he was just a fun loving guy having a good time, while Cena trash talked him. When I first saw it, I thought both guys freestyles sucked, but I thought Cena's sucked more.

I'm not sure about the in-ring one where Tazz choked him out (I missed that one), but they had a backstage one like a week earlier where Cena definitely got him. Nothing special, but I remember his rhyme being kinda nice.

 

I agree that the wannabe angle was better. Cena played the role perfectly. I remember him doing commentary for one of Eddie's matches around Rumble 03 and he had me dying, especially when he busted out the "I listen to Biggie! I know what beef is" line.

[Guest LooneyTune]

Cena also hung out with Bull Buchanan during the Smackdown Six era when Heyman had pretty much everyone on the roster, aside from Brock Lesnar and Undertaker, form a semi-regular tag team.

the best part though was that Bull was thugged out also and was called B2, while he supplied some dance moves as Cena rapped.

Don't forget Redd Dogg (Rodney Mack) was Cenas sidekick for about a week before showing up on RAW for no real reason whatsoever. This was after B2 got fired for sucking...or whatever it was for.

[Ed Wood Caulfield 0]

I agree that the wannabe angle was better. Cena played the role perfectly. I remember him doing commentary for one of Eddie's matches around Rumble 03 and he had me dying, especially when he busted out the "I listen to Biggie! I know what beef is" line.

Wasn't that the segment when he uttered "Thuganomics" for the first time? I remembered he was calling himself "C-Note" also, and I believe that's when he first called himself the "Doctor Of Thuganomics". I don't remember all of what he said, but I remember laughing and loving his commentary. I remember this line though: "Don't confuse thuganomics with acting black. Gangsta rap was a surbaban fantasy gone out of control!" Cena was awesome during that segment, and I remember that both Scott Keith and RD Reynolds started liking Cena after that segment.

 

And yeah, Cena did a great job potraying his character as a joke at first. He did a great rap at Royal Rumble 2003 (I'm like an erect penis, you can't beat me!) and I loved the one he did to Brock in the match he got injured in back in February 2003 (Duh, I'm Brock Lesnar. God gave me muscles, but forgot to give me a brain!) and then he said something about Brock's tatoo on his back actually being a picture of his mother! And I loved his rap at WrestleMania XIX when he dissed both Jay-Z and Fabolous (You're just a bad idea, like the XFL!). If Cena ever turns heel again (which I think he should), I hope he brings that character back. He did some good raps back when he was a comedy character. And the white wannabe thug who can't rap is my favorite incarnation of him.

[Guest sarafromsweden]

Randy Orton had long hair? are ther e any photos from that time? Oh my god, he must have looked funny hahahahahahah

[Guest sarafromsweden]

all the other wrestlingfans in sweden says randy didn´t have long hair.how long are you talking about? 2 inches or like... lita-long hair?

[The Niggardly King 0]

Randy Orton used to have some type of douchebag haircut.

 

[Guest sarafromsweden]

that´s not long hair! I thought you meant Edge-kinda long hair!

'

Well.the hair was normal...now I feel a little screwed on a good laugh here...