John Cena Claims People In WWE Didn’t Want Him Losing To Hall Of Famer

John Cena has revealed that there were people in WWE who didn’t want him to lose the WWE Championship to a rising star.

The John Cena retirement tour dominated WWE from January until his retirement match on December 13th, when Cena lost to Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

One name who wasn’t part of that retirement tour was WWE Hall of Famer Edge, who signed with AEW in October 2023 and uses his real name, Adam Copeland, when he wrestles for them.

Even though Copeland didn’t appear during Cena’s final year as a WWE superstar, Cena performed an Edge-like Spear on SmackDown, and Copeland responded with a Five Knuckle Shuffle in AEW as well, so they certainly found a way to acknowledge eachother.

While speaking to Sports Illustrated’s The Takedown, John Cena revealed that he’s still in touch with the former Edge, who was one of his greatest on-screen WWE rivals.

“I talk to Adam all the time. I have great respect for him. We refer to each other as ‘old shoe’ because Adam’s got a very special place in my heart.”

John Cena Pushed For Edge To Become A WWE Champion

The first time Edge became a WWE Champion was over 20 years ago in January 2006, when Edge cashed in the first Money in the Bank contract on John Cena at New Year’s Revolution.

After that, the babyface Cena and the heel Edge feuded over the WWE Title, with many legendary matches and moments, including the main event of SummerSlam 2006 and a legendary TLC Match at Unforgiven 2006. There were other big matches in future years too.

As Cena spoke about his history with Edge, he revealed that there were people who didn’t want Edge to beat Cena for the WWE Title.

“Adam and I went through a very similar trajectory. People thought Adam Copeland would be nothing more than a tag team wrestler. And I was the one fortunate enough to give him a chance to earn his first WWE Championship.

And the day that was supposed to happen, everyone, except for the main creative force, said I shouldn’t do it, that I should storm into whatever room I need to and say I shouldn’t do it.

I have never operated like that. I always look at ‘what are we doing today and how can we do it the best we can?’'”

The “main creative force” that Cena likely mentioned was former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, but he didn’t mention him by name.

Cena, who started on the WWE main roster four years after Edge, said he felt a similar struggle creatively.

“I went through a very similar struggle. I heard ‘the kid’s not ready’, ‘he’s only a mid-attraction act’, ‘he’s musical comedy’.

No one believed in me and I got a chance. And I felt all Adam needed was a chance. And I was honored to be able to have the chance to give him the right to be there, and he took it and ran with it.”

Also Read: John Cena explained his WWE retirement by claiming that his character was killed off.