John Cena has offered some advice to Cody Rhodes about the pressure that comes with being viewed as WWE’s “QB1,” while also sharing his thoughts on CM Punk’s long-standing desire to main event WrestleMania.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio, Cena was asked how he feels Rhodes is performing in his position as one of WWE’s leading stars.
Cena praised what Rhodes has accomplished but suggested he would be better served by focusing on producing strong work rather than carrying the burden of a particular label. “Whether I admire what Cody’s done, which I do, or not, my advice to him would be to get your focus off of that moniker. Just do good work. Take the stress off your back.
When young talent come to me frustrated, like, ‘Hey, man, creative kind of has nothing for me,’ I love anecdotes, especially professional ones. I had a back-to-back main event run with The Rock at WrestleMania, two of the most productive events in WWE history. My next WrestleMania main event was Cody Rhodes in Las Vegas. I stayed in the middle, which no one remembers.
If John can do whatever he wants and gets all the great storylines, it was 13 years later when I got back to the main event of WrestleMania as a marquee match. I wasn’t frustrated at all. I operated with absolute joy and fulfillment with my craft because I didn’t put any expectations on myself of, like, ‘I want to be the champion. I want to be the face of the company.’ No, I just want to do good work.
Where people get caught up is like, I love [CM] Punk, and his obsession with main eventing WrestleMania, I think, is a weakness. And I think if you talk to him now, he evolves as a human being. Every time I see him, he evolves as a man. And that’s only my personal preference. I think he’s carrying a weight he doesn’t need. That’s all. It’s not a weakness. I think he’s carrying a weight he doesn’t need.
As far as Cody wanting to be this thing, you’re carrying a weight you don’t need. Just do great work and the people will show up.”
Cena’s overall message was that wrestlers should avoid becoming consumed by championships, WrestleMania main events or being considered the face of the company. Instead, he believes consistently producing quality work will ultimately allow those opportunities and fan support to follow naturally.
