John Cena confesses a dangerous mistake he made in a recent out-of-character appearance

John Cena made an out-of-character appearance at the Philadelphia Fan Expo 2025, where he revealed a personal anecdote for the first time. He said it was a dangerous mistake and the stupidest decision of his life.

It pertained to ECW One Night Stand 2006. For those too young to remember (or those who weren't fans of WWE back in 2006), the ECW One Night Stand presented a peculiar scenario for John Cena. He was unanimously hated in the Hammerstein Ballroom, with the hardcore ECW audience (nearly 2,500 of them) giving him the worst possible welcome. ECW legend Tommy Dreamer even revealed that there were genuine safety concerns for The Franchise Player.

John Cena narrated the danger of it all for the first time during a Fan Q&A at the Philadelphia Fan Expo:

"There was a sign that was actually brought to this convention today, that says , 'If Cena wins, we riot'. It was a very famous sign that was meme'd and knocked off. Also, the audience was pretty bad. The event started at about seven o'clock, and we went on last, and at around seven, they were so audibly chanting 'F-You Cena,' so I know when I went out at ten o'clock, it was going to be pretty gnarly."

He continued:

"So, we get out there and I have a wrestling match with my t-shirt before I have a wrestling match with Rob. I looked at the sign and looked at the crowd, and I would never do this again, and it was the most stupid decision of my life, but I told Rob, 'Hey, let's go out through the audience.' And I just wanted to see what would happen. Thank you to everyone in the Hammerstein Ballroom that night for being professional and being great fans and letting me know what you feel here (points to head) but not let me know how you feel here (shows a clinched fist). I thought I was going to get my a** kicked but everyone was really nice." (0:14-1:17)

---

A major ex-WWE figure reveals John Cena disliked him during his time with the company

John Cena's time at the top was still a highly politically charged period backstage. While it wasn't as bad as the eras before, it still had an air of tension, more so than what is said to be the situation today. This isn't to imply that the situation backstage today is devoid of any politics, by many accounts, it is objectively less today than it was a few decades ago.

One major backstage name during Cena's era revealed that the 17-time WWE world champion disliked him. That name is Freddie Prinze Jr.

On the Wrestling with Freddie podcast, the former WWE writer and Hollywood star revealed that Cena simply didn't like him, and didn't explain why. Freddie Prinze Jr. did, however, state that he had no personal issues with The Franchise Player:

"Some of you may be saying, because you remember, like season one, like, 'I thought you didn't like John Cena. Wasn't he a d*ck to you?' He didn't like me. I had no problem with him. He just didn't like me. I like just about everyone. I can count on one hand the amount of people where I'm like, I don't like that guy, or I don't like that chick. But yeah, I had no issue with him," he said. [From 05:44 to 06:01]

Very few have told the story of John Cena being a "backstage politician" of sorts, the way Hulk Hogan was accused of being. While the SummerSlam 2010 situation (with his team beating the younger Team Nexus) has been used against Cena, he has largely been considered the type of superstar who does what is asked of him.

Fans may never know why Cena had a personal dislike for Freddie Prinze Jr.