John Cena didn’t just throw on some baggy clothes and call himself the Doctor of Thuganomics. During the early days of his WWE rapper character, Cena was so committed to the gimmick that he would actually go shopping in whatever city WWE was running that night and buy the clothes he planned to wear on television.
Cena opened up about the process during his conversation with Conan O’Brien while discussing how his wrestling wardrobe eventually evolved into the jean shorts that became synonymous with his WWE career. Long before the jorts became permanent, Cena said his gear was all over the place.
“Believe it or not, that was a process in itself. I was wearing everything. I was wearing, like, yellow corduroys. I wore, like, blue sheepskin pants. I was really leaning into, like, urban wear.”
Cena wasn’t relying on a costume department to map everything out for him. Instead, he would head into the city WWE was visiting, find clothes that fit the Doctor of Thuganomics character and wear them that same night.
“I would literally go to the city we were in and shop in the hood for my gear that night.”
Cena said he would even tell the people working at the store exactly what was about to happen with the clothes they were selling him.
“While I’m paying, I’m like, ‘Yo, I’m going to wear this tonight, and the jersey I’m going to throw out to the crowd.’ And people are like, ‘Oh man, I’ll go check that out.’”
The commitment didn’t stop once Cena left the store. He was determined to keep the rapper character going during media appearances, around fans and pretty much anywhere WWE sent him.
“For all the media, I would freestyle everybody. I’d freestyle kids in the parking lot. I have an album, for God’s sakes. Like, I went in.”
That all-in approach was a huge part of Cena finding himself in WWE after his career had been in serious danger. Once the company realized he could rap and started giving him opportunities to use that ability on television, Cena leaned into the character instead of treating it like something he only switched on when the cameras started rolling.
The wardrobe eventually settled into the oversized jean shorts that fans would associate with Cena for the rest of his wrestling career. Cena explained that denim initially fit the style of the era, but the jorts also turned out to be durable enough to survive wrestling matches without constantly ripping apart. Looking back, Cena’s early WWE presentation was far less calculated than the polished character fans eventually saw at the top of the company. He was figuring it out city by city, buying his own clothes, freestyling wherever he could and turning every opportunity into another chance to make the Doctor of Thuganomics feel real.
What do you think about John Cena actually shopping for his WWE gear in each city before shows? Did that level of commitment help make the Doctor of Thuganomics character work? Let us know your thoughts and feedback in the comments.
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