John Cena used to be beaten up daily thanks to the "MC Hammer" style outfits he used to wear to school.

The 49-year-old actor became one of WWE's biggest names during his professional wrestling days, but prior to becoming the so-called 'Doctor of Thuganomics', he was something of a "scrawny" teen.

In fact, John admitted during a chat with Amy Poehler on her Good Hang podcast that he ended up being regularly picked on because of the unique way he dressed when growing up in Boston, Massachusetts.

He said: "I got the s*** kicked out of me every day because I was a scrawny kid and dressing like MC Hammer and Bel Biv Devoe."

However, John didn't let the targeting get him down, instead choosing to turn up the volume on his ensembles.

He said: "And when those kids picked on me for how I dressed, I would go straight to Liberty Tree Mall and be like, 'What is worse than this? I'm turning it up!'"

Like John, Amy grew up in Massachusetts, and told the wrestler-turned-actor that fights were also more than common in her school when she was growing up.

She said: "I don't think people realise that, when we grew up, in my high school there was a fight every day after school.

"It was very common. And in fact, when I went to college for a while, I would go to parties and I would just kind of stand there."

Amy added that her concern about a scrap breaking out was usually down to the pride people had about their hometowns.

She explained: "People would be like, 'What are you worried about?' I'm like, 'There's too many people here from different towns'.

"If someone showed up at your party from a different town, forget it!"

John went on to insist that despite the reputation that Massachusetts has earned over the years, it's more picturesque than people realise.

He said: "If you keep going northeast of the state of Massachusetts to the New Hampshire line, there are some old maritime towns that are quite beautiful. And inland, there are some even smaller farming towns, and that's West Newbury.

"Twelve-hundred people, and in 1985, your neighbour is acres away, and you got to ride bikes everywhere. It was like out of a movie. It was like The Goonies.

"It was an incredible place to grow up. I'm so glad I didn't stay there because it is not a diverse look at the world. But man, what a cool place to grow up, especially in the '80s."