John Cena says he regrets his real-life feud with The Rock which became a bit too personal during the pair's time together in WWE.
At different respective times in their professional wrestling careers, both Cena and The Rock were known as the 'face' of WWE, with the former enjoying enormous success after Dwayne Johnson had made the leap to Hollywood.
Cena would accuse The Rock in interviews of turning his back on the industry that made him. Rock would make his triumphant return to the company as the host of Wrestlemania 27, calling Cena out for his comments.
They would face off in the main events of Wrestlemania 28 and 29, with each wrestler claiming a victory.
READ MORE: The Rock was once told to completely change himself to fit in at Hollywood
In the promos leading up to those matches, things, in the eyes of some, went too far. Cena broke 'kayfabe' rules at one point by accusing Rock of requiring notes on his wrist in order to get through a promo.
“I got selfish and me — living WWE at the point and not having any concept of growth or someone else’s perspective — I took Dwayne’s comments as not genuine,” he said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
“My view was if you love something, be there everyday. Like, what a hypocrite I am, because I still love WWE and I can’t go all the time. And I just didn’t see that. I was so selfish.
“Instead of going like, ‘Hey man, I’d like to try to do this thing to hook you back in and maybe we can collaborate and really make it big,’ I was just like, ‘Eff this, I’m calling this dude out. This is a moment. You gave me an opening. I’m going to kick the door in. And I was diligent and I understand why he got upset.”
The Rock, alongside fellow stars like Dave Bautista of Guardians of the Galaxy fame, has helped to change the perspective of wrestlers-turned-actors, who were previously laughed out of Hollywood.
Cena has praised those two men for paving the way him other WWE stars to make the successful jump to movies and TV.
“These guys are breaking down barriers, shattering ceilings, and on top of that, just transcending the art form,” he explained.
“I just got selfish and wanted a main event marquee match because it would better what I thought was the business. That was short-sighted and selfish. It worked! But it worked at the cost of two people who communicated and almost put it in jeopardy. There was a moment where there was a lot of bad vibes between us and rightfully so."
The Rock and Cena promos
Comments (0)