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WATCH: John Cena's WWE early days

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A look back at John Cena's time as The Prototype in OVW

John Cena has just celebrated 15 years as a WWE superstar, going from plucky youngster to the biggest star in the business.

As you can see in the video above, things were very different to how they are now during one of his first big-name rivalries with Chris Jericho in 2002.

'The rookie', as he's constantly referred to by commentator Michael Cole, hadn't found his style of oversized t-shirts and jean shorts, instead opting for a brightly coloured pants.

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With John Cena returning to SmackDown this Tuesday, we take a look at two matches against Chris Jericho from his rookie year

He'd also learn that sometimes you need to play dirty as Jericho bent the rules to pick up the win before Cena showed his aggressive side after the bell.

But things were very different a couple of weeks afterwards.

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Here's a look at the second match that rookie John Cena had with Chris Jericho from SmackDown, where the winner didn't finish on top

Click the video above to see Jericho snap with a vicious chair attack on the then 25-year old Cena.

There's no doubt Cena's early promise excited WWE fans and it wasn't long before he was fast-tracked into title matches.

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He'd win the US Championship two years later and his first World Championship at Wrestlemania 21 the year afterwards.

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John Cena returns to Smackdown on Tuesday, live on Sky Sports

He's now tied with Ric Flair with a record 16 world title reigns as well as going on to become a mainstream star in the US by starring in films and hosting talk shows.

He makes his return to Smackdown on Tuesday live on Sky Sports, suitably for the all-American hero on July 4.

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