John Cena’s jean shorts became one of the most recognizable pieces of gear in WWE history, but the choice had a lot less to do with fashion than fans might think.
During an appearance on Conan O’Brien’s podcast, Cena explained that his famous “jorts” ultimately stuck around because other kinds of shorts simply couldn’t survive what he was doing in the ring. The conversation started when Conan brought up Cena’s early WWE presentation and the different looks he experimented with while developing the Doctor of Thuganomics character. Cena explained that he was constantly changing his clothes during that period and leaned heavily into the oversized urban fashion associated with the character.
“I was wearing everything. I was wearing yellow corduroys. I wore blue sheepskin pants. I was really leaning into urban wear.”
Cena took that commitment so far that he would actually shop for his wrestling gear in whatever city WWE happened to be visiting. He also made the rapper gimmick part of practically everything he did away from the ring, including media appearances and interactions with fans.
“I would literally go to the city we were in and shop in the hood for my gear that night. And 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.’”
“For all the media, I would freestyle everybody. I’d freestyle kids in the parking lot. I have an album, for God’s sakes. I went in.”
That eventually brought Cena to the jean shorts that became synonymous with his WWE career. According to Cena, the oversized denim shorts initially fit the fashion of the time, but they quickly became useful for another reason.
“The jean shorts became a necessity because that was kind of the style in ’04, but the jean shorts were super long and super baggy.”
Cena explained that his character eventually moved away from being centered entirely around rapping. He became more of the patriotic, motivational WWE figure fans would associate with the peak of his run, but the shorts survived that transformation.
“In the evolution of the character outside of rapping, the next chapter of this patriotic, aspirational figure that admires members of service — all core values within me, just like hip-hop and rap music, just one lane.”
That was when practicality became a major factor. Cena needed something he could wrestle in night after night without having to worry about his gear tearing apart during a match.
“The transition became: what is the material I can wear and wrestle in that my crotch won’t split?”
Cena had already learned the hard way that ordinary cargo shorts weren’t always capable of handling the punishment. That durability ultimately helped cement the jean shorts as part of Cena’s image even while everything else about the character continued changing.
“Denim, time over time, stands up to any test. I’ve worn regular cargo shorts and I’ve blown my crotch open a bunch.”
“Shorts just were more durable, and they also fit the evolution of the character.”
The shorts themselves even changed over the years. Cena joked that they gradually became shorter until the final version was much different from the giant baggy jorts he wore during the early Doctor of Thuganomics days.
“They started going above knee height, and by the time I finished, it was like the John Stockton shorts that, if you looked really close, you could see everything that was going on. But I knew they would never tear.”
Cena’s jean shorts ended up becoming inseparable from his WWE image, but their staying power wasn’t the result of some carefully planned branding strategy. They started as part of his rapper look, survived his character’s transformation and stayed because denim could take the punishment without leaving Cena dealing with a wardrobe malfunction in the middle of a match.
What do you think about John Cena revealing the practical reason behind his famous WWE jean shorts? Did the jorts become one of the most iconic looks in wrestling history? Let us know what you think in the comments.
