Mason Rook says John Cena was a fan of his work well before he arrived in WWE.
Rook, formerly known as Will Kroos, made his WWE debut in April and quickly received public praise from Cena. As it turns out, Cena had already been following Rook’s career on the UK independent scene.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio (full interview below), Rook recalled first meeting Cena while doing extra work for WWE in Glasgow.
“When I first met John, I was doing extra work for WWE in Glasgow, and that’s when he pulled me to the side. He was the first important person that I saw on the day. We were all walking into the extra room, and he was signing 8x10s in a production room.”
Rook initially thought he would simply have an opportunity to introduce himself to Cena.
“We were walking in, and he got up. I thought he was getting up to leave, but there was a sharp left bend, and we were going to meet at the bend, and I thought to myself, ‘This might be the only time I get to introduce myself and say hello to him.’ I shook his hand and said, ‘Hey, my name is Will. It’s a real pleasure to meet you.’”
Instead, Cena surprised Rook by revealing that he was already familiar with his work.
“He shook my hand and said to me then, at first I thought it was a rib and he was winding me up, but he said to me he was a huge fan of my work, and he watched it because at the time he was filming in Budapest and one of the indie companies I worked for in England was somehow broadcast on that channel, so he would watch it on his downtime.”
Rook said receiving that kind of validation from Cena was a surreal experience.
“From that moment on, he became a fan of me, which I guess is a credit to my work and belief that pro wrestling is my job and what I do. At the same time, to hear one of the greatest of all time say that and give me that kind of validation was very surreal and something I’m extremely grateful for.”
Cena has continued to speak highly of Rook since his WWE arrival, something Rook said he doesn’t take for granted.
“For John to not only give his time to me then, but obviously, since I’ve arrived in WWE, he’s been quite vocal about me, and he’s not had to do that, so I’m forever grateful to him for that.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Rook was asked about his physical appearance and whether he has considered changing his look or losing weight, similar to Bronson Reed’s recent transformation.
“I think it’s all individual and specific to the person. However, obviously, my size, look and uniqueness is what got me to the dance. Now that I’m at the dance, I don’t know if that will be enough to keep me at the dance.”
Rook acknowledged that other WWE stars have changed their appearance after joining the company and said he would personally like to lose some weight, while also recognizing that his current look helped him stand out.
“I see superstars who arrived at NXT or WWE a certain way, and they’ve had a transition period. Everyone is different. Would I like to say that I’d like to lose a few pounds? Of course. I’m not in denial about that, but again, my uniqueness and size is what got me here, and I’d like to think it’s what is going to keep me here, too.”
Also during the interview, Mason Rook responded to online criticism from WWE fans over his size and look.
In related news, in a different recent interview, John Cena revealed how he discovered Mason Rook before WWE.
