"What the f***? How does he know this?" - Former WWE Superstar opens up about the reality of working with CM Punk and John Cena
CM Punk and John Cena were two of WWE's biggest locker room leaders a decade ago.
Cena and Punk's rivalry in 2011 leading up to Money in the Bank in Chicago was lauded as some of the most compelling television in WWE history. Former WWE Superstar Ricardo Rodriguez worked with both men while they were on top of the company.
Ricardo Rodriguez was the latest guest on Wrestlebuddy to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When he was asked what it was like to work with CM Punk and John Cena, Rodriguez touched on the latter first:
"There is nobody like Cena," Ricardo Rodriguez said. "Cena knows how to control the crowd, and that was beautiful to watch. One of the examples I constantly use, was we were at a live event, and Alberto was working with Cena. And they're getting ready to blow the comeback and wrap it up. So Alberto says let's go, and then Cena, somewhere halfway through is like, no, not yet. They're not there yet. Bring me down. So, Alberto brings him down. And then, sure enough, the crowd just comes back even louder than the first time, and I was like, what the f***? How does he know this? I was just one of those instances where I got to understand Cena's how and why of things." [06:03 - 07:25]
Interview #33 w/Ricardo Rodriguez (Former WWE Superstar) twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…
Ricardo Rodriguez says CM Punk was very receptive to ideas
As for current AEW World Champion CM Punk, Rodriguez said he was awesome to work with, and was great in the ring. He also revealed that Punk was very receptive to his creative ideas during his feud with Alberto Del Rio:
"Punk was awesome, man. Wrestling-wise, Punk was great," Ricardo Rodriguez said. "He was very receptive to ideas. Another thing I'm always gonna be thankful for is that I was constantly pitching ideas. And at first, I would pitch it to Alberto, Alberto would pitch to the producer, producer would pitch it to whoever we're working with. And then, as time went on, I started pitching ideas directly to the person or the producer. And a lot of times were very receptive. They would tweak it to make it make sense more, but they were very receptive." [07:26 - 07:55]
#AEWAllOut all week long from the @NOW_Arena
Wed, 8/31 - #AEWDynamite LIVE on @TBSNetwork
Fri, 9/2 - #AEWRampage LIVE on @tntdrama
Sun 9/4 - #AEWAllOut LIVE on PPV
Tickets for all 3 Go On-Sale THIS FRIDAY at 10AM CT - AEWTIX.com & Ticketmaster.com https://t.co/BMMzIT2J4H
What do you make of Ricardo Rodriguez's comments? Are you impressed by the things he learned from John Cena and CM Punk? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit Wrestlebuddy with a link back to this article for the transcription.