Former WWE star clarifies about blasting John Cena's wrestling ability
John Cena's career commenced as a professional wrestler with WWE and now he has gone on to become a notable actor in Hollywood as well. Cena only makes sporadic appearances on WWE television these days and former WWE star Maven recently had a few things to say about John.
Speaking to Chris Van Vliet on INSIGHT, Maven brought up his previous remarks on John Cena not being a good wrestler from an in-ring standpoint. He did not back away from his statements, however, he also credited the former 16-time world champion for two things in particular. He said that Cena was one of the hardest workers he's seen and that no one deserves more success than Cena.
"I got a lot of heat from people when my first ratings video came out, people thought I was burying John. I don't think John thinks John was a great technical wrestler, but what I will give that man credit for two things. One, there's no harder worker in the world than him. No one deserves success more than John. I could not be happier for the success he’s gotten. I'm not learning Mandarin, I can barely speak English," Maven said.
The former WWE star also added that the Cenation Leader could teach classes on marketing, looking at his career progression in WWE since 2002 right up to his movie star days.
"Two, he could teach a class on marketing and you know, just reinventing yourself. Like, look at what he's been able to do just from 2002 through now. And I mean, he's a full-fledged bonafide movie star."
Before making the shift to an acting career Cena proved to his naysayers that he was not only a show-man, but a good in-ring worker as well. This was especially clear during his US Open Challenge phase around 2015.
Recently, however, after losing to Solo Sikoa at Crown Jewel in November 2023, Cena once again left WWE programming. There have been several rumors surrounding a potential appearance at WrestleMania XL. Cena even confirmed his availability for the show, as well as hinting at another world title win.
Shawn Michaels made John Cena "the man" in WWE, believes wrestling veteran
Bruce Prichard noted on his podcast Something To Wrestle With about John Cena's crucial career moment that made him a star.
While he had already become WWE Champion a few times prior along with main-eventing WrestleMania, it was not until Cena's match against Shawn Michaels in 2007 that he truly became a big star in the eyes of most people.
"Shawn and Cena, I thought that on that night, Shawn made Cena the man," Prichard said. "I really do, on that night. I think Shawn was there for everything. It also just showed me...man, John Cena was up four days in a row every shoot, everything you can possibly imagine for that event. Oh my god, he did [prove himself]."
Meanwhile, John's longtime rival Randy Orton also expressed a desire to face Cena one last time on The Grandest Stage of Them All, with a world title on the line. It remains to be seen if Orton's wishes ever come to fruition.