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Love him or loathe him, but John Cena will always be the current face of the WWE whether diehard pro wrestling fans like him or not. Like his predecessors Hulk Hogan and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin before him, Cena is the guy who is the true leader of the WWE roster and the guy who the WWE Universe rooted for, bought his merchandise, and was the poster child of almost every young pro wrestling fan. But it didn't start out that way.

Cena made his WWE debut in June 2002 when he answered a challenge for a match against Kurt Angle. Of course, he lost to Angle but it was just a start for the young Massachusetts native.

For the next couple of years, Cena languished in the WWE midcard on the SmackDown roster, winning his first title, the United States Championship when he defeated then-champion the Big Show at WrestleMania 20 in March of 2004.

But the turning point came when Cena defeated John Bradshaw Layfield to become the WWE Champion at WrestleMania 21. But the biggest move was one Cena was drafted to RAW in June of 2005 and that is when his place as WWE's number one guy began.

For the next several years, Cena became an unstoppable force, dominating the WWE while defeating the likes of Layfield, Edge, Batista, Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, and many others. He even deposed of The Nexus.

But all the popularity of Cena also came with criticism. Many pro wrestling fans believed that Cena was not a very good wrestler as he leapfrogged from the likes of Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd who while both are talented, they are not over with the WWE Universe, something that the WWE expects to see from its talent.

But no matter what, Cena will no doubt always be the WWE's poster child for many years to come.