Throughout his WWE career, John Cena has often been compared to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Both men where the No. 1 wrestler in WWE for a lengthy period of time (one could make the argument Cena still is despite his part-time status), both could captivate crowds on the mic and both delivered big moments on the biggest of stages.
The comparisons went on for so long that the two wound up in a rivalry that spanned across three years and two WrestleMania main event matches, with Johnson winning at WrestleMania XXVIII and Cena beating Johnson a year later for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXIX.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Now “Big Match John” finds himself following in Johnson’s shoes once again, this time as he slowly earns a name for himself in Hollywood. But in an interview with The Wrap on Friday, Cena said Johnson is in an entirely different class from him when it comes to being a movie star.
“The Rock is in a conversation by himself. He is an anomaly, he’s done unbelievable things in the world of sports and entertainment,” Cena said. “There is only one man even involved in that conversation and it is him, he sets the bar rather high.”
The two will be in the same building on Sunday night for the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, which Cena is hosting for the second year in a row.
“It’s guys like that who not only work hard but use their platform,” Cena said. “He is unbelievably gifted at using social media to spread the fact that hard work is how you achieve success,” Cena marveled over his counterpart. “Hard work is also how you achieve significance. He inspires a lot of people, I don’t think he understands the depth of how much. He is someone I look up to — so if I look up to him, there’s no way we can be in the same conversation.
Johnson, fresh off a massive box office success with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, stars in two actions films set to be released later this year in Rampage and Skyscraper.
Cena’s latest film, the comedy Blockers, hits theaters on April 6. His next action film, a spin-off in the Transformer series titled Bumblebee, is currently in post-production.
On top of all of that, Cena is still an active member of the WWE roster, and is currently trying to set up a match with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 34 on April 8.
