By James Caldwell, PWTorch.com assistant editor

John Cena was nearly given his release from WWE when he was on the Smackdown brand in the early 2000s. Cena says he was a generic wrestler who wrestled like most other mid-card wrestlers.

"WWE didn't know what to do with me until I almost lost my job," Cena said on the "Life After Film School" show on Fox Movie Channel to promote the "12 Rounds" movie. "I came up to TV as a young rookie with a bunch of intensity. I looked and acted like everyone else."

Cena says his job was saved when WWE heard he could rap, so they gave him the street thug rapper gimmick that everyone hated.

"I was supposed to be a bad guy at the time and I completely transformed myself," Cena said. "It worked. Everybody hated me."

Cena says his character evolved over time to where he could play himself on TV once the audience bought into him as a star wrestler and eventually turned him babyface on Smackdown in 2004.

"As they liked me, I turned back into myself," Cena said. "I don't have to get into character. Just go out and be myself."

Caldwell's Analysis: WWE would be a much different place if Cena was "future endeavored" six or seven years ago before WWE figured out how to utilize him beyond a generic mid-carder. You wonder how many other wrestlers just haven't clicked because creative couldn't figure out what to do with the wrestler. Cena was fortunate to avoid the pink slip and become one of the top stars in pro wrestling.

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