As his retirement draws closer, WWE legend John Cena has been making his rounds with media interviews and recently appeared on the Bill Simmons podcast. He was asked who his biggest mentor was when first starting out with his wrestling career and Cena responded that it was former WWE CEO Vince McMahon.
"Vince, without a doubt. He was just really kind with his time. He would explain things. Here is a person making a lot of, if not all, the choices. I am always in search for a good explanation and he would always give one. And in giving the good explanation, you would get a nugget. And because Vince had such fluency in every avenue of the business, a lot of performers are worried about the stunts. I think one of the benefits of doing 220 shows a year is pace. And if you obsess over the physical aspect of the business, you might get exhausted. You might burn out. I love the technical aspect, but then I also became obsessed with the theatrical aspect."
"And then I also became obsessed. I became interested in the business. And not my business, like, ‘How can I take from this place to make as much as I can?’ The business. How do we get more people in the arena? And the only person it seemed like that had a good explanation for a lot of those questions was Vince. And that allowed just a wealth of information to be dumped on me."
"I had full faith and trust in him. I think he had full faith and trust in me. He wasn’t afraid to try, which is another thing I learned from him. Like, do not be afraid to swing big. And do not be afraid to fail. Be accountable for your failures."
H/T: f4wonline.com for the transcribing the above quotes.
