John Cena recently appeared as a guest on the Not Sam Wrestling podcast for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, the WWE Superstar turned Hollywood big-shot spoke about his connection with fans, passing the torch, authenticity, Roman Reigns and more.
Featured below are some of the highlights.
On always trying to make fans care about what he's doing: “You can track back, and I’ve missed a bunch of times. I’ve tried to care and been too quirky, tried to be funny, and failed, but I’m trying. I’m always trying to make you care. That’s been the way since I was doing raps. People would want to hear the lines. Then people wouldn’t want to hear the lines. ‘You can do your rap thing. I’m just going to kick the crap out of you in the ring.’ Fine, that doesn’t matter. What matters is me making them connect and believe. If they believe and maybe they laugh, then they feel sad when people kick the crap out of me. Then I can get away with something like, my ethos is persistence, because years from now, people will be like, ‘Yeah, that actually kind of is what he does. He just keeps showing up. He’s here a lot.’”
On authenticity and passing the torch: “That’s the thing when authenticity. You can’t shake hands with someone for the first time, and they know you’re sold. I’m blessed enough to be able to, for now, people to reflect and see, ‘he is authentically that. He authentically has passion for the company.’ My goal is to authentically leave it better than I found it. That’s my goal, to pass the torch up.”
On Roman Reigns and future generational stars: “I don’t ever want to be talked about generations from now. They should be talking about Roman, and whoever follows him, and whoever follows him, because that’s how it should be. They should be in stadiums instead of arenas every night. That’s how it should be. That’s the burden Roman has on his shoulders. That’s the way it’s supposed to go. Too many people caught up in, ‘I’m this, I’m that.’ I’m a pawn on the chess board, and someone tells me, ‘we’re going to move you with this guy,’ it’s the same with movies. I don’t call the shots.”
Check out the complete interview at Megaphone.fm. H/T to WrestlingHeadlines.com for transcribing the above quotes.
