Fans watched John Cena call out The Undertaker for weeks on Monday Night Raw in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania, but he didn’t receive a response.
Cena told the fans that since he didn’t get a response from Taker, he would be going to WrestleMania 34 as a fan, and he lived up to his word.
Cena sat in the crowd for quite a while, however, he revealed during an interview with Sports Illustrated that WWE officials only wanted him to sit in the crowd for 10 minutes.
“There were reservations about me in the audience. Originally, they wanted me to go out in the crowd for 10 minutes. I said, ‘Absolutely not. I need a ticket, a physical ticket, I need a real seat, and I am going out in that arena when the doors open. It was rewarding to make an unbelievable moment believable,” said Cena. “I also thought it was a great way to reintroduce an iconic character and let the audience know that character still exists and thrives, erasing all speculative activity that this character is gone.”
The 16 time World Champion sat in the crowd with the fans, and he watched the show from the other side of the barricade, but after he was told that The Undertaker had arrived at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, he hopped the barricade and prepared for a match.
After the bell rang, Taker made short work of Cena, and he got very little offense in during their encounter. John opened up about the match during an interview with Sports Illustrated, and he said that he loved the match because it got the job done.
“I did not do well in this match,” admitted Cena. “My ‘WrestleMania Moment’ was to spend the time in the crowd and not do well in a very short performance, but I loved it because it got the job done. The focus was not me, the focus was someone else. 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. Every single week, the crowd would chant at the top of its lungs and no one thought I would be sitting in the crowd at WrestleMania, but I was able to do that. I was able to go out and be handily defeated in three minutes and bring back an icon.”
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