John Cena says he was on the list of planned WWE roster cuts at the start of his career
While speaking to Conan O’Brien’s Needs A Friend podcast, former WWE Champion John Cena commented on nearly being cut from WWE at the start of his career. Cena stated the following…
“It was like, ‘Hey, we’re doing December cuts and your name’s on the list.’
They used to, at least back when I broke into the business around 2000, they would make cuts in every April and every December, but there would also be a list of people on the bubble. So, at least they would make you aware of, like, ‘Hey, three months, show me something, kid.’
But I had nothing and I had little understanding of how I could find myself. But because I had nothing, I had nothing to lose. And I went into a professional environment with the advice of ‘mouth shut, ears open,’ which was great. I learned a lot, but I never spoke up for myself.
When I knew the ship was sinking and the guys were rapping in the back, I was like, ‘F*ck this. I’m just going back there.’ And the head of creative happened to be sitting at the front of the bus, and they were like, ‘Can you do that on TV?’
I said, ‘I sure can.’
And it wasn’t like, ‘The kid’s a star.’ They started putting me in forgettable matches on their Saturday night broadcast that aired on nowhere, right?
But in 100% commitment, I was like, called myself Mr. Saturday Night. Like, the show was my show. You give me an inch, I’m going to take a mile.
But it was just the direction of, ‘Hey, you’re the white kid from West Newbury who’s the rapper.’ I get that. I can I can work with that. Let’s let’s go onward.”