"We fired Stone Cold", "The Rock left" - John Cena recalls testing times in WWE

John Cena has opened up about the testing times WWE had to face in the aftermath of the Attitude Era. Cena has been largely credited with carrying the mantle of being the company's biggest star after Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock left the promotion.

WWE went through the immensely successful Attitude Era in the late 90s, which propelled them to win the Monday Night Wars with WCW. But soon after, things began to change. Austin was let go after creative differences with the company, while The Rock moved to Hollywood to further his acting career.

During the FAN EXPO in Denver, Cena was asked about the influence of the late Eddie Guerrero on his wrestling career. The self-proclaimed Last Real Champion opened up about the legend and also talked about what he learned from him.

"WWE went through a boom in the Attitude Era and then all those guys, we fired Stone Cold. The Rock left, The Undertaker got hurt, we changed the name, the XFL failed. There was a lot of upside down stuff. We started SmackDown and it had Kurt Angle as its anchor, but we brought Eddie Guerrero and a bunch of [new guys] like Edge and me and a bunch of other new guys and people trying to find their way," he said. [From 6:47- 7:07]

Cena then talked about a specific piece of advice that Eddie gave him.

"Eddie was our champion for for a certain period of time. And he used to tell me that it is the night when the fewest people show up that you have to work 10 times as hard because the presence in that area isn't as strong," Cena added. [From 7:08-7:26]

The Ruthless Aggression Era, ushered in by Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, and others, laid a solid foundation for John Cena to build on.

The current WWE Undisputed Champion ended up becoming the face of the company and carried that mantle for well over a decade.

John Cena has only 14 dates left on his retirement tour

John Cena showed up on WWE programming for the first time since Night of Champions when he made an appearance last week on SmackDown.

A chaotic contract signing with SummerSlam opponent Cody Rhodes ensued, which ended with The Champ being laid out and The American Nightmare taking his hand to sign the contract.

With this appearance, Cena has only 14 dates left on his retirement tour, with his last appearance slated for mid-December.

Currently, John Cena is advertised to show up on the SummerSlam go-home episode of SmackDown on August 1.

If you use the quotes from this article, please credit FAN EXPO and add an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.

About the author

Sherjeel Malik is a writer at Sportskeeda and covers pro wrestling. He was hooked on the product from the moment he saw The Hardy Boyz jumping off ladders during the Attitude Era. While he comes from an engineering background, Sherjeel’s love for pro wrestling and content writing led him to pursue a career in sports journalism. Before assuming his current role at Sportskeeda, Sherjeel worked at other reputable organizations for five years.

While writing articles, he ensures that he only relies on credible sources for information and covers relevant subjects that do not project an agenda against a particular person or association. WWE legend Paul Heyman once shared Sherjeel’s work on his social media handle.

Sherjeel’s earliest memory of pro wrestling is watching Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker square off for the WWE Title in the main event of a pay-per-view in 1998. His favorite wrestlers are Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy. While he admires Orton for his character work as a heel, he looks up to Jeff because of his unique wrestling style and risk-taking ability.

If he could go back to the Attitude Era, Sherjeel would like to manage Ken Shamrock and be his mouthpiece. He feels Shamrock’s promo skills prevented him from becoming a main event-level act in WWE. Hence, he would like to help the UFC Hall of Famer get over with fans.

When not writing about pro wrestling, he likes to read classics and fiction books.

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Edited by Arsh Das