John Cena Teases His 17th Championship, Meeting MJF, Plan To Turn Heel in 2012, Bray Wyatt Match

On who is the GOAT in wrestling: 

“I would say people who elevate the business to new heights from a performance standpoint. I mean, this is just my perspective, and again, we're talking objectivity. So it's only opinion, there's no truth to what I'm saying. Hulk Hogan would have to be in there, Steve Austin, Dwayne Johnson, and Roman Reigns. When the company went public, I think they started to trade. And then my tenure has kind of helped everybody put the pieces back together again. And Roman has done a fantastic job of taking the business to heights it's never been to before.” 

When did you feel like you were the guy in WWE?

“Never, never. And I think that's a perspective that has gotten muddled, again, just my opinion. You just used to want the championship. Now, as the area's become grey, people want to be, the term like locker room leader is thrown around and the guy is thrown around like that, the championship should be on an identifiable instrument of that. And I think it helps the believability of the championship, either one or any Championship. The importance of that is you channel whatever you want to say on inside industry terms through the prompts that we give you. And that's again, just my perspective.”

On taking the moment in: 

“So life in the WWE is fast. And I'm a performer who enjoys being present. And my head is always on a swivel, because the objective is obviously to give the audience the best show that you can possibly do. I also have a lot of stress off of my shoulders. Because when you're one of the pieces of the machine that is responsible for the financial well-being, if you fail, the bottom line is directly affected. You're hypersensitive to that. If I go out there and fail now, the bottom line doesn't matter. It's the class carrying the torch now that needs the stress that I had. And I think before I had that weight on my shoulders, it was the stress of how do I get there. And then once you're there, it's the stress of am I doing enough, is this working? And then you finally get to a place where it's somebody else's turn, I saw this firsthand with the DX run when they came back with the glow sticks. And they were just having fun. And I remember a European tour where Shawn and Hunter came through the curtain after doing some sort of match that was heavily entertaining. And I was going on last. And they were the match before and I was like man, you guys get to have all the fun, I'm paraphrasing. They said, We hope someday you will too, but it's not today. We've been where you're at and you're in a very important place, go out and do that stuff. And then hopefully one day, you'll get to goof off and have fun and say to the other person when they come to the curtain all right, I made them laugh. Now you're gonna make them believe. I just think I'm in a spot where I can be more present, which is great. Because that's the thing I was trying to do before I was trying to hear every voice, acknowledge every noise, live every moment, try not to miss a beat. But like now, I just operate with that construct, but don't have the stress of like, if I mess up, it's all going to crumble, or they're going to fire me. Both of those things, the crumble thing is going to happen and they can fire me That's it, they can do that.”

On not politicking despite having the resume to:

“I guess you're not wrong. But what does that even mean? Like if I want to write the story, cool, great. I'm relying on the wisdom of someone who is somewhat, the people creating the show saying, hey, we need you here. So rather than say, I need to be here, they say we need you here. Okay, how can I make here the best spot? Not steal the show. Not go into business for myself and ruin the whole broadcast? How can I just make this meaningful? What do you need from me? Well, we need to make each night exciting. We need to help LA Knight. And then we need to help Solo. Cool, what's the best way we can do that? That's just one example of the way to operate.”

On the difference between 2002 John Cena and 2024 John Cena:

“I think the things that they share in common are gratitude, grit, perseverance, and humility. I think the difference is the younger version lacks self-worth and the younger version lacks wisdom. So John Cena in 2002 gets to go out and fight Kurt Angle under the impression of two words, Ruthless Aggression. It was a failure because I was neither ruthless nor aggressive, and I wasn't able to see the opportunity. My blinders were, you're getting a chance to go out there. Do everything you can and show him you can wrestle. No, I was given a golden ticket and a gimmick. Ruthless Aggression. And sure I wasn't ready. The match was at the last second because Undertaker was sick. So the gear doesn't match. But neither did the attitude at all. Like sportsmanship and grateful, especially after I slapped the guy, I should have been doing more than the match to gouge out an eyeball or rip at his tights, or be the exact opposite of ruthless aggression. Be a pacifist, whatever it is, but I didn't dive into the opportunity I was given. I just went out there to do stunts. Even the handshake thing with The Undertaker, somebody who's ruthlessly aggressive would have slapped him like he slapped Kurt Angle. And now you're like who the f*** is this guy? But I didn't understand. Because I had blinders on about what the business is about. And now, I love to go to NXT because everybody has a different personality. And I was like, what would I do? Have you ever thought about this idea? But people are thinking the same way I was about I just want to go out and do these moves. Man, you need that, but you got to also get them to believe.”

