The wrestler gets candid on why his former feud with Dwayne Johnson started in 2011.
John Cena’s beef with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson started 12 years ago, around the time the former wrestler ditched the wrestling ring for other career endeavors. According to Cena and TooFab, he felt like Johnson was abandoning the WWE for the big screen.
Looking back, Cena recognized the hypocrisy in his feud with Johnson, as he followed in the wrestler-turned-actor’s footsteps.
In a press conference for WWE Fastlane, he confessed, “If you’ve been following what I’ve tried to do, especially as of late, publicly and personally to Dwayne Johnson, I’ve stated that although I thought I was trying to do what’s best for business, I went about it the wrong way.”
“I violated his trust and I made allegations about his perspective that I knew nothing about,” Cena added.
While the wrestler had WWE’s future in mind, the media took notice of how poorly Cena treated Johnson during this era.
Cena continued, “Deep down, I was a fan. I wanted The Rock back. I wanted to do anything to get The Rock back, but I did it the wrong way.”
Since the end of the Fast X actor’s dispute with Johnson, he hasn’t hesitated to recognize his wrongdoings.
“I didn’t do it the respectful way, so I had to eat a little bit of crow. I had to say ‘I’m sorry and I was wrong,’ because I am sorry and I was wrong, and that’s a very humbling experience. Dwayne is a hell of a guy…,” Cena explained. “I became who I despised. I see that perspective and I understand it. It was a great learning experience from my mistake with feuding with The Rock.”
John Cena’s Hollywood Double Life
Similar to “The Rock,” Cena spends more time in movie studios than on wrestling mats these days. But during the WGA strike, Cena took time to return back to his roots—the ring. However, Cena expressed that he couldn’t continue both endeavors—acting and wrestling—at once.
He explained, “I made it perfectly clear you can’t do both because of the liability insurance. If I were trying to juggle both that’s very selfish because I’d put a whole lot of people in the movie business out of work if something happened to me.”
Cena continued, “I stopped a project in the middle of [the strike], and I can’t talk about it because of the strike we’re in. We’re in the middle of it. As soon as we get back to work, we go back to work. I don’t control any of that.”
Given that the WGA strike ended on September 27, it is assumed that Cena will soon return to working on his film project.
Most recently, Cena has delighted wrestling fans by appearing on WWE NXT alongside wrestling stars Cody Rhodes, Paul Heyman, and The Undertaker.
For now, we’re glad the feud between Cena and Johnson has come to a close and are excited to see their Hollywood careers flourish.