"What kind of insanity is that?" - 38-year-old WWE star recounts the imposed aspiration on wrestlers to be the next John Cena

WWE alumni John Cena is now a reasonably successful movie star. His latest movies include Greta Gerwig's Barbie and the action movie Hidden Strike, co-starring global superstar Jackie Chan.

Sami Zayn recently recounted the "insanity" he faced during his NXT days. As per the current tag champ, there was a time when the wrestlers in developmental were told to aspire to be the next John Cena.

Speaking on the After The Bell podcast, Sami Zayn revealed that he had no intentions whatsoever to channel the 16-time world champion's methods or style. The Underdog From The Underground began to explain:

"I remember when I got to WWE, it was NXT or something like that, it was very much the mentality of, 'you should be furious that you're here. You should want to get out of here. You should want to get on the road. Everyone around you is your enemy, they are all vying for your spot. This is a competition. You have to be the best to get out of here. If you don't want to be the best, you shouldn't even work here.'"

What the former NXT Champion felt absolutely unacceptable was how a room full of wrestlers was not encouraged to find their character:

"I remember a line something to the extent of, 'If you don't want to be the next John Cena, you shouldn't even be here.' I remember hearing that and being completely [mouth agape]. 'What? This is insanity.' Let's just say we're in a room with 100 people, let's just say the next John Cena is in this room. There's only one, so the other 99 people in this room should be miserable at all times trying to aspire to be that person? What kind of insanity is that?" recalled Zayn. [H/T: Fightful Select]

Incidentally, Zayn's main roster debut match took place in 2015, when he appeared on an episode of WWE RAW accepting John Cena's United States Open Challenge. Furthermore, their last in-ring meeting took place on the final episode of SmackDown last year.

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John Cena discusses the 38-year-old WWE star's growth over the years

After struggling to find his footing on the main roster for years, albeit he was part of some notable feuds, Sami Zayn is now finally one of WWE's top babyfaces. The fan reception to the tag champ is flawless today.

Speaking to Andrew Santino on Whiskey Ginger, John Cena tipped his hat to the former three-time Intercontinental Champion. He described the latter's popularity as something that came from working hard for over three years and even "reconstructing" his character.

Sami Zayn currently wrestles on Monday Night RAW alongside Kevin Owens. The duo recently handed undisputed world champion Roman Reigns his first pay-per-view loss in over a year at Night of Champions.