John Cena spoke with Sports Illustrated while in New York City for the Nickelodeon Upfronts earlier this week. The full interview is at this link and below are highlights:
His WWE future and possibly missing WrestleMania 34 this year:
“I’ve got a ton of outside stuff going on, and I am proudly waving the banner of the WWE. Everybody always asks, on movie sets and even at the Kids’ Choice Awards, ‘When are you leaving?’ I’m not. As long as my body holds up, I am WWE-proud all the time. With my schedule, it does mean I have to take breaks, because they don’t allow you to do both.
“I’m fortunate enough to be in this spot right now, but it’s not like, ‘Thanks, WWE, for what you’ve done for me but deuces, I’m out and I’m never speaking to you again.’ All things considered, with everything coming out, I wouldn’t mind my contribution to WrestleMania this year being an absence. If that’s my role in the story, I’ll play it.”
The WWE Title Six-Pack Challenge on Sunday and possibly breaking WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair’s record:
“Fastlane will be a special day if all goes well. I know I’m not supposed to speak about this, but going from two names to one name would be a pretty cool piece of conversation. I have all the respect in the world for Ric. We have a great rapport with each other, he was the first one to congratulate me when I won against AJ at the Rumble. It’s looming, but this is the time where it may indeed happen.”
Reports of him preferring a WrestleMania 34 match with Rey Mysterio after The Undertaker was ruled unavailable:
“Rey Mysterio is great. I’ll say that, and that’s what I can say about Rey.
“I have never asked for a WrestleMania opponent. If you look at what I’ve done in my WrestleMania entirety, from coming out at Safeco Field in a sweat suit rapping to two cardboard cutouts, to working with established superstars to working with rookies, to being fortunate enough to use the platform to ask a beautiful young lady to marry me. A lot of our performers get frustrated and ask, ‘What can you do for me?’ I just ask, ‘What can I do for you?’ They tell me, and I do it to the best of my ability. Even if it’s no one.
“What a great story it would be for me to miss and have to buy a ticket. The year doesn’t stop at WrestleMania, we do Raw the next night. Now imagine if this stalwart, this statue of the WWE now has to look inside himself and ask, ‘Do I still have it?’ after being left out of the biggest show of the year.”
Cena also discussed Rob Gronkowski being a perfect fit for WWE, WWE needing to form a tighter relationship with Nickelodeon and more. You can read the full interview by clicking here.
Source: Sports Illustrated
