Swerve Strickland On John Cena’s Doctor Of Thuganomics Gimmick: ‘It Was Cool Seeing It Firsthand As A Kid’

Swerve Strickland comments on John Cena’s rap gimmick in WWE.

In 2003, John Cena debuted his Doctor of Thuganomics gimmick. He would incorporate rap in his promos and segments. This gimmick took off among WWE fans and helped Cena rise up the ranks.

While appearing on the Kings of the Ring podcast, Swerve Strickland discussed John Cena’s Doctor of Thuganomics persona. He said:

“It was satirical comedy to me. I would say the first real person to bridge the gap was R-Truth – hip-Hop, wrestling hip-hop. So I always give him his flowers for that, because he actually was linking up with Tupac way back. He’s a pioneer for that.  Jericho with Fozzy – not hip-hop, but definitely different-genre crossover musicians. Cena felt like it was a persona. It was a skill he had, but I didn’t think he understood what the skill was. I felt like it was just him joking. Then he discovered he fell into something. Then he was like, ‘Okay, now I’m going to go full force with this.’ That became a little satire on TV. Then it became, ‘Oh actually, we’re going to make an album. It’s going to sell really well and I’m going to put you there with Murs and real MCs.’ So that took on a life of its own for Cena. It was cool seeing it firsthand as a kid. You understood the pathway that was really opening up.

It was really cool to see it for me because it was like, ‘Oh, white rapper rapping, wearing the jeans, jeggings, all these chains, throwback jerseys, hats, and stuff.’ I was like, ‘Oh, I get the joke. I get it.’ But then it became like, ‘Oh, this is actually a real persona.’ It was actually very unique at the time because that usually has a shelf life. It can die really quickly. But that actually birthed life into what he was going to take on for the next 20 years. So, it’s actually really inspiring to see.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Swerve discussed how he started creating hip-hop music. Fans can check his comments here.

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