During a recent appearance on Stephanie’s Places, the ESPN series hosted by Stephanie McMahon, WWE Champion John Cena opened up about his current heel character and gave surprising credit to McMahon for inspiring parts of his performance.
“Can I just say I had some really good people to learn from. You are on a very short list of names that falls into,” Cena told Stephanie. “I flat out steal a lot from you. So, thanks for helping me through this.”
When Stephanie attempted to deflect the praise by saying he was giving her too much credit, Cena replied warmly, “You never know how you affect people.”
Cena talks about his heel character’s inspirations and Stephanie being one of them pic.twitter.com/Pd7rl45pIN
— bella (@godimajoke) May 28, 2025
Cena’s character shift has been one of the most talked-about evolutions in recent WWE memory, and this acknowledgment adds a new layer of depth to the story behind his transformation.
