WWE legend and 17-time World Champion John Cena recently had a conversation with Undisputed WWE Champion “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes on the latest episode of his podcast, “What Do You Wanna Talk About?”
They covered a range of topics, including Cena’s experience facing “The Ring General” GUNTHER as his final opponent.
Cena said, “Like I see things from a different plane. He sees things from this plane. Yeah. And I love that because he is relentless in mastery of a piece of canvas. Relentless. We can talk about a myriad of things. You’ll have a lane of conversation with him, but it’ll be enthusiastic. He is you like a flat white. He’s a coffee nerd. Wrestling and like with purpose, he has an idea of what it should be and an idea of what offends him. And I cannot tell you how much respect I have for him. And I know he is not gonna say the same thing about me and he shouldn’t. And I’m okay with that. It is such an honor to be able to step in there with someone whose moniker is The Ring General. And in my last one, if I could add a star to his uniform, someone who believes the mat is sacred, I believe the same thing. We just see it through different lenses. I hope you have him on. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say.”
On leaving the business and WWE in a better place than when he started:
“We wouldn’t be doing this 10 years ago. We might be doing this, but it wouldn’t be for you guys. The amount of opportunities for performers is exponential, and the company is far more empathetic and inspirational, and like, go out there and get it. We went from trying to be accepted, and this is why it was tough to let talent flex different muscles, ’cause man, I can’t take you away from the thing. This is another benefit of less live events. You can do more things, you can grow. If you’re a creative and you want to grow your tentacles, it’s fine. So another, that’s a pro of less live events. Money’s never been better for talent. Creative outlet has never been better for talent. We have great partnerships now, I believe that we’re accepted on far more of a global plane. I think the overall attitude of talent is, we’re in the consumer service business and consumer first. I think in the days of old it was very like, I’m talent, stay the F outta my way. And I know there is some breach of personal boundaries that everybody’s trying to discover with all the new technology out there, whatever. But I think our talent is very consumer-friendly. And consumer aware. I think that’s now an aspirational position that we’ve done a great job with our partnerships with Fanatics and sports licensees used to make it a universal truth. Oh yeah. That like, yo, that’s a symbol of greatness.”
On how WWE’s stock has risen and Netflix making WWE live globally:
“Economically, those who sit in the boardroom are pretty happy with where we’re at. I remember we were about $6.50 cents a share. We are currently not trading at that today. So that’s kind of where I started. And that’s where we’re at. Consumer engagement is at an all-time high. Yeah. I’m inundated every day, every day of how I’ve effed up or. And also consumer admiration, consumer chatter. It is at an all-time high. So I think from, it’s not just, we always tote, like we don’t give enough love to you guys out there. We always tote like arena gate, merchandise record, whatever. Yeah, That’s fine. That’s a direct reflection on your passion. And our consumers are more engaged and around the world, that’s because of our relationships with companies like Netflix. You know, companies like ESPN. Also, Netflix now, instead of, man, I am from an era where we are on live on cable television, and on the same night we’re on at 2:00 AM in Germany. Yeah. When we used to be on at eight o’clock in Germany. So we would draw in Germany for six months, and then it’d it’d dry up. Yeah. What happened? Our TV deal went south. We’re on Netflix. You can catch us there. We’re a member of the Disney family. We can catch us here around the effing world. Yeah. It’s gonna give you a chance. We got a PLE in Italy coming up in May, I’m excited about. We’re taking WrestleMania overseas in another year for the first time ever. All of these things, man. I mean, you got it in front of you to make it way better. But I’d like to think that we’re better off.”
On WWE growing beyond a carnival business:
“Entertainment used to look at us like we’re not good enough. Sports used to look at us like we’re not good enough. And then they kind of both started borrowing, and honestly, my hat’s off to the influencer culture, and they get knocked for a lot. But man, the fact that they’re successful allows both entertainment and sport to lean into like, there’s a million different ways to do it. And we’re influencers before influencers. We’re reality TV before reality TV. Like we’re My god. sport drama, we’re cinema. Like it’s all things rolled into one. And it just took, I dunno, when Vince buys from his dad 1980, until it took 50 years for us to be on a level where everyone’s cool. And because everyone’s cool, that means we can fire in a lot of lanes, or before we were just a carnival business. So I started as a carney, and now we’re shaking hands in some pretty important rooms, and we’re shaking hands with a lot of people in the arena. I think we’re pretty good. It takes time. Time under tension. Small wins, dude. Just climb the hill in front of you.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
