John Cena stopped Vince McMahon from cutting babyface star from WrestleMania
Tyrus, known as Brodus Clay in WWE, recently recalled how John Cena was partly responsible for his WrestleMania 28 appearance.
Due to time constraints, Vince McMahon nixed Tyrus’ match against Heath Slater from the WrestleMania 28 card. The WWE Chairman also considered canceling The Funkasaurus’ dancing segment alongside several “mommas” before the main event between Cena and The Rock.
Speaking on Chris Van Vliet’s Insight podcast, Tyrus revealed that Cena purposely left the backstage area to go to the bathroom shortly before his match. The WWE veteran’s sudden disappearance meant the former Brodus Clay was given time to entertain fans ahead of the main event.
“He [McMahon] was like, ‘I think we’re gonna have to cut it,’” Tyrus said. “And then all of a sudden Cena is getting ready, he’s right behind me, he looks at me and goes, ‘I gotta go to the bathroom.’ I went, ‘What?’ He’s like, ‘I gotta go to the bathroom, I dunno, usually I go to the bathroom I dunno what… eight minutes, six minutes.’ I was like, ‘Six? I can get it in six.’”
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The dance segment took place on the stage area and lasted four minutes and 35 seconds. The Funkadactyls (Cameron and Naomi) danced with Tyrus in their first WrestleMania appearance.
Tyrus will always remember John Cena’s unselfish act
Can’t handle the sudden appearance of Brodus Clay’s twerking mother Momma Clay and the Bridge Club at this Wrestlemania. https://t.co/Kyp8JIWCAc
The WrestleMania 28 main event was advertised by WWE for an entire year. Billed “Once in a Lifetime,” the show-closing contest saw The Rock defeat John Cena in one of the biggest matches in WWE history.
Reflecting on his own experience that day, Tyrus is grateful that Cena thought about him moments before the most important match of his career.
“He walked out of Gorilla [backstage area], so now I had to go,” Tyrus continued. “So I went and I got my WrestleMania moment because Cena had to go to the bathroom, and that’s the reason you can never tell me nothing bad about John Cena. He was the top guy and there was no reason for him to do that, other than he just felt like it was the right thing to do.”
Tyrus added that he initially had reservations about portraying a babyface in WWE. The 49-year-old, who received his release in 2014, only agreed to the character change when he realized the idea came from Vince McMahon.
Please credit Chris Van Vliet’s Insight podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.