John Cena opens up about his recent return to WWE.
The former 16-time world champion spoke on this topic during a recent edition of The After The Bell podcast, where he explained how the actor’s strike going on in Hollywood afforded him the time to come back and compete. The actor’s union, SAG-AFTRA, even gave Cena permission.
Well, that’s certainly a happening that’s beyond my control (Cena said in response to the question of how his recent WWE return came to be). So, I’m fortunate enough to have a lot of things on the movie and television side lined up, and none of which I can’t talk about. We’re in the middle of a labor dispute. Then, the labor dispute happens and Screen Actors Guild decides as an entirety to go on strike which either leaves me idle or asking questions of well, what can I do? What is within my control? And I wanted to see if it was okay to come back to tour so, we called the proper people at SAG, we got written, legal okay that it would be okay to come back to WWE and once I had that, then I could ask the question of, ‘Hey, WWE, do you guys want me to come back and hang out for a little bit?’ So, here we are.
Cena later discusses what he would like to accomplish with this run, listing a whole bunch of accolades he would still like to attain.
Dude, the great thing about WWE is there’s always another show and there’s always something to accomplish. I think individuals tend to look at it selfishly. Can I win a 17th championship? I haven’t won the Intercontinental Championship. I wanna win another Money in the Bank, I wanna win another Royal Rumble. It could be like, I’d like to help Roman Reigns become a larger, global phenomenon. I would like to be Austin Theory’s mentor, I would like to do as many live events as I possibly can because physically, I’m able to do them and just give the yield of trying to give whatever I have left to an audience that cares while they care. I don’t look at accomplishments in a perspective of, I need to win another championship, I need to do this. I just need a chance to get out there in any capacity and then I wanna be able to take that, okay, what’s the hand I’ve been dealt? Alright. I’m gonna try to play this the best I can. I don’t think I’ll ever run out of things to possibly accomplish. The sad struggle that I have every day is I’m 46, I’ll be 47 in April and everyone is so skilled (and) I can’t do the things I used to do anymore and I don’t know if you’ve been watching my stuff but I don’t do that much. So, I also wanna be able to contribute to the WWE and then walk away from it and I mean walk away from it. Not all hunched over and not broken and beaten but appreciative and healthy and with a perspective of this is a great chapter in the story of my life and one that has made me who I am.
WWE recently released a playlist narrated by Cena that covered some of his most important rivalries in company history. Check out what he had to say about Roman Reigns in that video by clicking here.
(H/T and transcribed by Post Wrestling)