John Cena joined the main roster of WWE in 2002 alongside the likes of Batista, Randy Orton, and Brock Lesnar, kicking off the ‘Ruthless Aggression’ era of the company.
By that point, Matt Hardy had been in the company for several years and made his name as a tag team specialist alongside his brother, Jeff. However, as part of the new era, he was in the process of reinventing himself as a singles star, the villainous ‘Matt Hardy: Version 1’.
It was during this time that Hardy and Cena travelled together, something Hardy fondly remembers.
Marty Hardy reveals what it was like to travel with John Cena
Speaking on his podcast, The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, the AEW star recalled that the pair travelled with Rey Mysterio, forming a “little team” together.
We did during some of those times, there were points where John and I would travel together. Me, him and Rey were a little team for a while there, thravelling on the road making towns brother.”
Hardy says Cena was good to travel with because he was happy to pay his share of everything and didn’t try to be a cheapskate. He also enjoyed the conversations the pair had on the road.
“I mean, he was good. You know, he would pay his share of the portion, you know. Whenever we had to spend money and do whatever, we’d all stay in individual hotel rooms.
“He wasn’t a cheapy and wouldn’t try to like crash on someone’s floor, he would spend a few bucks. He was great though he was cool. And once again I just always enjoyed conversation with him and whatnot.”
During the same episode, Hardy revealed that Cena’s original gimmick received a lot of criticism backstage.
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