When will acting overtake wrestling?

“I don't think I'll ever not be a member of the WWE family first. So, to answer that question in my perspective, the switch has never happened. As you know me, I always speak fondly of WWE in my time and experience there. I can't tell you how much the audience has made me the man I am today. Having to deal with all the polarising audiences, we've seen a lot of performers not be able to do that. And to have to do that for so, so long. It teaches you about you and you really go through a journey of self-worth. So I don't think I'll ever not be WWE family first.” 

On being really close to another heel turn:

“It was Cena Rock 1. I got word that they were going to do it. I went out and recorded a new song. I went out and got all new gear. I wasn't prepared for ruthless aggression, that was the last time I wasn't prepared. I mean, I heard rumblings of we're going to do it. And in 48 hours, I had a new track, a new studio mix theme song, final mix. I had seven new singlets, low-cut singlets with boxing-type robes. I already had the boots in storage, so I dusted them off. I was ready to go and already thinking about like what I could do with the story. Okay, what is a heel? A heel is not just new gear. The objectivity, or the message behind the singlet and the boxing robes and the boots is the exact opposite of what you saw with the street gear, the jeans shorts, the t-shirt, the ball cap, the sneakers, no, go the opposite route. And now lean into the opposite of everything you stand for. So I would begin to not work as hard. I would show up less, I would be untrustworthy and unloyal. I would lack respect in what I did. Like all you have to do is turn that on its [head]. I would give up a lot. All those things you can take and make interesting stories. And this is the stuff that's running through my head, not what moves can I do. It's like how can I take the intellectual property that people are familiar with and twist it so it's like this guy is insane. It's everything I've come to love and now I genuinely hate it. And in being a real bad guy, and I think that was the conversation that was eventually had where it's like, okay, it's a bad idea. I'm like, Hey, I know this is going to sting but I'm not going to sell another T-shirt. I'm going to take all merchandise off the market. I'm not going to put out anything new. I'm not going to do any more appearances. I'm not going to do any Make-A-Wish. I'm not going to do anything like that. I'm going to be a bad guy to make your good guy so your good guy does all that. And that's when I was like we're kind of in too deep. So it worked out the way it worked out. But bro, I was ready.”

On the remixed theme song:

“I recorded it with saxophones instead of trumpets. It's called Fear my Name. I still have it locked away somewhere If it ever sees the light of day, I want to remix it with trumpets instead of saxophones. But it has the hit of time is now.”

On speaking to MJF at The Iron Claw premiere:

“So the whole totality of the thing is I knew he was going to be there. And I don't think the old me would have associated with him just because of how maybe WWE I was, I still am WWE, but there is room for competition and competition is great. And just because you don't wear the company brand I have doesn't mean you're a bad performer. Sports entertainment is a finicky business. And again, there's a lot of chance to make moments. So this is one of their top performers for AEW. And I don't know if I'm going to be the target of a moment. I'm just going to support my friend in a movie. He couldn't have been nicer. He couldn't have been more cordial. And we meet each other and I got pulled away to take some pictures. And then we were about to go do everything else before I even got to you. And I was like, hold on, give me two minutes. I shook his hand. I said, Man, I'm so sorry. Excuse my ignorance, I didn't know what to expect from you today. You are a class act, I can't believe you're as professional as you are. That's just my ignorance. I'm sorry, I had that judgment, I want to thank you for being so special, thanks for making my night. And then we got back I was able to talk to him more. And I kind of [said] maybe we can get you to play for the right team one day all that. There's no denying the fact that he's doing good work. And I don't think that I should ignore that. Honestly, I was floored by his professionalism, where it would have been an easy target at a wrestling movie premiere, to have yourself a moment. And we did have a moment. And it was one that the internet paid attention to. And it was one where I was hoping that this person that I met, I could once bet on like, Man, oh, we just get you over here. That'd be awesome. But it was great. It was great to meet a professional, classy, driven young man.” 

