John Cena Admits Feud With WWE Star Cost Him Friendship

By Andrew Ravens‎

Contributing Sports Writer

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John Cena is widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, but even the legendary star has moments he looks back on with embarrassment. Cena recently admitted to feeling ashamed of his earlier wrestling persona. This gimmick debuted before he joined WWE as The Prototype in Ultimate Pro Wrestling.

During a question-and-answer panel in Liverpool, John Cena was asked directly about the Prototype character. The Last Real Champion expressed a deep embarrassment over the gimmick. He jokingly said that he owes his loyal WWE fans money for having to endure such a bad character.

Cena fully described the ill-conceived persona: “I was a 50% man. 50% machine. 100% awful.”

He warned the fans not to laugh at the memory of his past failures. “Don’t laugh. I know you; some of you have seen that stuff.” Cena then shared his feelings about the awkward memory: “I think that is feel like I owe you money. I was finding my way.” The host noted that despite the awkward start, Cena achieved significant success.

“It worked out okay,” Cena responded humbly. However, Cena quickly transitioned to his breakthrough character once he joined WWE, becoming "The Doctor of Thuganomics". He later evolved into the heroic “Franchise Player” and then “Super Cena,” ascending to become the top babyface in WWE.

During the same public event, John Cena made a poignant revelation about the former heel rival who made the biggest impact on his life. Cena revealed that it was Dwayne Johnson, The Rock, who had the most profound influence on him. He then spoke about his deep regret over the way he conducted their feud a decade earlier.

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He confessed to regretting the mean-spirited roast he delivered to The Rock in a 2012 promo. Cena explained that his personal drive was misplaced, showing a lack of empathy for his friend.

John Cena poses during WWE SummerSlam 2025 entrance

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Cena stated: “I want to say Dwayne Johnson and I’ll tell you why. Because when I started to do what I thought was good business and try to do what’s best for wrestling.” He admitted that he was completely unempathetic toward The Rock as a person at that time.

“I wasn’t empathetic to the person I was talking about.” Cena emphasized that his regret grew when he realized the long-term damage.

“So when you hit me with the last part, when you said for life I made some bad choices in the way I tried to wrangle up a main event, and I was not empathetic.” This lack of empathy came at a high cost, showing how difficult it is to be kind when under pressure.

“And that is a great life lesson if we can all just have a second. And man, when we’re all feeling good, we’re all happy, empathy is easy. But it’s when we’re a little bit short is when empathy is tough.”

Cena is grateful that the friendship eventually healed. “And I’m grateful for it. And my takeaway was, have more empathy and always try to see every person’s journey before you go do something stupid,” he concluded.

John Cena's final two appearances of his storied career are now officially set. He is scheduled to defend the Intercontinental Championship against Dominik Mysterio at the "Survivor Series" Premium Live Event on November 29. Cena will wrestle his retirement match against the winner of the "Last Time is Now" tournament on December 13 at "Saturday Night’s Main Event".

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