WWE: Full recap of John Cena’s podcast appearance with Chris Jericho

After two installments of The Stone Cold Podcast, WWE has brought Chris Jericho’s podcast (or a reasonable fascimile they can trademark the name of) to the WWE Network. The show gets its own intro with a Fozzy song. Chris congratulates Cena for having a good match with Cody tonight and saying that he showed tonight, he has seven moves of doom. Jericho calls the springboard stunner the Whattamaneuver and asks if they can say Michinoku driver on the show. Cena says that two of the five moves are the shoulder tackle and the one after the duck, so it counts as two. Jericho talks about that being like the CFL having two Rough Riders teams.

Jericho asks him if he minds being out of the main event and Cena says he likes it and wants to be in there with talented younger guys like Cody and Ambrose. He wants to redefine the US Title and let them shine and do something new for himself. Jericho asks if it was stale for him to be on top and Cena says that they have so much content that they can become complacent. Cena says he wasn’t given the key to the city – he’s been in the first match, middle, and the main events.

Jericho says he felt the same way when he want from being World Champion on one PPV to then opening the next show as IC Champion because he made the title mean more with the Rey feud. If you have a title, you shouldn’t just let it exist without a purpose. Cena says you should try to give a title its own mystique and that will lead to the fans caring about it more.

Jericho talks about the open challenge and says he has a hard-hitting question – what if Funaki accepted the challenge? Cena’s first riding partners were Funaki, the Bashams, Tajiri, and Ultimo Dragon. John says he knew the Bashams from OVW and Tajiri got into the group through Funaki, and then Ultimo joined once he came in. He went from being a big deal internationally to being in the back with the luggage. Cena says Tajiri loved Burger King and how Tajiri might’ve had a few too many, but he suddenly spoke perfect English for the food order. Jericho says that Funaki’s the same way despite living in Texas for nearly 20 years.

Jericho says that John’s one of the company’s biggest stars ever and asks what his relationship is with Vince now. Cena says he and Vince share the same vision, but they’re different creatively. Cena says he loves this company. Some love wrestling, but he loves the company and how the owner is the first to arrive and the last to leave. Cena says his goal is to take the company to new places. He wants to take it to China and India and make the company bigger than ever.

Jericho says he always imagined Vince and Cena having a secret handshake and Cena says they’re a bit like freemasons. Cena says he’s gained the trust of Vince, and sometimes, he still gets yelled at – but it doesn’t piss him off. Cena says it shows Vince still has passion after 31 WrestleManias. Jericho says that Vince wouldn’t have anyone do something he wouldn’t do and Jericho says that the Cena-Vince dynamic wasn’t always so good.

Cena’s first match on PPV was against Jericho and Cena got some backlash for being new. Jericho said that he was going over in the match, but Jericho told Vince that Cena should go over. Cena says he met Vince in Chicago. Kurt was going to wrestle Taker, but he wasn’t there – so Cena came in as a fill-in with his $8 haircut. They show Cena as the Prototype looking absolutely gigantic. Vince met Cena and demanded that they cut his hair, so he went out and had the match. Jericho says he heard about Cena’s backwards promo from Steve Lombardi.

Cena thanks Danny Davis and Jim Cornette for giving them the freedom to be themselves. He did promos normally, and then rewound it – but he never did it more because you really can’t make that a regular deal. Jericho does an impression of it and then Cena does it…yup, that is funny exactly once. Cena says he wishes that a lot of the guys would try something new. Vince talks about the brass ring.

Cena says he loved it because while Vince will yell at you, he can still hear the audience. Cena says if you get a big reaction, you’ll at least get another chance. Everyone should feel like they have freedom to do what feels right at the moment and to not be afraid and just stick within the TV-PG setup. Jericho asks if things are too scripted out and John says things are different now even though he was a fan of Attitude too, but you need to knock them dead and you’ll keep your job.

Jericho says he used to have a name for Cena – Cena says it was Wacky Rollup Guy and that none of them looked good. Cena says that guys would lose to him at 2.999. Cena says he had the multi-colored tights and grew up loving the style of Regal and Finlay. They were at the Staples Center and he was wrestling for Rick Bassman in a dark match with bodybuilding shoes and sweats. The match was terrible and he asked for feedback from Regal. Regal told him “lad, if you get a set of boots, you’ll at least look like a wrestler”. Cena says that he took at it face value, so he literally bought 75 pairs of boots and 150 sets of tights.

