John Cena didn’t leave much to the imagination (Picture: Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
Wrestling outfits are often revealing, but John Cena took it to another level early in his career.
Long before he switched to his now-iconic jean shorts in WWE, the legendary star was known as The Prototype – a robot style character with his ripped physique painting him more as machine than man – and had a very different look.
In a clip shared on TikTok, Cena reflected on one of his early matches 22 years ago and opened up about the tiny trunks he was wearing at the time.
‘Okay, let’s take a look at this clip from 2000. I am at Roxy Theatre and I am angry,’ he quipped, noting his gear was made by a company who worked on costumes for ‘exotic dancers’.
He said: ‘One thing I immediately remember about those I got made, I got them in a place that makes outfits for exotic dancers and they were very thin and not quite durable, and boy am I happy they lasted through this contest.’
Sharing the TikTok clip with his followers on X (formerly Twitter), he added: ‘Reflection can be a valuable tool in the now and for the future. Head to @tiktok_us to catch a quick glimpse of a young prototype wearing X-rated underwear 😳’
Cena was risking a serious wardrobe malfunction (Picture: TikTok/John Cena)
Cena, who has been teasing his WWE retirement lately after a devastating loss to Solo Sikoa at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, also poked fun at his own wrestling skills at the time.
‘You could see some spry wrestling maneuvers. Brett Wagner, our commentator, said “What’s he gonna do now, wrestle?”,’ he teased.
‘It was maybe a foreshadowing of things to come – followed by the world’s slowest Sidewalk Slam. What I’m doing here is setting the bar for improvement.’
The trunks were certainly a choice (Picture: WWE)
Before using his real name, Cena was known as The Prototype (Picture: WWE)
The wrestler turned Hollywood star gave a knowing wink to the Five Moves of Doom, which the fans nicknamed his signature run of offense during the height of his WWE career.
‘My confidence is not outshined by my fatigue, but here we have a move where – this is the Protobomb, which would later go on to have a future in the Five Moves of Doom,’ he said.
‘But there you have it, there’s a quick look over two decades ago to the Prototype, his golf tee haircut, exhausted, getting to the victory lane.’
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Meanwhile, Cena recently announced his own talk show What Drives You, featuring celebrity guests reminiscing about their favourite cars.
‘The car you drive and where you drive it can say a lot about who you are, from your personality type to what you value and prioritize the most,’ he said.
‘What Drives You is all about tapping into this and each guest’s unique connection to their car, and a destination close to their heart, as the crux of a candid and wide-ranging conversation.’
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