“F**k Your Stars”: John Cena Explains Logic Behind “Sh*tty” WWE WrestleMania 41 Match

John Cena faced Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 41 last year.

After Cena turned heel and attacked Cody Rhodes at the Elimination Chamber, he challenged Rhodes for the WWE Undisputed Championship at WrestleMania 41. John Cena went on to win the title and become a 17-time World Champion, with help and distraction from rapper Travis Scott.

Despite making history with his record-breaking 17th World Championship, John Cena’s WrestleMania match was poorly received by fans. Many felt that the dirty finish to such a historic title win was a lame and underwhelming conclusion to Rhodes’s year-long reign.

Fans were especially unhappy with Travis Scott’s interference, as many had hoped to see The Rock appear at WrestleMania 41 instead.

John Cena Intentionally Wrestled Poorly At WrestleMania 41

On a recent episode of No Contest Wrestling, John Cena revealed why he had a “sh*tty” WrestleMania 41 match with Cody Rhodes. He said he intentionally wrestled a slow, joyless, methodical match to portray an aging, obsessed champion who had “won at any cost” but felt empty and bitter.

The idea was to strip the fun out of wrestling so Cody Rhodes could ultimately “save the business,” but John Cena admitted the experiment didn’t connect with fans and ultimately failed.

I wanted the year to be like a cycle of life. Someone facing immortality. I’m old. I’m coming to the end of it. I’m just happy to be at the thing. And then, like almost winning the Rumble. Like, no, no. I’m You’re only as young as you feel. Like, I still got it. I need this. This is going to keep me young and keep me alive. And then that obsessive chase for the championship to be like at any cost because nobody remembers it. They’ll just remember that you won. F**k it. Do whatever it takes. And then I won. I still don’t feel validated. What do I do now? I ruin it.

These people have been abusive to me, and I’m going to take the fun out of wrestling. So, I go and have a shitty match at WrestleMania. Like a sh*ty, real methodical match. Yeah. That’s how I’m going to ruin wrestling. You guys want to see flying, spots, and creativity? F**k your stars. I’m going to burn it. And whenever I’m out there, I’m going to do the hard punch and chop from the top, and like the most methodical basic.

I was brave enough to try. Didn’t work. Yeah, we got the data points. We pivoted, but I was like, how can I take the joy out of being a fan? And the explanation I got was you’re going to do that for too long, and people aren’t going to show up. That is not because I said so. That’s a good explanation. Yeah.

But I wanted to take the joy out of being a fan so Cody could be like, I’m saving the business. I’m not just winning the championship. I’m going to save wrestling
because if this guy does go home, he’ll take the belt with him. That’s why we started doing the ticking clock. And like you can start over. I’m not ignorant. You’ll start another show, but you won’t have this. (From 1:09:08 – 1:10:50)

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