WWE legend and 16-time World Champion John Cena recently appeared on ID10T with Chris Hardwick, where he talked about the ovation he has been receiving from the fans throughout his wrestling career as he has always been one of, if not the most polarizing figure in all of wrestling. Cena said the reaction he gets from the fans, despite how polarizing it can be, is what made him the person and performer he is today.
John Cena said:
“I think a lot of it comes from the WWE and its audience.” “Being told you suck, every time you go out five times a week. Like genuine, visceral, and the reason I know it was genuine was because I was a good guy. They boo the bad guys because they know, but I was deemed the role of the hero. And to have this adversarial, visceral, genuine force of reminding you that ‘don’t get too close to the sun, don’t sip the Kool Aid, hey dude, you suck.’”
“And I think a lot of that helped me kind of, one take that in. Take their opinion in and understand why they thought I sucked. Two, be okay with being humiliated every night. And three, looking in the mirror and being like ‘no I think I’m okay with what I see. I think I’m going to be alright.’ I always say I owe the WWE audience more than I can explain. They made me into the person that I am. Not the professional; I took a lot of professional tidbits from my time there. But they made me into the person I am.”
John Cena then talked about how he worked for every thing he has gotten and the work ethic he has and the sacrifices he has made to get to the point he currently is in his wrestling career and that it is not because WWE CEO Vince McMahon let him do everything he wanted to do and handed him everything.
John Cena said:
“I heard it so much in WWE.” “‘Well, Vince lets him do whatever he wants. That’s why he can consistently perform at a level that’s acceptable and entertaining to the audience. He gets to do whatever he wants.’ Nope. I ask and I execute and I invest and I’m meticulous with the detail and I’m consistent night in after night out. I’m trustworthy, I’m giving of self. But the perception everyone else has is ‘he just has a better situation.’ And I’m not taking away from anybody’s struggle. And I’ve learned to appreciate everyone’s struggle, and everyone has a different struggle. I can understand where those feelings come from.”
“You can have those feelings when you’re done analyzing yourself and saying like ‘yo, am I at max capacity? Am I doing, because if I really want to wear those shoes or put on those jorts, am I at max capacity? Or did I party too much?’ This is a completely acceptable example, ‘did I want to see my family?’ I wrote off everything but wrestling in my life for two decades. Everything. And that’s a toxic relationship, but the byproduct was I got some wonderful opportunities. But now I’m dealing with a landslide of stuff where I’m rebuilding myself as a man, as a human being, and gladly and open and welcome.”
You can check out John Cena's comments in the embedded audio player below:
