John Cena on post in-ring career: ‘I always want to be involved in the business’
John Cena says he always wants to be involved in the business, even after his in-ring career is over.
Cena appeared as a guest on an episode of Impaulsive released on Wednesday. During the interview, he was asked if he plans to wrestle again.
Cena responded:
Yes, I hope so. I am not officially done. I know that I’m close, bud, I’m close, I can feel it. Especially seeing you (Logan Paul) out there doing incredible stuff. And just our talent now, the product has become so crisp and so fast and so skilled, it is a different world.
He was then asked if he would consider taking on an executive role with WWE when his in-ring career.
Cena answered:
No, what I would love to give to the business is just my time and I live very close to the Performance Center and I would like to go in as a guest, that way I’m not obligated and they’re not obligated in anyway. It’s stuff I do on my free time, anyway. I love going in and just picking people’s brains and just have conversations about like, “So, who are you?” And they’ll be like, “What does that have to do with anything?” Oh, only everything. Let’s talk.
Cena continued:
I always want to be involved in the business. I get so passionate about it and it’s something that I love and I think I have a few pieces of wisdom that need to be passed on and I don’t think they should die with me so I’m going to try and do that as best I can.
Another topic discussed during the interview is how Cena defines the John Cena character.
Cena said:
John Cena in the WWE existence is quite easy for me to define, (he’s) Superman. And I don’t mean like I’m stronger than everybody, I can outrun a speeding train or am stronger than a train or faster than a bullet, whatever. I mean, Superman acts with pure virtue, Superman has a moral code, Superman can be conflicted but when he’s conflicted, his northstar is his moral code and his virtues.
Cena continued:
Over the years, there has been a difference in Superman. The Superman of 2012, where man did they want CM Punk to win the championship because everybody was sick of me winning. They were sick of Superman, which is the forever problem with Superman, he’s too good.
Now, it’s an older Superman, who is looking in the mirror saying, ‘I was this, I’m not this anymore, what am I now?
I’m trying to figure it out, I need your help. ‘Hey guys, I don’t know how much time I have left’ and I gauge their interest off that.
Now, he says, the person fans see on television is pretty close to the real John Cena.
Cena continued:
The person sitting before you is me, the person you see in WWE is more of me now than it ever has been in totatlity. I don’t know what the future will bring and I don’t know if I’ll ever have to take the character or the arc anywhere else.
Another topic discussed was Cena learning Mandarin and how he hoped to make WWE relevant in China by breaking down the language-barrier.
Cena said:
I cannot tell you how much I love WWE and loving it is not just loving my time in the ring, it’s also loving the business and WWE has really never been able to penetrate China.
They just don’t understand it. They think it’s a Kung Fu expedition, they don’t know if it’s real. It’s the one place in the world that kind of doesn’t understand. Everywhere else but China. So, I figured if one of WWE’s top superstars could bridge the language-barrier maybe we could get some relevancy over there and with relevancy maybe we could get some homegrown talent. And with homegrown talent maybe – as we were talking about how you get distribution with Prime and how you get locations – you have influence in this area. And I was literally just trying to use myself as a vehicle to get us over there and the crazy thing is, it didn’t work.
We also talked about manifesting stuff and it failed. This was eight years of labor, failed. I haven’t stopped, I still learn because I truly admire learning the skill. I don’t do it anymore as ‘oh this will be useful to me someday,’ I try to keep my brain sharp and I don’t want to lose what I’ve learned but it was one of those things where you work really hard and it doesn’t matriculate.
