John Cena isn’t shy about speaking his mind about WWE related topics. While Cena isn’t the kind of guy that will say something controversial that often, he is usually honest. Sadly, Cena doesn’t do a lot of interviews likely because he’s so busy filming movies and TV shows when he’s not in WWE, but when WWE had Talking Smack he was one of the best guests on that show because it felt like we were getting more of the real Cena. This past Sunday he was on Raw Talk after No Mercy and did a great job there too.
Recently, Cena appeared on the Edge & Christian Podcast of Awesomeness and he did a great job on the podcast. Cena wrestled Edge dozens of times in WWE and a few times with Christian as well, but most people would say Edge is one of Cena’s greatest rivals.
It was a fun talk full of laughs and stories about how Edge’s mom and Cena’s dad sat beside eachother during one of their biggest matches. I won’t give it all away, but I would recommend spending an hour of your life listening to it.
During the discussion, Cena spoke about the complacency of some WWE superstars that he feels could be doing more. Here’s what he said with a thanks to 411wrestling for the transcript:
“Man, this is probably why they don’t let me out of the cage to do podcasts because I’m going to be flung from the tallest tree, but the amount of complacency is staggering. I mean, these guys are all so gifted and there [has] never been a better time ever to make a name for yourself in WWE. With all of the platforms that we have with RAW and SmackDown, with NXT, we’re increasing our number of pay-per-views, we’re throwing so much content at the [WWE] Network, it’s obscene. We have so many guys that have so many chances. I just don’t get it. We are in the business right now of holding onto a lot of guys, so, like I said, and I mean this: there [has] never been a better chance for someone to be a WWE Superstar, a WWE megastar, than right now. Like, it is wide open, throttle wide open, foot to the floor. If you ever thought you can do it, step up right now. And I don’t know. I think the guys right now just feel like a piece of the system rather than this creative force.”
Cena makes a good point that there is an opportunity to step up and we can point to Braun Strowman as a guy that has stepped up to become a huge star. Some might say Jinder Mahal has too, but let’s not pretend like his WWE Championship has been that interesting because the attendance at Smackdown shows have been poor of late. I think some wrestlers may be too scared to try to break up that complacency. We all know how the wrestling business works and if you say or do the wrong thing you might get heat.
Cena also addressed the false perception that people have of him where they think he “buries” talent when they feud with him.
“If you look at any Superstar, when they get in there with me, they do their best work. And I have this notorious, crazy reputation for burying guys because they get so lost in the shuffle after they’re done with me. I think their perspective is skewed because I bring that out of them, whatever it is they need to find, I bring it out of them.”
A lot of these guys that I face are getting the chance to make a name for themselves and after they face me, they can’t recapture the energy and that’s why they get lost in the shuffle, because it comes from creative inspiration. Meanwhile, I get my next opponent and I’m already thinking about crazy things I could do, or say, or act, and I’m on to the next one. And they just wait for that experience to happen again and it doesn’t.”
Interesting take by Cena there. I agree with most of it, but I think it’s fair to say some guys like AJ Styles and Kevin Owens did very well after they feuded with him. It’s clear that feuding with Cena did help them. Others like Bray Wyatt and Rusev haven’t had as much success after their feuds with Cena.
To listen to Cena’s nearly hour long chat covering a number of different wrestling topics, check out the Edge & Christian Podcast of Awesomeness podcast on iTunes, Stitcher and other outlets.
