There was a time when John Cena leading a movie was met with negative reactions. Starting his Hollywood career with The Marine in 2006 and 12 Rounds in 2009, fans were unhappy with his work. However, being the G.O.A.T that he is, not only did he improve, but he won over the haters. Today, Cena is not only part of critically acclaimed movies and TV shows, but even minor roles comprising of cameos are hailed.

Despite having a few duds at the box office, Cena, just like Dwayne Johnson, has cemented himself as a bankable wrestler turned actor. Here are 5 instances where some of his cameo roles gained positive reception upon release.

John Cena is grateful for his cameo in Barbie

While at the premiere of The Iron Claw movie, Cena was asked about his current work and the Barbie movie. Cena said, “That’s a four-leaf clover for me. I was very lucky. I’m very grateful for all the opportunities to come my way but I was especially lucky for that.” Cena’s appearance in the movie was just a cameo. The movie made over $1 billion at the box office. Here are the other surprising cameos by the WWE legend in Hollywood.

In Ready to Rumble (2000), the future Champ was another gym rat extra. With bleach-blonde hair, he has an uncredited cameo as a weightlifter in the background of a scene with Goldberg. In Fred 3: Camp Fred (2012), the main character has a wrestling-fanatic father. That role was played by a cameo by Cena. Channeling his “Ruthless Aggression” persona, Cena delivered a motivational speech complete with dad jokes as Figglehorn Sr.

Daddy’s Home (2015) saw Cena as a furniture mover in this chaotic family comedy. This is the only blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo by the champion. Sisters (2015) saw a Bachelorette party go completely wrong. Cena is possessed and throws some hilarious punches. As the demon Pazuzu and rocking horns, Cena looked really good.

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Trainwreck (2016) saw a long cameo by Cena as he plays Steven. The character is a charming and clueless athlete who steals Amy’s heart. This movie highlighted the Hollywood star’s comedic timing and surprising rapping skills. Nevertheless, the WWE icon has slowly but steadily climbed his way to the top of the Hollywood mountain.

Cena’s slow and steady rise as a Hollywood star

As mentioned before, Cena wasn’t that lucky at the start of his career. Slowly and steadily, he improved as an actor. The star’s latest TV Show, the second one of Peacemaker, saw a massive 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

His body of work now includes several roles while sticking to the origins of the action star. Did you see all the Cena cameos? Tell us your favorite Cena movie in the comments.

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