John Cena discusses Heel turn; The Rock & Travis Scott's involvement; CM Punk going to Saudi Arabia & more ahead of his final WWE match

The 17-time World Champion will retire this Saturday.

The 17-time WWE World Champion and widely regarded as the G.O.A.T. of pro wrestling, John Cena is all set to ride into the sunset this Saturday and hang up his wrestling boots for good.  Gunther is set to be Cena’s final opponent on the December 13 edition of SNME, which will emanate live from the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

Ahead of his final match, Cena has been on a media tour, making multiple appearances on different shows and podcasts. Cena recently sat down with Chris Van Vliet to discuss multiple topics, including his heel turn, The Rock and Travis Scott’s involvement, CM Punk’s involvement at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia, a special intro for AJ Styles, and much more.

John Cena feels great heading into his retirement match

Discussing his retirement match, John Cena said that he feels “Great, truly great.” When asked about his heel turn and if it was planned, Cena revealed that the heel turn at Elimination Chamber only happened to create a viral moment.

“No, that stuff you see on Unreal is real. ‘We need to make Chamber big, so let’s do something that’ll shock everybody.’ ‘Hey, man, we got this idea.’ No problem, I’ll do the best I can.” 

When asked about the original plans involving The Rock and Travis Scott, Cena kept mum and stated that instead of dwelling on what could’ve been, he focused on those still in the game. Rock and Travis, despite being an integral part of Cena’s heel turn, were nowhere to be seen after Elimination Chamber, excluding a single appearance from Scott during the WrestleMania 41 main event.

“Who cares? It doesn’t matter. We can talk about what could have been until the cows come home. And I think that’s what’s great about the people who are left standing. Certainly me and Cody. What’s the change? this? All right, let’s go. I don’t dwell for one second on what could have been, because what could have been is Brock doesn’t leave for the NFL and there’s no John Cena.”

The 17-time World Champion also discussed writing the special intro for AJ Styles at Crown Jewel. He also admitted that he should have gotten permission to do that, noting that while he wanted to do something special, it surprised the WWE. Cena also revealed that he apologized to the Creative team after the match.

“I just wanted to do something nice for my guy. I didn’t even show Alicia until I handed her the paper. You don’t get those moments unless you get the sh*t beat up. I wanted to do something special. I went about it the wrong way. I went into business for myself.

I should have gotten permission to do that, and I would have gotten permission to do that, but I told no one about it, because I wanted to do something special, and in doing so, the people running the show felt surprised, and that’s not a position I ever want to put them in because they award me such creative liberty.”

John Cena calls CM Punk’s Saudi Arabia trip “emotional, powerful, and a masterclass in redemption”

Cena also spoke about CM Punk‘s trip to Saudi Arabia, calling it a meaningful and emotional experience. He also talked about Punk doing the Punkanomics bit.

“One of the moments in sports entertainment that’s larger than sports entertainment is Phil Brooks going to Saudi Arabia. That sh*t made me cry. Accountability, vulnerability, apology, forgiveness, cultures melding into each other.

And then he comes out and does my gimmick. Like, how do you follow what I did? He came up with this crazy idea. I’m like, ‘Dude, you have to do that.’ And he crushed it. He absolutely just crushed it. What a trip for him. Redemption, acceptance.

He can go there whenever he wants and he can entertain fans who are incredible over there… they welcome him and he welcomes them. And that’s super cool.”

At the end of the conversation, Cena gave me a word or phrase to describe fellow WWE stars such as Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, CM Punk, and Rey Mysterio, among others.

“Cody Rhodes – Resilient

Randy Orton – Smooth

R-Truth – Beautiful. He makes everybody smile

Logan Paul – Underrated

CM Punk – My Wrestling soulmate

Drew McIntyre – A story of resilience

Sami Zayn – Underdog

Brock Lesnar – Once in a genre. There will be one Brock Lesnar in wrestling, and that’s from like carnival time to the time we shut the lights out if we’re lucky enough to get another. I don’t know who it is.

AJ Styles – Best to ever do it. Shawn’s gonna be p*ssed, and God did Shawn ever take care of me. There’s not a lot he [Styles] can’t do, and he makes difficult look easy. But that is not God given talent. That is practice. When you see difficult become seamless, it’s because it’s been done 10,000 times, and the amount of sh*t he can do seamlessly. Man, he’s best to ever do it.

Sheamus – This is way inside baseball, and only he’s gonna get it. The World’s Tallest Wrestler.

Rey Mysterio – Mentor, and someone who allowed them to be a part of their family when he didn’t need to.”

For more updates, follow Khel Now Wrestling on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Telegram & Whatsapp.