John Cena had quite the journey from a broke aspiring bodybuilder to wrestling legend and Hollywood actor.
Cena was most recently seen in a cameo in the hit Barbie film, at the request of star Margot Robbie.
He is also rumoured to make a comeback in WWE at SummerSlam on Saturday, so his star is pretty high right now.
It has not been easy to get to that point for the 46-year-old, with plenty of ups and downs along the way.
At one stage he was struggling to get going when he moved from Massachusetts to Los Angeles in 1999.
He had a degree in physiology and wanted to pursue a bodybuilding career, but ended up working as a limousine driver and at Gold’s Gym on $6 an hour.
Cena was so short of cash he took advantage of a local pizza shop’s eating challenge to get a free slice.
“I didn’t move out to LA to pursue entertainment,” he told Kevin Hart on his talk show.. “[I] came out here to apply my degree and really failed. … I couldn’t get any validation for that piece of paper that I paid for. That four-year certificate from Springfield College saying, ‘We think you know what you’re talking about.'”
He admitted that ‘every avenue of fitness failed’ and he become homeless, sleeping in his car, after his bid to become a highway patrol officer.
“They had a deal where, if you could eat their whole pizza, you got it for free,” Cena said, chuckling. “I used to eat there every night, a whole pizza, so I didn’t have to pay, because I didn’t have the money to pay the guy.”
“I’m very fortunate for my story because it was my choice to have hard times,” he added. “My father always said, ‘You’re my son. I love you. You’re always welcome back home.’ If I could get to West Newbury, Massachusetts, I would be fed. I would have a roof over my head. I would be able to regroup.”
Cena eventually began training in professional wrestling in 1999 at Ultimate Pro Wrestling’s Ultimate University and that proved to be the turning point.
He made his unofficial debut in the World Wrestling Federation in 2000 and then penned a developmental contract the following year.
Cena went on to become a one of the most successful, and popular, wrestlers in the WWE.
He won a joint-record 16 world titles and a two-time Royal Rumble winner. He is also headlined multiple WWE pay-per-view events, including five times at Wrestlemania, while he appeared at 14 straight SummerSlams.
It is also outside the wrestling ring that he made a name for himself to mainstream audiences with a successful acting career.
Cena has starred in blockbuster productions like the Fast and Furious series as well as The Suicide Squad.
He also made a brilliant cameo in Barbie as a ‘Merman’, at the request Robbie, who plays the lead character.
She said: “I ran into him at a restaurant and we’d worked together before. Actually, I ran into him because I went to pay the bill and they were like, ‘John Cena already took care of it’ and I was like, ‘What? Where is he?’ I mean he’s a big guy, but I was like, ‘He’s hard to hide.
“Anyways, I found him and I was like, ‘What are you doing here?'” Robbie continued. “He was shooting at [Warner Bros. Studios] Leavesden where we shot the film as well and I was like, ‘That’s where we’re shooting “Barbie”‘ and I was like, ‘Do you wanna come be a merman in “Barbie?”‘ He was like, ‘Uh, yeah’ and I was like, ‘Surely he’s not gonna agree to it just like that,’ and he did. He’s so awesome like that.”
Cena has not quite left wrestling behind, with rumours that he could be a surprise guest at SummerSlam.
That huge event is on Saturday, August 5… and it is said he could even turn up to challenge Logan Paul.
The 46-year-old now has a reportedly net worth of £80million, a far cry from the days of not being able to eat and sleeping in his car.