During an interview on The Bill Simmons Podcast, John Cena said his biggest failure in WWE was not capitalizing on his “Ruthless Aggression” character in 2002:
“So here I am, a young whippersnapper, debuting in Chicago because The Undertaker is sick. I get to challenge Kurt Angle to a match on SmackDown in front of a sold out house at the formerly known as the Rosemont Horizon.
The Olympic Gold Medalist says, ‘What makes you think you can stand out here with anybody else? What do you have that I don’t?’ ‘Ruthless Aggression,’ I slap him in the face, that’s aggressive. Then the match we went on to have was pretty ruthless.
But then he won but with a roll-up pinfall, then the aggressive, ruthless young kid goes, ‘Man, you only got me by that much’. The next thing they did was a backstage taping with The Undertaker, where the ruthless, aggressive kid is so starry-eyed that The Undertaker is giving him advice, shakes The Undertaker’s hand, that is neither ruthless nor aggressive.
This is what I mean by being ready for opportunity, that gimmick, those two words, that personality, I could either lean into being aggressive and ruthless – we all have an idea in our head of what is ruthless and what is aggression – or I could do a 180 and be passive aggressive.
I was neither, and I didn’t have the technical ability of my peers. They gave me this beautiful moment on a silver platter, no one told me it was an attitude, but I didn’t take advantage of it.”
John Cena Reveals The Only Reason WWE Booked His Heel Turn
During his interview on the Insight podcast, John Cena was asked if his heel turn was always in the cards. The 17-time World Champion revealed that wasn’t the case and the only reason WWE booked his heel turn was for shock value / viral moment:
“No. That stuff you see on (WWE) Unreal is real. Like, ‘We need to make Chamber big, so let’s do something that’ll shock everybody. Hey man, we got this idea.’ No problem. I’ll do the best I can with it.”
Also during this interview, Cena brushed off questions about the original plans for his controversial partnership with The Rock and rapper Travis Scott.
Cena stressed that he does not focus on what could have been, only on what is happening now.
The wrestling world was shocked earlier this year when Cena turned heel and attacked Cody Rhodes at Elimination Chamber alongside The Rock and Scott.
While The Rock quickly disappeared afterward, Scott interfered in the WrestleMania 41 main event to help Cena capture the Undisputed WWE Championship.
When asked what the initial plan was for the three stars, Cena rejected the question, saying: “Who cares? It doesn’t matter. We can talk about what could have been until the cows come home.”
Cena said that this ability to change quickly is why he and Cody Rhodes are top stars. He said he never wastes time worrying about changes because things in wrestling happen fast. As an example, he said that if Brock Lesnar had not left for the NFL, there might never have been a John Cena in the first place.
When asked if a match against The Rock was on the table this year, Cena replied: “Could there be anything? That’s the thing that sucks about what could have been, it’s not what it is.”
Cena also said that when creative plans change, he is always the last person WWE calls because he is the easiest to deal with. He said he has seen many stars leave, like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, and The Rock, and he does not blame them for leaving for big opportunities.
John Cena’s main focus is always on the current plan, no matter what changes happened before.
Also Read: John Cena Thinks Brock Lesnar Will Retire Very Soon, Possible Date
