John Cena Shares Why He Thanks JBL “For A Bunch Of Lessons” In His Career
John Cena is reflecting on his WWE career while making sure to thank John Bradshaw Layfield for helping him a lot during Cena’s legendary run in WWE.
Cena’s first WWE Championship came against JBL at WrestleMania 21 in 2005, which put an end to JBL’s long reign as champion. Cena was on his way to being a huge megastar in WWE, so having JBL put him over clean at WrestleMania was a big moment in Cena’s career. It was the first of Cena’s 16 WWE World Titles.
Cena recently appeared at the Florida Supercon for a Q&A where he explained why he was always thanking for the lessons he learned from WWE Hall of Famer JBL during his career:
“John was always great about keeping you grounded, and he did a lot for me and I’m forever thankful to him. That’s the one thing I remember from that day, him turning to me deadpan and saying, ‘You are winning!’ And almost like, ‘Get over yourself man, I’m trying to build myself up as the biggest obstacle you can overcome which is why it’s raining money and you’re going to win so that’s going to be enough for this evening so just take that and you’re going to be good.’ I really thank him for not only that lesson but he gave me a bunch of lessons through my career.”
The rivalry continued after WrestleMania 21 as Cena had to prove he was a worthy champion. They had a very blood brawl at Judgment Day 2005 that is probably the bloodiest Cena’s ever been in his career.
Over the next few years, they went on to feud again at a main event level with Cena usually picking up the victories because JBL had no problem putting him over in JBL’s role as the heel while Cena was the popular face (with most fans).
The last match between Cena and JBL was at Royal Rumble 2009 when Cena beat JBL to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. JBL retired a few months later at WrestleMania 25 in 2009.