John Cena dialed back some words he had about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson about jumping from WWE to Hollywood. Mind you, his statements were made roughly 12 years ago when Cena was still very active in-ring and a main event talent who had several feuds to go through before eventually heading to Hollywood full-time himself in 2019.
John Cena Looks Back On His Criticism Towards The Rock Going Hollywood
According to Cena, he went about it the wrong way. Again, that’s insight he gained after going Hollywood himself and only returning to the WWE sporadically—like The Rock. The original statements came in 2011, a year that Cena won the belt three times after regaining it from The Miz.
By 2013, The Rock was back and defeated CM Punk at Royal Rumble. This set the stage for a showdown between him and Cena at WrestleMania. Of course, The Rock was there for a brief moment so this wasn’t going to be lengthy program at all. The Doctor of Thuganomics would defeat The Brahma Bull and send him back to Los Angeles—only to lose it to Daniel Bryan in the fall.
Now 46, John Cena has had time to sit with his own film and television success and seems to have a different opinion on The Rock going Hollywood. In the post-event press conference for Fastlane, Cena—who pops up when he has breathing room between projects—admitted that his statements could be viewed as hypocritical. He also said:
“I went about it the wrong way. I violated his trust and I made allegations about his perspective that I knew nothing about. And 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.”
It’s the growth you except with age and after a decade. John Cena also admitted that he’d “became who I despised” and that he’d learned from the “mistake” of feuding with Dwayne Johnson.
While chatting on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, he expanded on his statements noting that he took a less measured approach back then and that he understood why The Rock got upset. Cena would also note that the tension between the two was there for a reason and that he’d caused it.
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