John Cena Talks Being Approached About Taking Time Off, Not Being First Draft WWE Pick, Beating RAW
Michael Cole's latest sitdown interview this week is with John Cena. Below are some highlights:
* When asked about all of his outside projects and how he balances them, Cena said that he manages them 24 hours at a time. He said that the days are long and demanding, but WWE is his family and his home. He said that he's been approached about taking time off, but he doesn't want to do it.
* Cena said that he's very excited to be drafted to SmackDown and that it's an exciting time for the WWE Universe. Cena said that he wants WWE fans to know that SmackDown is the money show. He said that there's just the right mix of chaos on SmackDown to create excellence.
* Cole said that he's a little upset that he won't be calling Cena's matches. He talked about Cena's debut against Kurt Angle and what it meant. Cena pointed out that people forget that he had a lot of lows after his debut before he got to the highs. Cena said that in that debut match, he was overwhelmed from going from the small leagues to the big show and that it took him a little while to find his footing and that it was a "little bit of a struggle for awhile."
* Cole said that there was speculation about where Cena would be drafted because of his schedule, and if it was warranted. Cena said that it was, and noted that he's trying to do everything at once, so he's not upset with not being the first draft pick. He noted that he wasn't the first pick in 2002, and that he didn't care if he got picked last. He said that he hopes that the work that he's doing outside of WWE will bring more viewers in to SmackDown, and that when he is able to appear on the show, he'll do his best in the ring.
* When asked what he wants his biggest accomplishment to be, he admitted that it was to beat RAW. He said that beating RAW is his driving force. He noted that in 2002 they got "dealt a rag-tag bunch of dudes" and they went toe-to-toe with RAW. He said that there has always been the impression that RAW is the flagship show – which is true – but it showed how well they did when RAW had to take SmackDown stars to "kind of save RAW". He said that when RAW once again starts stealing SmackDown stars, it will show that they're making more noise.