John Cena’s entire body evolution throughout his whole career really is mesmerising to watch.

In the last week, fans have been shocked by the change in build of John Cena since he partially stepped away from wrestling.At the end of last month, photos emerged online of the 45-year-old looking far leaner than he has done since he made his WWE debut back in 2002.Since 2017, Cena has moved into part-time wrestling and fans are noticing the difference in his physique, and that got us thinking, what has his physique looked like throughout the years?

John Cena’s body evolution throughout the years

Well, fortunately for us, a YouTube video posted online by the account ‘herreo olva’ highlights perfectly some of the physical changes in Cena over the years through photos taken of him since his birth through to 42.

The king of memeability grew up in Massachusetts, USA and like most children he was a relatively slight boy and growing up he was even bullied at school. At the age of 12, he asked his parents for a weightlifting bench and so began his transformation into the icon he is today.

Growing up, Cena and his four brothers adored wrestling and even made fake belts out of cardboard for their wrestling fights together. Cena’s hero was Hulk Hogan.

To counteract his bullying, Cena increasingly began working out and as evidenced by the video, at the age of 16, he was feeling increasingly proud of his newfound muscly physique.

At Springfield College, Cena was captain of the American Football team, wearing number 54, a number that now appears on a multitude of his merchandise. After college, Cena took up bodybuilding and also began training to become a professional wrestler. This period was perhaps the peak of Cena’s physicality and a peak that he arguably maintained up until moving into part-time wrestling in 2017.

On October 10, 2000, Cena made his unofficial WWF debut as ‘The Prototype’ and the rest is history.

Since then, Cena has been a star of wrestling and his brand has even grown so large that he has starred in a number of movies and television series. Most notably Fast and Furious 9, released in 2021, and the series Peacemaker that led on from Cena’s role in 2021’s The Suicide Squad.

Last week, Cena posted a picture of himself with a fan in which he looked far leaner than he has for several years. Still a very muscly physique, but it left fans in a bit of shock considering that during his movie and television appearances he still very much looked like a typical wrestler.

Over the years, John Cena has become an iconic figure, far from limited to the world of wrestling, and his physique has matched this.

Now, as he slowly moves away from the world of wrestling, it is perhaps of little surprise that he would slim down slightly.

That said, I for one would be far from surprised to see Cena regain that muscle should he make a return to the ring or if the right project presented itself.