"You are here in my heart" – John Cena's former rival thanks the WWE legend (Exclusive)

Alberto Del Rio has thanked John Cena for being so unselfish when they worked together in WWE.

Del Rio, also known as Alberto El Patron, won the WWE Championship and United States Championship from Cena in 2011 and 2015, respectively. Including untelevised live events, the two men shared the ring more than 80 times between 2010 and 2016.

In an interview with Sportskeeda Wrestling's Riju Dasgupta, Del Rio discussed his United States Championship win over Cena at Hell in a Cell 2015:

"I got to LA that night and I gotta say thank you to John Cena. Thank you, you are here in my heart. You taught me a lot. That's another performer that gets a lot of cr*p from the fans. Not anymore because he's retiring, and now from one day to the other all those hating him love him, but we, the entertainers, know that that's the way the business is, and we accept it." [1:40 – 2:05]

In the video above, Del Rio also explains why he no longer says negative things about WWE.

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What Alberto Del Rio learned from John Cena

Many fans and legends regard John Cena as one of the greatest WWE Superstars of all time. The 46-year-old's ability to connect with the audience is widely viewed as his most important attribute.

Alberto Del Rio learned a lot from Cena about the wrestling business, most notably the art of listening to the crowd during matches:

"John is so freaking good, and I learned so many [sic] stuff from him, especially that thing where you go out there into the ring and you just feel the crowd. You forget about that stupid choreography that they do in other places where they do 150,000 kicks in one match, and then do this and this and that in another match, and they do 90 Canadian Destroyers in five minutes. No, you don't plan anything with guys like John Cena. You just go out there and have fun." [2:07 – 2:47]

Del Rio's final match against Cena ended in defeat on the August 16, 2016, episode of SmackDown.

Did you enjoy the Cena vs. Del Rio rivalry? Let us know in the comments section below.

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