John Cena On Why He Was Wrong For Calling Out The Rock

John Cena and The Rock certainly aren’t strangers. For years Cena called out The Rock for seemingly abandoning WWE, and eventually the call was answered when they faced off at WrestleMania 28, and 29.

But now times have changed, and John Cena has also been taking time away from WWE to focus on his acting career.

The 16 time WWE World Champion spoke to Sports Illustrated about his history with The Rock, and he referred to himself as “ignorant” while talking about his reasons for calling Rock out.

“I’ve told Dwayne Johnson that when I called him out for a lack of love for WWE, I was wrong. I was ignorant. He loves WWE, but he goes from shooting one project to the next. He blazed a trail and I didn’t understand that, but now I totally understand. I was wrong. It led to a good piece of business in WWE [at WrestleMania 28 and 29], but I was speaking from a point of selfish ignorance.”

“When you’re filming, there is simply no way to be with WWE. You just can’t. Even when we don’t film on Sundays, if I come back for a weekend show and get hurt or break my nose, I could jeopardize the entire film. Movies force you to make the choice. When you sign on for this, this is what you have to do–and this is what I am so excited to do.”

It’s been a while since John Cena has appeared on WWE programming, and even though Randy Orton recently challenged him to a match at WrestleMania 36, there don’t seem to be any plans in place at this time for Cena to return to the ring.