John Cena Finally Confesses Why He Had Backstage Heat In WWE

John Cena did not taste success as soon as he entered WWE. In fact, he was on the verge of losing his job when he came up with the character that ultimately saved him.

Back in 2002, The Champ came up with the Doctor of Thuganomics persona, which was influenced by his love for hip-hop and rap music. The character was brash and playful, and it rubbed other superstars the wrong way.

However, that wasn’t John Cena trying to be unprofessional towards the job, but he was just trying to keep his job.

John Cena clarified the WWE backstage heat

Ahead of his final week, The Champ appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience. John Cena recalled the heat he received during the Doctor of Thuganomics phase and clarified that he was just trying to keep his job. WWE kept putting him back in the arena and ring because of the noise he was generating from the audience.

In doing that, I never followed dress code. I was saying disrespectful sh*t about my peers. Like, I kind of did it my own way. So I was kind of ruffling some feathers backstage or just I was taking big swings cause I was going to f**king get fired anyway. The alternative was lose my job. So I was like, ‘F**k it. I’m going down swinging.’ And then the people behind the curtain were like, ‘Ah, the kid’s disrespectful to the business. He doesn’t care about the business.’ All the while, I just want to keep my f*cking job, you know? So the theys behind the curtain weren’t really invested, but they were also humble enough to be like, ‘There’s noise out there. Got to give them another match and one match at a time.

John Cena’s last ever WWE match will be against Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13th, 2025.

Read More: Ex-WWE Star Reveals Horrendous John Cena Backstage Story

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