John Cena was recently interviewed on “Whiskey Ginger w/ Andrew Santino.”
Cena talked about being on the road and partying when he was wrestling:
“That was every night. The great thing about WWE, and I think it runs parallel to stand up, is when you book a 65 day tour, if show 4 bombs, you still gotta make show 5. But yeah, it’s a pick 6. You got to get back in the field. So those nights where you stunk out the joint were the most productive because you could really lean into the guys and lean into the guy you’re working with, or the people around you who you trust and give you an honest opinion to be like, ‘Hey, this is what I was going for and it didn’t work. Why?’”
“It used to be a little bit more of a fraternal society where you kind of had to go out afterwards to get some wisdom. Nowadays, the business has evolved and in great ways. I romanticize about that period a lot because it was just super fun, but guys (now) are paid better. Guys are treated better. There’s less of a work schedule. So I don’t know how much that still exists. I know today, I just try to pass on wisdom at the show because I don’t know the life anybody lives. Back then there was a lot of camaraderie, a lot of brotherhood, and if you weren’t in, you were out.”
On who he liked to drink with:
“Everybody, but I don’t think there’s a comparison, Ric Flair. He just has so much energy. He’s got such a tremendous lust for life and I am drawn to that. I’m drawn to people who love life. There is a tipping point where it becomes counterproductive. You don’t want to live like today is your last day because it could be, but I I tried to find a little bit of bounce. But man he was always great. Pat Patterson was always great. The late Pat Patterson was always great because these guys not only are there because they want to socialize and share, they have all this fu**ing wisdom. Ric especially, and Pat, weren’t jaded. Ric still isn’t jaded. We all have bad days, but he loves this. He’s not one of those guys who will drink and be like, ‘F**k this. You don’t understand. They fu**ed me and this is how they fu**ed me.’ Whoever that element was, I just never went around. I just always gravitated towards people who were having a good time.”
On being bullied when he was younger for liking Hip-Hop music:
“We all either have a story of, I was a bully or I used to be bullied. Some people have both. I got bullied for listening to hip hop music growing up in West Newbury, Massachusetts, 1200 people, it was jeans and rock and roll and hairband metal in the late 80s, early 90s. I loved hip hop and I would dress like Kid ‘n Play, house party style, rayon polka dot, wing tipped shoes, you name it, like the Chris Cross pants on backwards.”
On wrestler’s keeping a balance between who they are in real life and their wrestling personalities on TV:
“WWE is one of those last bastions of gray area. If you confuse the audience, they’ll see through it and they don’t believe, and this was a facet of my personality. It was kind of like my comeuppance to those kids used to kick my ass when I was 13, like, hey, see, I can do this and people can relate to it, so it felt really good. But you never saw me from like ’03 to ’07 where I wasn’t outlandishly dressed trying to talk some trash on somebody. lt was who I was. It’s difficult in WWE because the more you break away from the story you’re trying to tell, especially now when the audience sees everything, the more difficult it is for them to believe who you are.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Whiskey Ginger w/ Andrew Santino with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
