Professional wrestling is an interesting form of entertainment, as it combines athleticism with story telling. A good storyline can create a major buzz for a company like WWE, but some angles miss the mark entirely.
Fans who were watching WWE during John Cena’s rise to the top likely remember his rivalry with Edge very well. Edge and Cena pushed each other to the limit and the Rated R Superstar played the heel in their rivalry.
In order to get some major heat for Edge, an idea was pitched for Edge to travel to West Newbury, MA, to berate John Cena’s father, but things didn’t exactly go according to plan.
During a recent episode of E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness, former WWE writer Brian Gewirtz shared the story of how he and Bruce Prichard travelled to meet John Cena Sr., and Gewirtz said that John Cena himself gave them a little warning ahead of time and wished them luck.
Gewirtz went on to say that they gave John Cena Sr. specific instructions for the segment, but he went into business for himself.
“So [Edge] and [Lita], we went to the Cena house, yeah, and the idea was [Edge] would go in, make fun of his upbringing, make fun of his house, and eventually get into it with his dad and everything,” Gewirtz said via WrestlingInc. “But what we didn’t know was Mr. Cena is a bit of a performance artist in his own right. Yes, so and the line was just ‘Edge berates John Cena’s dad and storms off,’ so then, [Edge] would berate him, and he goes, ‘well, let me tell you something, I’m going to put you over the edge!’ And then, he looks into the camera. We’re like, ‘what the f–k? What? Hey, Mr. Cena, in this particular set of circumstances, you are just going to stand there and kind of get berated. We’re going to get sympathy for you and your character and everything.’ [Imitating Cena, Sr.] ‘Oh, got it. Okay.’ So then, [Lita] cuts her promo and it’s like, ‘let me tell you something chicky-poo, you’re nothing! And I’m going to make sure you’re both put over the edge!’ He kept going back to that for some reason. He was doubling down on the ‘over the edge’ and [Edge] had to do [his] best to stop from laughing at everything. [Imitating Cena, Sr.] ‘I don’t care if you do it till the cows come home! Hahaha! See, because that’s how it works around here in West Newbury, Massachusetts!’ I’m like, ‘what is happening?’ He couldn’t help himself and Cena warned us about it.”
Gewirtz went on to say that after Vince McMahon watched the footage he said that it might have been the worst thing ever recorded in the history of the wrestling business.
“Then we get the call from Vince [McMahon], Bruce and I, and he goes, ‘guys, that might have been the worst thing we ever recorded in the history of this business. I’m extremely disappointed.’ And then, Vince said the greatest thing in the world, which I should apologize to Bruce, but I can’t. But he goes, ‘it’s unusable, it was unprofessional, it was terrible – Bruce, I’m really disappointed in you.’ And I’m just like, ‘yes, I agree with that! Bruce, I am, too, disappointed. I was trying to learn from you!'”
In the end WWE aired the footage during Raw, but Edge talked over it so you couldn’t make out what John Cena Sr. was saying, but as you can see in the clip below he gets pretty amped up.