Jericho talks about how each team represented a hometown. Cena says he didn’t want to wear the same thing twice, and he wore the hometown colors and he still has all the tights. Jericho asks if he has Winnipeg Jets colors and Cena says he has two sets. Jericho puts over the murderers row of OVW guys at the time of Cena, Batista, Brock, and Shelton. Cena puts over Terkay, Rico Constantino, and Ron Waterman too. Cena says he knew he wasn’t number 1 on the list for WWE.

Jericho asks what he did to get to the roster, and Cena says he did the same thing he does now – try harder, do new things, and don’t be afraid to fail. Cena says he waited for his chance and Jericho talks about the Cena, Edge, and Rey deal on SD. Jericho says he was so sad watching Cena on Velocity losing to Bull Buchanan. Cena says that he didn’t have a set character and was just Wacky Rollup Guy, so he needed to be set apart. He looked like everyone else and didn’t stand out.

Jericho puts over the Doctor of Thuganomics character and Cena talks about being on a European tour and learning a lot from Rikishi and how to do the entertainment stuff. Cena says he sat at the front of the bus and heard rapping in the back, and how Rikishi, Rey, Palumbo, Jindrak, and Eddie were all freestyling. He happened to join in and execs were in the front and heard it, so his whole deal was just a pure fluke. Cena says that if the coffee changes to red wine on the next tour, he might bring back the freestyling.

Cena says asked if he wanted to do it on TV and he said yes. He wanted to start looking ridiculous, so he did the Vanilla Ice bit to look different. Cena says he wanted to be obnoxious, like guys he saw on the beach. Jericho asks him if he was a fan and he was, but being in the business was so protected. Cena says that for every other profession, there’s a clear path, but with wrestling, it’s harder. Cens says that Killer Kowalski’s school was 25 minutes away from him.

Jericho calls Cena the first reverse second generation guy because Cena got in the business, and then his father followed him. Cena says that in 2004 or 2005 and Johnny Fabulous was born. They show a photo of John Jr. hugging his dad at WrestleMania 31. Jericho says that Cena’s body has never changed and asks if he’s ever taken any PEDs.

Cena says no, he’s just been really lucky to be around motivated people and they show him lifting 495 pounds at 17. They started lifting at 11:45 at night so they could lift for two days. Cena at the Max Muscle Nationals in Santa Monica is shown, with him being more bronze than the Rocky statue. Jericho says his genetic are crazy and Cena says that all of his competitions were tested and he was just into staying in shape. He’s proud to do things the right way and his body has looked the same forever.

Jericho says the only reason he believed Cena was because Lance said he was clean and they’re both naturally big guys. Cena says that his strength has gone up and Jericho says that Cena’s a mutant. He had neck surgery and Cena showed up to the building the same day. Cena says he just hates being away from WWE. Jericho asks if he heals quickly and Cena says that he does his rehab. Cena wanted to start working out right after the pec surgery, which he calls his first major surgery.

Jericho says he can’t believe Cena drank him under the table in Alaska. A couple was fighting and Cena counciled them and it worked. Cena says the bar closed, so they grabbed a cooler and brought it to the room. Jericho says that Cena tucked him in and he scared when he woke up and saw Cena in the corner drinking listening to Jericho’s iPod. Cena says he doesn’t regret it, and Jericho talks about the modern era having the Mount Rushmore of WWE and Cena being on it. Jericho asks who the next face could be and if it matters.

Cena says that it doesn’t matter and the guy who is put in that spot will be met with a polarizing dynamic. The fans reject anyone who feels like a packaged corporate product and Cena cites Roman. Cena likes that Roman is put in tough spots and he’s still a star. Cena says hey, you want new – they get new with Roman, but still aren’t happy. Jericho says the brand matters, not the guys. It’s all about “WWE is coming to town” and Cena says that every band needs a frontman, you can’t just have a group of skilled musicians.

Jericho says it’s hard for guys to take chances now and Cena says you need to do it anyway even if you could be fired. Cena says that he’ll retire and be able to do it his way while Michael Hayes told him he’d be fired for wearing ridiculous shoes and jersey. Jericho points out that Hayes probably said this while wearing a blue velvet pimp suit. Cena said he was willing to push the envelope and it’s led to some issues with the younger guys because the talent didn’t see him risk his job, so it leads to a disconnect.

Jericho says that Pillman told him you need to do something different and Cena says it’s all about identity. Cena says he tries to watch NXT when he came and that the most interesting thing is the steam the brand is building. Cena says the roster is forced to react – like he was when he inducted William Perry into the Hall of Fame and got an “FU Cena” chant right after Eddie Guerrero was inducted.

