John Cena is looking back on his feud with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. During a press conference for WWE Fastlane on Saturday, Cena was asked about his earlier criticisms of Johnson pivoting from WWE full-time to acting. He admits what Johnson did is the same thing Cena is doing now. Cena said that the feud was fueled by his frustration with Johnson leaving WWE for movies and television projects.
“I went about it the wrong way. I violated his trust and I made allegations about his perspective that I knew nothing about,” Cena said, per PEOPLE. “And deep down, I was a fan. I wanted The Rock back [in WWE]. I wanted to do anything to get The Rock back, but I did it the wrong way.”
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Cena, 46, also said that he publicly and privately apologized to Johnson, 51, for how he handled the situation at the time. “So I had to eat a little bit of crow. I had to say ‘I’m sorry and I was wrong,’ because I am sorry and I was wrong, and that’s a very humbling experience. Dwayne is a hell of a guy.” he said. “I became who I despised. I see that perspective and I understand it. It was a great learning experience from my mistake with feuding with The Rock.”
The Peacemaker star went on to say he and Johnson had conversations which led to Johnson returning to the ring. “It’s very difficult for people who are all into the WWE universe to see anything else that goes on, but here,” Cena stated. “We all have our own struggle. We all live our own lives.”
Cena and Johnson feuded in 2011 and battled each other at WrestleMania 28 and WrestleMania 29. At the time, Johnson was competing in WWE part-time because of his acting career. And as Cena became more popular in WWE, he began to accept more movie and TV offers. Cena has been appearing on WWE television more due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike that began in July. He plans to return to Hollywood when the strike ends.
“I made it perfectly clear you can’t do both because of the liability insurance,” Cena revealed. “If I were trying to juggle both that’s very selfish because I’d put a whole lot of people in the movie business out of work if something happened to me.”
