John Cena admits there was a time when WWE’s creative process brought out his rebellious side. It wasn’t because he disliked authority—it was because he hated being told to do something without anyone explaining why.
Speaking on The Drew Barrymore Show, Cena explained that he’s often been labeled as someone who has a problem with authority. He doesn’t see it that way. Instead, he says his issue has always been with people using authority as an excuse instead of giving a real explanation. Using the example of a parent telling a child, “Because I said so,” Cena said that answer never worked for him because he always wanted to understand the reasoning behind a decision.
“So I have a problem with when there’s no good explanation. That’s my thing, right? I’m always in constant search for a good explanation. There has—like us existing together, there has to be some sort of authority. It just has to.”
“My thing is when people are given a fictitious position of authority… ‘I said so’ would trigger a rage debate from here. That is not a good explanation. Why can’t I stay out late? ‘Because I said so.’ That doesn’t work. You don’t get me. Why can’t I stay out late? ‘Because as your father, I’m afraid that if anything past 2:00 a.m., you run the risk of getting arrested…’ Wow, dude. Those are, like, points of contention. Good example. I’ll be home on time.”
Cena said that same mindset followed him into WWE, where there were times creative decisions came down to nothing more than “because we said so.” Rather than simply accepting those answers, he’d immediately start asking questions, trying to figure out who had actually made the decision and what the reasoning was behind it.
“In the creative space, especially, like, especially in the wrestling space, it used to be like, ‘Oh, because—because we said so.’ I just don’t stop there. Who’s ‘we’? Who do I have to talk to? And that’s not a, like, ‘You don’t mean anything.’ But if you can’t tell me, ‘We’re not supposed to do this because…’ well, I go on an immediate rebellion or some suspicious fact-finding mission.”
Looking back, Cena admitted he’s changed a lot over the years. Instead of instantly pushing back against authority, he now sees himself as someone who’s simply looking for a good explanation. He even said he’s more than happy to admit he’s wrong if someone can explain why a different decision makes more sense.
“See, I used to be the rebellion. Now… I just call it searching for a good explanation. So, I don’t have a problem with authority. I have a problem with using authority as a shield to give me the ‘because I said so.’
And if you get a good explanation, I’m backing down because just because what I want to do doesn’t match what we need to do, as long as you give me a good explanation, I’m backing down. I will say I’m wrong. I will U-turn and I’ll be like, ‘Thank you so much.’ And I’ve had so many teachable moments out of that.”
At the same time, Cena admitted there were still plenty of moments where those explanations never came. When that happened, he said it left him feeling like something wasn’t right, which is exactly why he’d keep digging until he either found an answer—or realized there wasn’t one to find.
“But I’ve also had a lot of challenges where it’s like, ‘Because you said so. What do you mean?’ Like, just give me something because I feel like I’m being taken advantage of. This doesn’t seem right. And there’s a lot of times when you’re in search of a good explanation, there is none.”
Looking back, it sounds like Cena was never trying to be difficult just for the sake of it. He simply wanted to understand why a creative decision was being made instead of accepting, “Because we said so.” Even though he admitted he’d often go into full rebellion mode early in his career, he said that changed over time as he became more interested in finding a real explanation than proving a point.
Do you agree with John Cena’s approach to WWE creative during his career? Let us know in the comments below.
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