John Cena reveals that he once committed a “direct violation of trust” with former WWE owner Vince McMahon
While speaking to Wild Card with Rachel Martin, former WWE Champion John Cena was asked the question: “Have you ever done a thing because it was going to get you somewhere in your career, and you didn’t like who you were when you were doing it? I guess that’s the root of that question.”
Here was Cena’s response…
“So, the answer to that is yes, and I’m faced with those all the time. I think we all are. Those are my most teachable moments, and those are the ones I reflect on with guilt—borderline shame, really—because you define your values and you define how you want to live.
If an opportunity comes where you’re like, ‘Oh man, this could be really good, but it’s not who I am,’ people see through that immediately. Immediately. Then you feel guilt. U.S. dollars are paper. U.S. dollars are cool, but the currency you have is your integrity, is who you are. ‘Everybody’s got a price’ is a real comment. You just have to be accountable. That weight’s heavy. It’s heavy.
[Is there an example you would feel comfortable sharing?]
I think one time I tried to get involved with an entrepreneurial social network startup, and I didn’t tell my boss. We talk about everything. This was a, ‘Man, we’re gonna do this together.’ In potentially being part of this startup, I would… my name is John Cena, so I would essentially be leveraging intellectual property. That’s a team decision.
I love and trust my boss. He’s far more than my boss. This is Vince McMahon.
I was just trying to get more money, simply. I have my own philosophy on social networks. I’m very limited in my use by design, so it’s not something I’m interested in. I’m not too fond of limited-access stuff, and this was a curated idea. It seemed nice, but I looked at the projections.
Man, my boss found out, and to be honest, he was great. He was great. He walked me through it. ‘Okay, this is the choice you’ve made. Let’s walk through all the tentacles of what might happen.’
It was a direct violation of trust with somebody I had worked with for years, and he had invested years in trusting me, too.
So, it was a moment where he could have just gone nuclear because trust takes years to build and moments to destroy. But he didn’t. He had patience and tolerance, and I think, possibly as an entrepreneur himself, he tried to put himself in my shoes. He walked me through it, and it took five minutes or less to realize, ‘I’m such an idiot.’
I immediately called the company back and said, ‘I’m out. This isn’t for me.'”