Jericho says that Cena never worked with Hogan and Austin, but he got to work with Rock. Jericho says there was heat between Rock and Cena when Rock came back. Cena says it was Jordan against LeBron James. Rock apparently wanted something different, but Cena didn’t elaborate and just says that in the press, he said Rock didn’t love the business. Now though, Rock’s taken Furious 7 to the box office and Cena tries to tie that into that taking wrestling to new heights as a result. Jericho says Rock was gone for 6 years and Cena says he was living his life 250 days on the road, so where was Rock? He was busy doing bigger things to make the whole picture better.

Cena says that Rock was too protected and Cena wanted to jab back at Rock on-air and it brought out the best in both of them. Cena says he didn’t notice Rock had the promo on his arm until a ref pointed it out to him and that made Rock step it up once he called him out on it on-air. Cena says that now he sees what Rock does and he gained a new appreciation for what he’s done. Cena says Rock was always professional and at WM 28, he went into Rock’s dressing room with a bottle of White Lightning and he told him that he didn’t mean anything personal – he just wanted to have a verbal war or else it would just have been Michael Jordan against The Generals.

Jericho asks if animosity makes things better and Cena agrees. Cena talks about the CM Punk walkout angle in 2011 and then immediately moves onto how he and Jericho didn’t talk before this show and how he, Daniel Bryan, and Punk just say what they want and speak as naturally as they can. Jericho says that you need things to feel real and that is better for them and the crowd as well.

Jericho says there was a 50/50 split, Cena says that’s too generous and Jericho says 75/25 and Cena says it was more like 99/1. Jericho talks about “let’s go Cena/Cena sucks” being started in a match he had with Cena and Cena says that he just goes out to do the best he can. Cena says it started because it was the company pushing him and he said that he had to shift things a bit from the hip-hop guy to just be himself. He hustles, he is loyal, and he has strong ideals. Some like him and others don’t, but he was never bothered by the reactions. Jericho says he was always a little bothered by getting the opposite reaction, but Cena says he was used to being heel in OVW, so he was pretty comfortable and felt like he could play any hand dealt to him.

Jericho asks why fans are chanting Cena sucks and Cena says it’s because they want something different. They want blood and profanity, but they’re a TV-PG show and he gives them everything he can. He learned that you can’t please everyone at once, but he loves seeing kids light up. He knows that they feel about him how he felt when he became a fan. Jericho says his favorite Cena is the serious Cena, but he doesn’t like the juvenile Cena. Cena says you need to be different and can’t be stale, so it’s his feeble attempt to be versatile.

Jericho talks about the CTC limo bit standing for Cryme Tyme Cena and Cena saying he thought it was Change the Channel. Jericho asks him if Cena will ever turn heel. Cena says it was discussed briefly during the Rock program and he ran off to do it. He made new music, had new gear made, and he did that for just the mere notion of it – he’s ready for it at any time. Cena says it would be great to show that side, but it’s so rewarding for him to be inspirational as a babyface. The eight year old kid in the front row who is loving his act makes it worth it, and turning heel wouldn’t accomplish much. The fans who hate him would still boo him and then the kids would hate him.

Jericho says it’s show business and Cena says that if there’s someone who can take his spot, take it. Right now, he’s enjoying things and he likes the success he has. He loves what he does and loves meeting a kid who gives him a shirt to wear. Cena quotes Bryan and says that what they do is fiction, and the real part comes from when the kid shows up and loves it. Cena says there’s no next top guy right now.

Jericho does Cena’s hand sign, and Cena says it’s for his traveling partners Michael Cole and Mark Corano. They enjoy dive bars and said that they’re three losers, and the universal symbol for okay was just a joke he and his brother had and now it means so much more. Jericho asks what his favorite match is and Cena says his next one is before saying the real best one was the first Rock-Cena match. Jericho says a lot of that build was on Cena’s shoulders and Cena says it was, but Rock carried his weight when he was there.

He respects Rock for helping him out with his career and offering advice that comes from not being around WWE all the time. He doesn’t think about the future and when he’s a step slower, he’ll step away. Cena closes with an in-joke with Jericho and that’s it – Jericho closes to plug Talk is Jericho with Vickie Guerrero.

This was a pretty fun glimpse at two guys just having a casual conversation. It came off as very safe, but not sanitized and that’s a hard balance to strike. Cena was relaxed and seems to love this current stage in his career where he’s able to work with new guys and further establish the United States Championshp as something worth holding if you’re a top-level talent for the first time in the title’s WWE run. Jericho was fun to listen to as well and seems happier to have this role in wrestling than his most recent role as an underutilized enhancement guy.