John Cena’s first official match was on November 5, 1999, at UPW’s “Entertainment Overload” event, where he defeated Funky Billy Kim and Troubled Youth in a handicap match. From there, he would win the UPW Heavyweight Championship, and in October 2000, he even had a dark match for the WWE. UPW and WWE had a good working relationship together, and after being impressed by what they saw, WWE signed John “The Prototype” Cena to a developmental contract in 2001.

Cena would uproot his life once more, as he would be assigned to their Ohio Valley Wrestling territory to perfect his skills, while still portraying the Prototype gimmick. He would get occasional dark matches here and there, but under the guidance of Jim Cornette, Cena and the rest of the OVW roster would be moulded into TV ready stars. The OVW roster included the likes of Brock Lesnar, Batista, and Randy Orton, who along with Cena are now dubbed “The OVW 4” for how successful they have all become, but the likes of Shelton Benjamin, Rico, and Nick “Eugene” Dinsmore were all part of the famous OVW class of 2002 that is largely responsible for the success of WWE’s “Ruthless Aggression” era.

By mid-2002, The Prototype shed his robotic roots and showed up on “WWE SmackDown” as John Cena to confront Kurt Angle, and while he didn’t pick up the win that night, it was clear that WWE had high hopes for Cena. However, he was almost fired for not living up to expectations right away, but after being heard rapping about a can of tuna fish by Stephanie McMahon on a European tour, he would stop doing spot shows for OVW as the Prototype and fully transformed into the “Doctor of Thuganomics.” The rest, as they say, is history.