5 Times John Cena broke character

WWE legend John Cena is widely regarded as one of the greatest Superstars to ever step foot in the squared circle. The 16-time World Champion made his WWE main roster debut in 2002 and soon turned into a mainstay on the SmackDown brand. John Cena has headlined numerous WrestleMania events and has been a major draw during his run as an active Superstar in WWE.

Over the course of his illustrious career, Cena has been a part of a string of legendary moments, both on and off-screen. There have also been a bunch of moments during his career where he broke character or was forced to do so by a fellow wrestler.

In the following slideshow, we will take a look at five instances when John Cena broke character, be it on WWE TV, house shows, or during interviews.

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#5 Santino Marella manages to make John Cena chuckle

Santino Marella is hands down one of the funniest characters to ever grace a WWE ring. His hilarious antics gave the WWE Universe a string of amusing moments. Santino didn't let go of his comedic timing even when he was a heel.

Back when he was aligned with Beth Phoenix and was a bad guy on TV, Santino cut a promo on the audience and berated them for not showing him respect. He threatened to reveal that Santa Claus isn't real, but John Cena came out before Santino could proceed.

Santino wasn't thrilled with John Cena interrupting him and told him that he has a big mouth. While addressing Cena, Santino referred to him as 'John Cheena' and the crowd exploded in laughter at this bit.

Cena himself tried his best to stay in character and not chuckle, but he failed and was visibly laughing at Santino calling him 'Cheena'. Check out the hilarious clip HERE.

#4 John Cena praises The Miz a few months after major WrestleMania loss

On the Road to WrestleMania 27, The Miz had become WWE Champion by cashing in his Money In The Bank contract on Randy Orton. With The Show of Shows approaching, The Miz kicked off a feud with John Cena. WWE legend The Rock got involved in the mix as well and promised the fans that he would see both John Cena and The Miz at WrestleMania.

Ultimately, John Cena lost the main event of WrestleMania to The Miz. He went on to regain the WWE title at Extreme Rules and later defeated The Miz in an I Quit match to retain the belt.

Around the same time, Cena took to Twitter and heaped praise on possibly his biggest nemesis at the time.

I do not think there is anyone in the WWE that works harder outside the ring than The Miz. That type of effort is truly amazing.

This tweet was posted mere weeks after Cena had finished off his feud with The Miz and was focusing on CM Punk. Cena and Punk were involved in some brilliant matches through the course of their rivalry.

#3 John Cena sings at a house show with his arch-rival

The Summer of Punk saw CM Punk taking the WWE title from John Cena in one of the greatest endings to a WWE Championship match in history. Cena failed to win back the belt from Punk at SummerSlam 2011.

These on-screen rivals were a part of a string of memorable promos during their rivalry and made many fans believe that they absolutely hated each other. A few weeks after their epic SummerSlam encounter, these two rivals got together at a house show to the amazement of the WWE Universe.

John Cena and CM Punk sang "Country Roads" at the house show, as the sea of fans in the arena cheered for the duo. This was a unique sight as it wasn't long ago that these two Superstars were out for each other's blood on WWE TV.

Mere weeks after giving the fans this rare gem, John Cena and Punk faced each other again inside Hell In A Cell at the namesake PPV. The match ended with Alberto Del Rio defeating Cena and Punk to win the WWE title.

#2 John Cena has praise for Roman Reigns days after their rivalry kicks off

At SummerSlam 2017, John Cena registered a victory over King Corbin and made his way to WWE RAW the next night. Cena was confronted by none other than Roman Reigns, who had failed to win the Universal title at SummerSlam the night before.

The Big Dog immediately began berating John Cena and things heated up pretty quickly. A fight was teased, but the duo was interrupted by The Miz. In the main event of the night, Cena and Reigns defeated The Miz and Samoa Joe.

Days later, John Cena shared his thoughts on The Big Dog and had nothing but praise for his rival in a character-breaking moment.

I think that's a testament to Roman Reigns' ability to handle the audience. You need pretty broad shoulders. That he hasn't had to come to anyone else for advice shows exactly how strong he is.

These words heavily contradicted what Cena was uttering on RAW around the same time while insulting Roman Reigns. Eventually, Cena and Reigns faced off in a dream match at No Mercy 2017, with Reigns defeating Cena to establish himself as the top star in WWE.

#1 John Cena has a heartfelt message for Bray Wyatt

Bray Wyatt became the WWE Champion at Elimination Chamber 2017 and was immediately put into a title match on WWE SmackDown. The match pitted Wyatt with AJ Styles and John Cena. Even before the match could begin, Wyatt was attacked by Luke Harper. Somehow, Wyatt recovered and the trio gave everything they had in an attempt to leave the arena with the WWE title on their shoulders.

In the end, Bray Wyatt pinned John Cena to retain his WWE title. What many fans missed were Cena's heartfelt words to Wyatt moments before he was pinned.

"You’re a proper champion now" was what Cena whispered as Bray was about to pin the WWE legend. Cena received praise from fans as soon as the instance was reported on the web. Unfortunately, Wyatt's reign as WWE Champion didn't last long. He faced former Wyatt Family member Randy Orton in a WWE title match at WrestleMania 33 and lost the title to The Viper when all was said and done.