Speaking to Sports Illustrated, former 16-time world champion John Cena discussed his quick match at WrestleMania 34 against the Undertaker, a match which was never officially announced for the card but eventually ended up taking place.
Lasting just three minutes, the Undertaker squashed Cena who earlier in the broadcast was sitting among the fans at ringside. Several weeks of build-up to the match saw Cena saying that if the Undertaker does not accept his challenge, he would be having his WrestleMania moment with the fans in the stands. The fans kept chanting for Taker week in and week out but Taker never appeared on the show, leading fans to believe the match will not happen.
“I loved it because it got the job done. The focus was not me, the focus was someone else.” Cena said of his quickest WrestleMania performance. ” Often times, we look at things so selfishly, asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’ Well, what was in it for me was the chance to reintroduce a WWE icon. I had to stretch the suspension of disbelief to its breaking point to do it, but it was awesome,” he continued.
Cena admitted that fans did not believe he would be sitting among them on WrestleMania Sunday but he managed to do that and “be handily defeated in three minutes and bring back an icon” at the same time.
“That is a message to any performer who is complaining about their spot or that, creatively, they have nothing going for them. I’ve been first, I’ve been in the middle, I’ve been last. I just want to go out there and do something,” Cena said, adding that there’s a lot of disdain and complacency in the locker room and everyone should be happy with any sort of role, even if it means you’re getting your ass kicked.
John also had high praise for The Miz who he said shares his ideology. “That’s why he is skyrocketing into a new bracket as we speak, and I can’t wait to see what he does next week.”
