57. JOHN CENA Aliases - The Prototype Hometown - West Newbury, MA Debuted - 16th February 2000 Titles Held - OVW Heavyweight (1) OVW Southern Tag (1); UPW Heavyweight (1); WWE Heavyweight (3); WWE Tag Team (1); WWE United States (3) Other Accomplishments - starred in WWE Films' major motion picture "The Marine"; released rap album "You Can't See Me which reached #15 on the Billboard top 200; only 5 men have spent longer as WWE Champion; Portrayed Big Tim Kingman on "Manhunt"
Like him, love him or hate him, John Cena is THE face of World Wrestling Entertainment right now. Just by walking out into an arena the man can illicit some sort of reaction from at least 90% of the crowd. Whether it's high-pitched cheers and squeals from the women and children or bass-filled boos from the men of the crowd, he's got them all saying something at least. And it this point that is a lot more than a lot of his colleagues can say.
John Cena debuted on WWE television in the summer of 2002 as a babyface so vanilla that Bob Backlund from the 1980s would have thought he was plain. Sporting a high-and-tight buzz cut, two-toned matching tights and a gimmick of having "ruthless aggression" you would think he should have been Velocity jobber fodder.
Then Christmas came in the form of Halloween for young Mr. Cena. One Vanilla Ice impression later and John Cena was on a path to super stardom. He battled though low card feuds with Billy Kidman and Rikishi and failed partnerships with Rodney Mack and Bull Buchanan. His popularity grew as he got his first chance at WWF gold against Brock Lesnar in April 2003 and battled the Undertaker through that summer. By the fall he began his chase for The Big Show and the United States Championship. His chase finally ended at WrestleMania XX, as he hoisted the big man on his shoulders for an F-U. He won the belt and got his first WrestleMania moment. Under his watch the US belt became a silver plated spinner as he battled against Rob Van Dam, Rene Dupree and often-forgotten best-of-five series with Booker T. He was "stabbed" by freshly debuted Carlito, but he used the time off while healing the stab wound to shoot a movie. He was back soon enough to win his belt back in order to lose to Orlando Jordan so that he could be properly ready for his WWF Championship match at WrestleMania 21.
From that point, the WWE has entered the "era of Cena." In the two and half years since that event, the WWE Championship has become synonymous with John Cena. If he's not defending the belt, he has been challenging for it. The belt has been even been molded into an expensive, diamond-studded spinner; a reminder to us all that yes, this is John Cena's world and we just live in it. When we see that belt go away, we'll officially see the end of his era. In the approximately thirty months since initially won the belt, he has been in possession of it nearly 26 of those months. He stopped to briefly give the belt to Edge for the better part of a month in January 2006 and then took the summer of 2006 off so that Rob Van Dam could launch the new ECW and Edge could try to repair the damage Van Dam created. As we approach the one-year anniversary of his third reign as Champion, it is apparent that John Cena is the superstar of today.
Whether you love him or hate him, you pay to see him. No one in wrestling today can cause every fan to have some sort of reaction to him, especially reactions as polarizing as the ones Cena gets. He has been a good face for WWE to promote and one helluva company man. He is a life-long wrestling fan and you can tell he loves his job; it's easy to see. He busts his ass every time he is performing in public and that is an admirable thing. Like him or hate him, at least respect him.
John Cena is currently injured after suffering a torn pectoral in early October 2007. He forfeited the WWE Championship upon suffering the injury. He could be out anywhere from six months to a year.
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56. SCOTT HALL
Aliases - The Bad Guy; The Lone Wolf; Last Call; Starship Coyote; The Diamond Studd; Razor Ramon Hometown - Chuluota, Florida Debuted - October 1984 Titles Held - AWA World Tag Team (1); USWA Unified World Heavyweight (1); WWC Caribbean Heavyweight (1); WWC Universal Heavyweight (1); WCW United States (2); WCW World Tag Team (7); WCW World Television (1); WWF Intercontinental (4) Other Accomplishments - winner of World War 3 - 97; member of backstage gang the 'Clique' in mid-90s WWF; founding member of the nWo
Hey Yo!
Those two simple words could get more of a response from the crowds during Nitro's heyday than any cruiserweight high spot. And it's all because of the charisma and presence of one Scott Hall.
The man I personally believe to be the best to never hold a World Championship was one of the instrumental architects in perhaps the greatest pro wrestling angle in history - the new World order. His inclusion in the start of that angle is enough alone to include him in this list, but as a performer in the ring his talent and accomplishments just add to his wrestling pedigree.
Scott Hall started in wrestling 1984. His first national exposure was Starship Coyote, one half of the American Starship with Danny Spivey. Bu it was in the late '80s when Hall got his first real notoriety, teaming with Curt Hennig in the AWA. The duo was wildly successful and won the company's tag championship.
By 1991 he showed up in WCW as The Diamond Studd, the centerpiece for Diamond Dallas Page's Diamond Exchange stable. His push soon fizzled by the summer of 1992 Hall was in the World Wrestling Federation as his most iconic character - Razor Ramon.
Ramon got an early push, competing in main event matches with and against men like Randy Savage, Ric Flair and Bret Hart. In the fall of '93, Hall won the first of his four Intercontinental Championships, which in turn led to arguably the greatest match of the 1990s - the iconic ladder match at WrestleMania X with Shawn Michaels. It was also during this time period that Hall, Michaels, Kevin Nash, Triple H and Sean Waltman formed the infamous backstage "Clique" in the WWF.
In early 1996, Hall got the call to join World Championship Wrestling for a large sum of money, along with Nash. On Hall and Nash's last night in the WWF they performed the now-legendary curtain call in Madison Square Garden with Triple H and Michaels that saw HHH's career derailed for over a year. (But in the end I think Helmsley's career rebounded nicely.)
Hall made wrestling history on the Memorial Day 1996 edition of WCW Monday Nitro when he interrupted a match between "Mauler" Mike Enos and Steve Doll (there's an answer for a trivia question for you) and declared, "We're taking over." He was soon joined by Kevin Nash as "The Outsiders" and then eventually by Hulk Hogan to form the groundbreaking new World order. The trio led the nWo to astronomical heights through '96 and '97 before the faction soon split into various different forms. As the '90s wore on, Hall became more sporadic on WCW television, between injuries and stints in and out of rehab. He and Nash feuded through late '98 over Hall's drinking problems, including scenes of Hall showing up on Nitro acting drunk and out of sorts. The pair ultimately reunited in 1999 after the "fingerpoke of doom" incident. Hall soon disappeared again and resurfaced in late '99 in another nWo faction, this time with Nash, Bret Hart and Jeff Jarrett as nWo 2000. Hall's last appearance in WCW was in February 2000, losing in a three way dance at the main event of SuperBrawl against Jeff Jarrett and Sid Vicious.
After a brief stop in ECW and a run in Japan, the original nWo trio of Hall, Nash and Hogan arrived in the WWF in February 2002. Unfortunately Hall's problems caught up with him again and he was out of the promotion by May of 2002 after a run with Steve Austin and a brief feud with Bradshaw.
Hall then made sporadic appearances in the early days of NWA-TNA and by the fall of 2004 he and Nash were in TNA full-time. They formed the Kings of Wrestling stable with Jeff Jarrett, but by early 2005 Hall had disappeared again.
He had been out of the limelight since then, but in July 2007 Hall resurfaced in Puerto Rico competing as Razor Ramon, and is currently the reigning WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion.
