“This would be a sick a** hobby”: John Cena Didn’t Even Take WWE Seriously, Likened it to a Weekend Hobby Before it Made Him His Millions
John Cena is one of the most iconic and well-known professional wrestlers. His fame skyrocketed during his WWE days, and now it knows no bounds after he appeared in the MCU as Peacemaker. It seems his acting career has been going steady, along with professional wrestling.
John Cena started his training at a very young age because of bullying. He is extremely passionate about strength and wellness, so much so that he went into depression after losing weight for a Jackie Chan movie. So, it was definitely a surprise when fans came to know that John Cena actually looked at WWE as more of a hobby than anything else.
John Cena thought of WWE as more of a “hobby,” did not take it seriously at first
WWE has been the stepping stone in John Cena’s career, much like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, which probably gave him the footing he needed for Hollywood. His insane popularity at the WWE made him the face of the company.
He was also able to bring an army of fans with him when he switched to acting. It is impossible to imagine now that John Cena first thought of WWE as a hobby and not something he would do permanently. In an interview with People, he opened up by saying:
“[After college] I headed out to Los Angeles not because of the entertainment allure, but because that’s where the hub of fitness equipment, fitness manufacturing, fitness distribution, everything that applied to my degree was there. I got in working at Gold’s Gym and that was the best I could do.”
John Cena knew all the members of his gym, and many of them would discuss WWE and wrestling with him before eventually some of Cena’s friends started getting into professional wrestling. According to him, one of his friends casually asked him to train with them in Orange County.
“One of my friends in a casual conversation was like, ‘Hey, we’re training down in Orange County to be wrestlers. Do you want to join?’”
Also Read: John Cena Fans “Would have a lot more respect” if James Gunn Did 1 Thing With Peacemaker Season 2
However, little did he know that it was about to change the trajectory of his career. However, this is where the surprise came from. He opened up, saying that he thought of it more as a “sick a** hobby” than anything else.
“It wasn’t like, ‘Yeah, this is my chance to make it big in the WWE,’ it was like, ‘Yo, this would be a sick a** hobby, so when I worked my ass off during the week, I can go be a personality on the weekends, I’ll try it. I paid the promoter a bunch of money to get in the ring and learn how to fall down and the rest is history. So if we had never had that conversation, I’d never found a ring, and I’d never been talking to you right now.”
John Cena has been called “the greatest of all time” by WWE themselves. He led the WWE as their franchise player and public face for a decade.
John Cena started working out for strength because he was bullied
John Cena, the face of WWE wrestling, was actually bullied a lot during his childhood. In the same interview with People, John Cena revealed that he started working out not to build a physique or for a passion but out of self-defense.
“My passion for strength was out of self-defense. I used to get picked on a lot because I was different in the way I dressed and expressed myself. As you’re an adolescent, social cliques form and I didn’t fall into any one of those. So I got tired of getting beaten up and I asked my dad for a weight set and he got me one at 13. I started working out and I haven’t stopped since.”
However, he also said that he is in a better place now and that he is training mostly for his own well-being rather than self-defense.
“My quest for strength probably lasted, I don’t know, until my mid-30s. And now I’m on a quest for wellness, which is hopefully so I can continue physical fitness for the next, 30, 40, 50 years of my life.”
Cena has been in numerous movies outside of wrestling, like Marine, Fast X, The Suicide Squad, and the famous MCU TV show Peacemaker, where he plays the role of the eponymous hero. John Cena is also known for his charitable work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, where he has granted the most wishes (approximately 650) to this day.
John Cena is gearing up for Argylle and The Garfield Movie as his upcoming projects.
