John Cena Discusses How Becky Lynch's Rise Compares To His Own
John Cena recently spoke with Uproxx to talk about his promotion deal for the Hefty Ultra Strong trash bags brand.
Cena talked about the women's division possibly headlining WrestleMania 35 this year and said it should have happened a while ago. Cena said whatever the consumer wants, WWE will give them, including the rise of Becky Lynch.
"We are in the entertainment business. Whatever the consumer finds most entertaining, regardless of sex, race, creed, color, religion anything. What the consumer wants, WWE will give," Cena said. "I think Daniel Bryan a few years ago in the main event of WrestleMania was a great example of that. And I think the women that are supposedly within the main event of WrestleMania this year were pushing forward toward that historic, monumental occasion.
"I'm one of those people who think that it should've happened a whole lot earlier, but I'm very proud that our audience is at a point where they're screaming at the top of their lungs, 'Hey, this is what we want to see.' I was so extremely happy for Becky Lynch to be able to find this personality that she carved out of thin air and almost out of desperation and become so successful with it."
Cena talked more about the rise of Lynch, who he worked an angle with and teamed with to defeat Andrade and Zelina Vega back on the first WWE SmackDown episode of 2019. Cena said he sees parallels between Lynch's sudden meteoric rise and how his own WWE career got off the ground years ago. Cena recalled how he took a chance when he was about to be fired from WWE, and the rest was history.
"I'm really passionate about this stuff. I've always looked at WWE as the land of opportunity. I have been surrounded by performers that so many times become complacent and negative and they think like, 'Oh, I can't do this because of X.' Or 'I can't do this because this person is holding me down.' I know when I speak to those people they don't necessarily take stock in what I say, but I only say what I do because I started from nothing," Cena said. "I was about to be fired. I was in a Becky Lynch-type scenario where I was forgotten and I was about to be let go and I took a chance on myself. I took a chance on redefining my character and it worked and I've never stopped. And I wasn't the corporate headquarters first, second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth choice, but the audience began to make noise. And I connected with the audience and the rest is history.
"That's what's wonderful about WWE. It truly is an enterprise system for any performer to connect with the audience. And once they connect with the audience, it doesn't matter if they're male or female. It doesn't matter where you're from. What you look like. You become a centerpiece of our entertainment and I think that's the most fascinating thing about what we do. It truly is go out there and connect and then see what happens."