John Cena gives interesting details about the creative process behind the Firefly Funhouse match at WrestleMania 36
16-time World Champion John Cena is one of the biggest Superstars in the history of WWE. After being at the top of the WWE mountain for over a decade, Cena has become a part-timer in the last few years as he is focusing on his Hollywood career.
In a recent interview with Den of Geek, Cena spoke about the creative process behind his Firefly Funhouse match against Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 36 earlier this year:
"That in its entirety, is a great example, of being given an idea, and then when you ask "Well what is this idea?" the response from those people that give it to you is we don't know. So, what I love, I can waste the entire day, talking with you about, that performance. Because it means a lot to me and it's one of those that it's really special. But if anything, it's a great example of, just not stopping and continuing to lean into anything and everything to tell the correct story."
John Cena said that they were not given any direction about how the match should be, and every time they enquired about it, they were told that they didn't know that the idea was about, which they took as an opportunity.
"We weren't given any direction. We were just given this thing, and then, we made this out of nothing because the response of all of our inquiries was always, "I don't know." So instead of taking I don't know as like mopey complacency and going back and kicking the rock down the road, we took, I don't know as opportunity. And trust me, man, when we were doing this, everyone involved was like "This is either gonna be awesome, or it's gonna suck." No one is going to apathetically watch this and go get popcorn. So it's not like we knew we had something special."
John Cena further stated how everyone involved in the process had a feeling that the match will either be really good or be a massive failure.
"You talk to anyone who was involved in the process and the common theme was, "This is either going to be really good or it's going to suck." And we're going to go down with the ship, but let's not err on the side of caution, let's be brave and let's do something different. And if they don't get it, at least we'll know right away that they didn't get it and we'll know why because our audience is very vocal when they don't like stuff."
"Man, with the two performers involved we really could have sat on our haunches and done whatever we want and it would've been, okay it might've been just another match. But we all leaned into it and came up with some really creative stuff and in the process, used the forum to tell a great story. And that's, it really was a cool thing."
Cena concluded by saying that the match was very important to him as he wanted to teach and guide the young performers and revealed how "getting no information" is actually a goldmine for a performer.
"And I say it's important to me because this is uh, I also like to, help and teach and guide younger performers that are looking for answers. And for them to be like, "I get nothing. No one gives me any information." They don't realize that that's a goldmine. Now I actually have multiple experiences, when I started rapping, for example, and the choices then, to even now of like, "Hey man, it happens at every level, you are not alone, Take it by the horns and do your best to make something our of it and don't be afraid to fail." And I really was happy with the effort and whether it bombed or it went to the moon, literally, I was happy. But I was so, I was also so happy that our audience understood what we were trying to say."
John Cena vs Bray Wyatt
After a lengthy absence from WWE programming, John Cena returned to SmackDown earlier this year after WWE Super ShowDown. John Cena cut a heartfelt promo where he stated that he wanted to give his spot at WrestleMania 36 to a younger WWE Superstar and hinted at missing the PPV.
Just when Cena was about to leave the arena, "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt appeared behind him. Instead of attacking him, Wyatt just pointed towards the WrestleMania logo, thus challenging John Cena to a match, which the latter accepted.
The two had previously clashed at WrestleMania 30. While most fans wanted to see Bray Wyatt pick up a big victory over the Leader of Cenation then, it was John Cena who overcame all odds and defeated the Wyatt Family. Their clash at WrestleMania 36 was in, many ways, a redemption of sorts for Bray Wyatt, who managed to defeat John Cena in a unique "Firefly Funhouse" match, one of the two cinematic matches on WrestleMania 36.
Cena appeared in several avatars, from his initial debut look to the Doctor of Thuganomics, and hilariously also as a member of the NWO.
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