On the quick return at the 2008 Royal Rumble:

“So I completely respect James Andrews who did the surgery and Kevin Wilkin, who did help me with physical therapy. They have to put a realistic timeline on their work. And that timeline is based on the construct that you do physical therapy three times a week. I would do physical therapy three times a day. And I moved to Birmingham, and my goal as a professional was to get back on the field in a safe manner. So because I just did a lot, six days a week, you heal.  I was pretty much put in a heal tank, I didn't have to go back. The reason they say six months for a pec tear, is because a lot of people that tear their pecs, maybe they did it during recreational sport, or maybe they're a student athlete, or they have other responsibilities, people's got families or whatever, you have to split time. I was like, a physical therapy Terminator. Show up for the morning session, go get some food show for the noon session, go get some food show up for the afternoon session as they're closing. Alright guys see you in a few hours. And I just did that for three months. And everyone Dr. Andrews was fine. Kevin was fine. I passed all my tests. And I passed it like two and a half months in and the Rumble was coming up. And they're like, Okay, we'll keep it a secret. I don't want to advertise you. Because I don't even know if you're gonna be there. But then when everybody gave the Okay, they're like we really have the chance to keep something secret. And it was only let out to like a few people. And, once again, we only remember the moments. Tell me anything I did in that. [You won]. Bingo. But the action to win was very slim. The action was very simple. Because it was as it happens, we couldn't really plan anything crazy, because we didn't want people to tell people to tell people to spoil the surprise. So it was like he's coming out. He's gonna win. That's happening now. Oh, so it was great.”

On Logan Paul:

“I actually told him, I'm like, the old me would have hated it. And the old me would have been like, what are you trying to take from us? And that's just an archaic way of thinking that I was taught. And I understand why. Old carnival business don't trust this guy who's coming into our territory. That idea was archaic in the 80s. We bring in outside influence to help us. And then you have someone you don't really need to convince that much to come on in. And then somebody who embraces our world and is completely respectful and risks a lot more than I would in the ring, like does stuff that I'll never be able to do every single time he's out there. And he knows how to set a story. He knows how to drum up interest. He's using all of his talents that he's built over the years in our universe. He's been doing what we do, he's just been over on his own channel. The me now appreciates the fact that he is bringing his world into ours and respectfully so.”

On the Bray Wyatt match in 2020 being originally a standard match:

“Yeah, and then things happened. And I remember three days before we filmed the Firefly Funhouse match. It was the last TV taping where they came in and they're like, you're gonna have a Firefly Funhouse match. And I remember there was three people in one of the conference rooms in NXT with me, I said, What's a Firefly Funhouse match? They said, I don't know. I said great! What can we do? And that was like, oh, man, again control the controllable. I wish we had an audience. Performers are like I wish there could be blood. I wish we could do chair shots to the head. I wish we could swear I wish I could flip people off. Control the controllable, use the tools in your tool belt. How do we make something entertaining over a two day period with no audience? And they gave us a stipulation. Everybody else has a regular match. And it's your stip like it's your stip. It's not a doctor of Thuganomics match or hustle, loyalty, respect match, that's completely different. You have these definitive characters, you have all this ammunition, you have all this personality. And that's what people really radiate towards. Holy sh*t we can make this a meta look at my life and we can get away with it. What do we have up in the warehouse, we have the fist, we have the blue cage. I can get some NWO stuff, we can make this work. And I remember this the only match I've ever written from start to finish. And my poor wife, I made her print it out and I'm writing and giving her paper. [She said] What is this? What does it even mean? I said just print it, I need it. And somewhere I still have the original draft in my handwriting of the Firefly Funhouse. But man Bray couldn't have been better. He knew what was up. And he knew the whole thing. I wrote it the night before. So I'm trying to text these guys like I got something weird and I think I might have sent a picture of the draft. And I still in my phone. I don't have it with me. But I have saved a text that I sent him the night of the match, especially after we saw The Undertaker's match tonight before Oh, my man, they crushed it, and there was a whole lot more physicality, we got one punch. And I text him how nervous I was. But I wanted to thank him for being so brave and trusting me and I think I couldn't have done any more. And I think we gave it our best shot. And hopefully it works. And it was an effort that I am very proud of.”

On the you can’t see me jokes still going on:

“I love it. And I gotta be honest with you, I went through a period of being frustrated with that. And it's the same thing with trying to be empathetic with fans. I went through a period where I deserve my time, I put on a show for you guys. I deserve my time when I'm out. No, I don't at all. The trade-off for getting to do this is understanding that your work has affected people. And even if someone's being a dick, they're trying to tell you like, Dude, I know you and your work has affected my life. And I operate under a construct of respect. And if someone is disrespectful, I can try to calm down the situation the best I can. But pretty much everybody just wants to say what's up. And when you go outside a place that's not your home. You got to understand that that's awesome. And it's also going to stop. And there's going to come a time when nobody gives a sh*t. And I'm probably gonna remember where people used to come over and say hello, yes. Hey, guys. Hey, what's up? What's going on? So I haven't always felt like that. It's taken a lot of work to get there. But dude, when you can land in that pocket. It's sweet doing 60 interviews today. I'm still good.”

What is John Cena grateful for?

“For those I love in my life, my health and that every day I get to open my eyes.”