John Cena wasn’t exactly sold on WWE pulling back the curtain for Netflix’s WWE Unreal when the project first started. Cena admitted that he and plenty of other WWE performers were apprehensive about the series before its success forced him to rethink how he viewed the entire concept.
During an interview with Forbes’ Alfred Konuwa, Cena was asked what it was like to film WWE Unreal and reflect on the final stage of his wrestling career. Cena made it clear that there was some hesitation among the performers when WWE first started opening up parts of its creative process for the Netflix cameras. However, he said the continued success of the show proved that the business had changed and that he needed to be willing to change with it.
“I was pretty apprehensive, as were a lot of performers to the start of the show. I also try to live my life in a philosophy that I don’t know everything and I try to be as coachable as I can. And when Season 1 was a success and a success enough to get them Season 2 and Season 2 was successful enough to get them Season 3. Whatever I think is good about business or good for business or whatever I’ve been taught, I have to be coachable at some point and understand that things aren’t the way they used to be. That being said, to be able to sit down and tell my point of view, I’m really grateful because I know my retirement tour had a lot of moments where there was a bunch of different perspectives.”
That chance to give his own perspective became a major selling point for Cena. His retirement run produced plenty of decisions that fans still debate, and Cena specifically mentioned criticism of his heel turn, his final match and his match with Brock Lesnar.
“Still are. I mean, still people talk about [my retirement match] because I still stand by my convictions. My goal is to not be remembered. But when people talk about these certain moments, it incites conversation. ‘Oh, the heel turn didn’t work. I hated to finish the last match. Why did they squash him with Brock?’ ‘Just to get my perspective of what I was thinking, maybe elicits a different conversation. So that was really fun to be able to sit down with Netflix. My dream would be one day to go through the tour, even the lead up from me announcing my retirement.”
Cena ultimately came away from WWE Unreal with a much different opinion than the one he had going in. What started as something he was apprehensive about turned into an experience that left him wanting to tell even more of the story behind his retirement run.
WWE spent decades keeping much of its creative process behind closed doors, so Cena’s initial reaction probably wasn’t unusual. The difference is that he now sees value in letting fans hear his side of those controversial moments — and he may not be finished opening that door.
Do you think WWE Unreal gives fans too much access behind the scenes? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.
