John Cena is not proud of some of the things he said to The Rock during their rivalry in 2012.
With a hostile crowd firmly behind The Great One and against Cena on an episode of Raw, the 16-time Champion noted that he was a part of WWE every week and the Hollywood star would only appear sporadically. Taking shots at The Rock in the exchange, Cena arguably took it too far by calling out The People’s Champion for having promo notes written on his wrist. The line would sour the working relationship for a number of weeks and cause Rock to be legitimately angry with Cena as a result. Looking back on what happened, Cena admitted that he handled it very poorly.
The topic of The Rock’s WWE return was brought up during Cena’s appearance on the Impaulsive podcast with Logan Paul. The United States Champion joked that the former World Champion may have had notes written down once again when he uttered a reference about The Head of the Table. Looking back on the moment, Cena admitted that he had no intention of saying that line at the time and it was the wrong thing to do:
I didn’t know I was gonna do that. It was one of those things where it happened at the last minute. And looking back at it, it was f*cking stupid. Because we have the biggest star in the world coming back when they don’t need to, giving our product ratings, giving our product relevancy, getting people to talk about us. And what I do? [Call him out for writing notes on his arm]
The guy is going a million different directions. Probably flew in from God knows where working a full day, and I now know what that feels like, and he just wants to do the best he can. I don’t blame him for that. I blame myself for taking advantage of that. A professional would have been like, Hey, before you go out there. If you do go out there like that. I’m going to use it. That’s a professional. I did a stupid rookie move. That’s not how we trust each other and that’s not how that works.
Paul commented that he loved the spot at the time and believed it to be a great tactic to promote the upcoming match. Cena disagreed, noting that both Superstars had the same objective:
From an entertainment standpoint, objective achieved, gained interest, box office was crazy. Set pay-per-view buy rates. Sometimes in the fight game it gets a little grey but we’re all on the f*cking same team out there man. And you got to have trust. [What if he said no?] Then I don’t use it. [But what about the box office?] I would entertain another way. There’s more than one way to solve a creative puzzle.
That’s where you build trust and that’s where people really shine. And that’s where you bring the best out of people. And that’s why when I sit down with people, first of all, I make sure to sit down with them and you got to go way back. You can’t just tell that moment in the story. I spent years calling out The Rock saying that man, if you love the business, you should be back. What a f*cking hypocrite I am. I love the business. I should be back. I should be back all the time. But I’m not. Yesterday was Monday, why the hell wasn’t I at Raw?
Concluding his thoughts, Cena admitted regret that he took advantage of a legend who was a large part of his own individual success:
Yeah, I didn’t show up [to Raw]. But I can sit here and say I love the business. And I’m super hypocritical in my approach from being young and stupid. So Rock was already pretty upset with me about that, because all he’d given to the business and without him, I don’t get a chance to do the other stuff. And without him, I don’t get a chance in wrestling.
He was so popular and helped rise the tide, which helped split competition which helped the hiring spree, which Benjamin Buttoned me into getting the contract, which I parlayed into a thing where I’m on TV because he left and did all this stuff.
Now I get a chance. I owe a lot to that. With the methodology, I wanted to sell tickets. There’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. [Was he pissed?] He was, and justifiably so. Because he’s a guy who’s got his heart in it. He still comes back, bro. So inside I’m thinking, Man, if I can get under his skin, I can get him back. I could have gotten back a bunch of different ways, you didn’t have to be a dick about it, bro.
Cena would later apologise to Rock for the infamous line and the two future Hall of Famers are now on good terms.
John Cena Details Ideal Location For Final Match
Cena has taken part in a number of interviews over the past few weeks and has frequently brought up the topic of retirement and his final match. While John Cena has been more discreet regarding when it might be or who his dream opponent would be, he has revealed his dream location.
During the same interview, John Cena elaborated on his shocking starting salary.
If you use any quotes from this article please credit Impaulsive and leave a h/t to Inside The Ropes.