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In his most recent run with WWE, the company has been referring to John Cena as "The Greatest of All Time". Having had such an illustrious career and being the face of the company for a long time, calling him the GOAT is justified in many ways.
A 16-time World Champion, 2-time Royal Rumble winner, Mr. Money in the Bank, 5-time United States Champion, 4-time Tag Team Champion, and the list just goes on for his achievements in WWE. He has also headlined several shows and PPVs, including 5 WrestleManias.
We all have seen him on our screens, his larger-than-life personality, and whatnot. But very few of us know the kind of person John Cena is backstage. With the rise of social media and WWE Superstars revealing information in their interviews, we have many amazing backstage stories about Superstars and the industry, in general.
So let's take a peek behind the curtains and check-out five interesting backstage stories about Mr. Hustle Loyalty Respect, John Cena! Be sure to let us know in the comments section below about your favorite one!
#5 A WrestleMania bathroom break
WrestleMania is without any doubt the biggest stage for a WWE Superstar to perform. As mentioned above, John Cena is a veteran at not just performing at the Grandest Stage of them All, but also main-eventing it on multiple occasions.
At WrestleMania 28, John Cena was scheduled to main-event the show with The Rock in their infamous "Once in a Lifetime Match". It was here when he showcased just how great of a lockerroom leader he is by intentionally taking a so-called bathroom break to give Brodus Clay his spot, which was almost cut at the last moment due to lack of time. Brodus revealed the following about that incidents with John Cena while talking to Brian Fritz of Between the Ropes radio at WrestleMania Axxess:
"I was actually in Gorilla ready to go out to do this dance that I had practiced so hard and we were extremely nervous and we ran out of time."
"John Cena suddenly came over to me and looked at me and said, 'I have to go to the bathroom.' So, here's a guy who's getting ready for his match with The Rock and he actually 'went to the bathroom.' He asked, 'How long do I need to go for?' I said, 'Like six minutes.' He's like, 'I'll be back in six minutes.' So, we were able to slide out there and get in. If it weren't for him, we probably wouldn't have even been out there last year."
#4 How the Doctor of Thuganomics was created
Before John Cena adopted his trademark Super-Cena gimmick, it was the Doctor of Thuganomics that pushed him into stardom in the business. Believe it or not, there was a time during the initial stages of his career when he came very close to being released by the company. Reason? He was not connecting with the fans!
Cena was a part of WWE's European tour at that time and was almost certain of that being his last stint with the company. Interestingly, Cena somehow decided to do some freestyle rapping at the back of the bus with Rey Mysterio, Rikishi, and others during this tour.
Stephanie McMahon, who happened to be on that bus too, asked Cena how he remembered all that to which he replied that it came to him naturally. In the WWE Network Special, Ruthless Aggression: Enter John Cena, the Champ disclosed the following:
"She had a can of tuna fish and said, ‘okay rhyme about this’. And in two seconds I made a small rap about the tuna fish, the jetway, the plane we were about to go on, the destination. And then kinda closed it with a comment about Stephanie. She was like ‘would you like to do this on television’, I said ‘absolutely’”.
This led to Cena debuting his Doctor of Thuganomics persona, and the rest is history!
#3 Putting Bray Wyatt over
On his recent run with WWE, John Cena faced 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt in a Firefly Funhouse match at WrestleMania 36. It was Wyatt who picked up a massive victory over the veteran and with that a huge momentum on his side.
Cena has been a huge Bray Wyatt fan and believes in him a lot. While we often hear fans complaining about him burying new talent and not putting them over, Cena has gone out of his way backstage, not once but many times, to help Wyatt.
John Cena's 16th World title reign came to an end at Elimination Chamber 2017 and he requested that Bray Wyatt be the man to pin him. Wyatt ended up not just pinning Cena but also walking out of the chamber with his first WWE Championship victory.
On the SmackDown after the PPV, Wyatt took on Cena and AJ Styles in a triple-threat. The Wyatt Family leader again pinned Cena on the show to retain his title. During the ending moment of the match, just before getting pinned, the Leader of Cenation whispered these lines to Bray - "You’re a proper champion now”
It was a great gesture from a veteran to an upcoming WWE Superstar!
#2 Backstage fight with Carlito
Carlito is one of those talents who were once considered to be destined for a big main event career but somehow couldn't accomplish that success. One of his best and noteworthy rivalries was against John Cena. Interestingly, the two got into a backstage fight with each other. Carlito had the following to say about it during his appearance on MLW's Konnan Show:
"I actually had a fight with Cena. I forget where it was, but we got into a fight. A drunken fist fight. He told me I wasn't applying myself. He said I should be at a higher level. I didn't punch him because I'm not going to punch the face of the company. It was more like a drunken fight. I don't think we were out to hurt each other. I was just defending myself, but Cena, he's strong as hell."
"He jumped at me first. They ended up separating us about three times. I felt like he and I had always been close. I think he just wanted to see me do better. Cena is one of those guys that's a top guy, but he wants to see other guys. He doesn't try to hold guys down, he wants to see them come up."
There were rumors last year about WWE trying to bring Carlito back but that didn't happen. Only time will tell whether we'll see the former United States Champion back in the company or not.
#1 Pitching major storyline for WrestleMania 25
John Cena's first singles championship victory in WWE came against the Big Show at WrestleMania XX where the Leader of Cenation won the United States Championship for the first time. Five years down the line, Cena was already a main-event star and multi-time WWE Champion and was all set to challenge the then World Heavyweight Champion, Edge at WrestleMania XXV.
On an episode of Photo Shoot on the WWE Network, The Big Show revealed that in early 2009, he joked to Cena about facing him at WrestleMania, even after knowing that the build was towards an Edge-Cena rivalry and match.
John Cena somehow liked the idea a lot and went ahead to pitch the idea to WWE's creative team to add Big Show in the match. The idea was accepted and hence the World's Largest Athlete got involved in the match, making it a triple-threat.
It was 'Big Match John' who came out victorious in the match and captured the World Heavyweight Championship. This match also saw an iconic WrestleMania moment when Cena lifted both Edge and the Big Show at the same time, shocking the fans with his incredible strength.
