"You can't do that" - Wrestling legend says WWE wanted current AEW star to "burn" a flag during a storyline with John Cena
John Cena has been involved in a few uncomfortable storylines across his career, but during a recent podcast, WWE legend Road Dogg detailed a story that never came to light. According to the New Age Outlaw, Cena nearly had a controversial storyline with a now-AEW star, involving the latter burning the US flag.
While AEW never set the US flag alight, the promotion had an America vs. Great Britain feud, involving Anthony Ogogo and Cody Rhodes. The feud was poorly received by fans, with Rhodes even calling it the one thing he regrets about his AEW run.
During the most recent episode of the “Oh…You Didn’t know?" podcast, Road Dogg detailed how WWE wanted Miro - then known as Rusev - to burn the flag during his feud with John Cena.
“We always talked about, ‘Hey, let’s have Rusev burn an American Flag,'” Dogg said. “Everyone was like, ‘Oh, you couldn’t do that’ … I was one of the first people, ‘Oh, you can’t do that!’ Well, then I started writing for the television show and I started thinking, ‘Hey, this is a television show.’ You know what I mean?”
This rivalry was soo good. Rusev was a monster
Maybe an unpopular opinion but Rusev is also one of the best John Cena rivals https://t.co/uEQ3tmca51
Road Dogg continued, as he detailed how he would have had the storyline eventually go.
“Here it was like, ‘It may be real heat to have, you know, John Cena tied up and burn an American flag in front of John Cena, and then you go to the Flag match.” (H/T: WrestlingINC)
Unfortunately for Miro, he never managed to gain a victory over Cena and lost to the star on three different occasions. The flag-burning angle was also never used, and since The Redeemer is no longer in WWE and John Cena is a part-timer, it likely will never happen.
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Miro is still in touch with John Cena
During an interview with talkSPORT earlier this month, Miro shared how much he's learned from Cena over the years, and revealed that he often texts John Cena for advice.
“More than 50 percent of professional wrestling, I’ve learned from Cena and working with him. I can never be thankful enough of him for doing that. But even nowadays, I always respect John. His work ethic was always unmatchable. And now when I’m doing the acting stuff, I text him every now and again to get advice and he’s always very, very generous with his advice,” Miro said. (H/T: talkSPORT)
John Cena and Rusev/Miro reunited, the forbidden door is wide open! https://t.co/Gour1obLhw
The two will likely never meet again in the Squared Circle due to the two superstars being in rival promotions. However, if The Redeemer makes a jump to Hollywood, could the two meet again on the Silver Screen?