John Cena spent years walking into WWE arenas where half the crowd treated him like Superman and the other half couldn’t wait to tell him he sucked. It turns out those hostile reactions taught him a lesson he still carries with him today.
During his appearance on TODAY’s Making Space with Hoda Kotb, Hoda Kotb brought up Cena’s years as one of WWE’s most polarizing stars and asked what it was like constantly hearing strangers boo him and chant against him.
Cena explained that he had already experienced hostile crowds long before he became WWE’s top star. In fact, he believes wrestling in front of tiny audiences prepared him even better than being booed by thousands of people.
“Having the anonymity to be in a crowd of 10,000 yelling, ‘You suck,’ when you know you’re, you can’t be noticed, that, that doesn’t take a lot of courage. When you’re at, um, Saint Teresa’s Gym and you’re in a crowd of 10 and you’re one of those 10 who stand up and say, ‘Prototype, you suck,’ and I can look you in the eye and be like, ‘What?’ That takes courage and bravery.”
Cena said he dealt with that kind of direct reaction while wrestling as The Prototype in Ultimate Pro Wrestling and later during his developmental run in Ohio Valley Wrestling.
“And I dealt, I got to deal with that wrestling in the LA for Ultimate Pro and I got to deal with that wrestling for, uh, Ohio Valley Wrestling.”
Those early experiences helped Cena understand what professional wrestling really was and gave him an important lesson before he was ever standing in packed WWE arenas.
“So I guess, I guess I just kinda, again, good teachers around me to tell me, like, this is the business, you know, and, um, and what a great lesson to learn of, like, you can’t please everybody.”
Cena then connected those divided WWE reactions to the rebellious personality he had as a kid. He recalled wearing clothes that made him stand out when he was younger and said he could have changed himself then just as easily as he could have changed his WWE character later.
“And I think the reason I was so polarizing is just like at 12 years old wearing those MC Hammer pants. When I could have easily took them off, that’d been an easy route. Or I could have remained myself.”
That same mentality became a major part of how Cena approached his WWE character. Instead of trying to eliminate the boos by becoming whatever critics wanted him to be, Cena said he stayed committed to a character that reflected his actual values.
“I was very authentic to character, and character mirrored a lot of the things that I value in real life. And either you’re watching that channel or you’re not. You know what I’m saying? And that’s, you know, we all have our favorite things to do and things we also criticize, and I’m, I am who I am.”
Cena said trying to create a version of himself capable of winning everybody over would have been impossible anyway.
“I’m not trying to amalgamate to get to, to, to spread this impossible blanket that includes everybody. I can’t please everybody.”
His message to the fans who supported him, and especially those who didn’t, was simple.
“But if you, if you ride with me, man, I will give you all I got. And if you don’t, well, pack a lunch because it’s gonna be a tough one because I’m gonna, I’m gonna do well, you know. I’m, I’m gonna give it all I got.”
Cena spent years hearing “Let’s Go Cena” and “Cena Sucks” battle each other inside the same building, but he never saw winning every critic over as the endgame. He learned early that some people were never going to ride with him, so his answer was to stay himself and make sure they had plenty to react to anyway.
Do you think Cena was right to stick with his character despite years of divided WWE crowds, or should WWE have changed him when the backlash was at its loudest? Drop your thoughts in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
