John Cena opens up about his early film roles

WWE legend John Cena is now a rising star in the world of Hollywood, having starred in such blockbusters as Bumblebee, Fast 9, and the upcoming The Suicide Squad. His early movie career wasn't nearly as distinguished, as the 16-time WWE champion told Irish radio hosts Dermot & Dave earlier today. (H/T to Fightful)

However, as he also explained, there was a very specific reason for this.

"When I did those movies in the early 2000s -- if anybody saw them, I'll mail them the check because I owe them some money -- the reasons behind it were wrong. I was doing it to try and get WWE more popular rather than wanting to do it. Every second I was on one of those movie sets, I wanted to be back in WWE." - John Cena

John Cena also needed to work around his WWE schedule

Cena would eventually star in three of the Fred movies, as well as a number of WWE Studios productions like The Marine and 12 Rounds. He explained that part of the reason he took those early small parts was because he was able to work them around his WWE schedule.

I took those small parts and could film in a weekend, then come back and make my dates. You have to find that balance.

Eventually, John Cena would land small roles in more high-profile movies, such as Judd Aptow's Trainwreck and the Amy Poehler and Tina Fey comedy Sisters. These eventually led to the larger roles he's enjoying now. He told the hosts that his experience filming those more recent roles has been a lot more.

Every second I was on one of those movie sets, I wanted to be back in WWE. Now, I truly enjoy everything that comes with the movie.

With his next two movies either finished filming (Snafu) or still in pre-production (The Jansen Directive), it would seem there's a window there for John Cena to pop back into the ring for, say, a SummerSlam match against Roman Reigns? We'll have to wait and see. We can certainly expect to see more of John Cena on the big screen in the very near future, however.