Why Ex-WWE Star Was Shocked To Be John Cena’s Tag Team Partner
A former WWE superstar was surprised when he learned about becoming an ally of John Cena.
By the summer of 2008, John Cena was about three years into his main event run in WWE and firmly established as the top babyface in WWE, especially on the Raw brand.
During a rivalry with John Bradshaw Layfield, who is the man that Cena beat for his first WWE title win in 2005, Cena found some new allies in the form of Cryme Tyme.
In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Cryme Tyme’s JTG and the late Shad Gaspard were a fun-loving duo known for their participation in silly backstage segments, while also demonstrating their capabilities in the ring.
On a July 2008 episode of Raw, Cena and Cryme Tyme desecrated JBL’s infamous white limo. Many fans still remember it to this day due to Cena spray painting “JBL Is Poopy,” which may not be considered cool trash talk, but it did fit the PG model of WWE at the time.
When JTG spoke to Rewind, Recap, Relive, he recalled how he found out about the segment with Cena, and how shocked he was to be a part of it.
“It just came out of nowhere. I just remember walking into the building and I think one of the the tech guys, the guys who do the WWE’s prop, the prop guy. He was like, ‘ooh, you guys are gonna have some fun tonight.’
I was like (makes face), ‘I got you guys some bats, I got you some gloves’, and I’m like, ‘What are we doing tonight?’ ‘You guys didn’t hear? ‘He’s like, he knew we didn’t hear, he just wanted to- ‘you guys are destroying the limo tonight with John Cena. I think you and John Cena are gonna be like a (team)’, and I’m like, I didn’t believe him at first.
I’m like (makes face) and then as the writers were coming up to me, ‘I’m like, wow, this is real.’ Cena came up, like, ‘yep, we’re a thing now.’ So I was like, oh, wow, this all happened. I remember the date, July 7th.”
John Cena Facing Brock Lesnar At WWE Wrestlepalooza
In his final appearance on WWE SmackDown, John Cena challenged Sami Zayn in front of a raucous crowd in Chicago. Even though Zayn is a babyface, he was booed heavily during the match because the fans wanted Cena to win.
Unfortunately for the fans, Cena failed to win the US Title because Brock Lesnar showed up and pulled the referee out of the ring to cause a no contest ruling.
Lesnar also hit Cena with the F5 two times and the fans booed loudly.
In the backstage area, Lesnar spoke into the camera: “Hey John, I’ll see ya at Wrestlepalooza, bitch.” The match was quickly made official by WWE.
Also Read: John Cena paid tribute to multiple past opponents during SmackDown match.
