John Cena appeared at the 2025 Chicago Fan Expo for a live Q&A covering all things pro wrestling, acting and his life in general.
Among the topics he covered was his love for performing in Chicago throughout his career, his rivalry in WWE with CM Punk, and how he wishes he could’ve wrestled Andre The Giant in a WrestleMania main event.
The following are some of the highlights from the appearance.
On why performing in Chicago has meant ‘everything’ to him over the years: “That’s an easy one. I can answer that immediately and say everything because it’s where the journey begins. I tell people you can’t have a finish without a first step, and man, my first step was in Allstate in an incredible moment. And since then, it’s been one hell of a ride. So Allstate to me means everything. It’s going to be wonderful to go back there. I’m looking forward to it.”
On his rivalry with Chicago’s favorite son, CM Punk, and why they clicked so well together: “A few things. First of all, we both want the same spot. And I also think we both love the same thing. A lot of people that want that front spot, purely want it for selfish reasons. Every once in a while, you get somebody who wants to sit in the front that loves the business, and we love it in different ways, too. I think we’re such different personalities, but we share a lot of the same core values. So we just want to bring the best out of each other. For some reason, we kind of found each other and found each other at the right time and man, I wish I could have kept him with us. I wish he didn’t have to take all that time off because we could have had some more matches, but I’m grateful for the moments we’ve had. And I think that, I think we just, we both want to sit in front. We both really love the business.”
On if he could go back in time and face anyone in a WrestleMania main event who would it be: “Just selfishly, Andre, because he was like the measuring stick. The folklore behind Andre the Giant is mythical, and both physical as his presence, but also in the folklore of the fraternity of the Brotherhood of Wrestling, especially the WWF territory. I’m sure it’s across the world, because Andre was a global phenomenon, but… Selfishly, yes. That’d be the one, Andre the Giant.”
Check out the complete John Cena Q&A from the 2025 Chicago Fan Expo via the YouTube player embedded below. H/T to Corey Brennan and Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.
