Q&A with John Cena on WrestleMania, winning the US title and taking the WWE to China and India

The 15-time WWE world champion bids to win the United States title on Sunday for the first time in more than 10 years as he goes up against Rusev at WrestleMania 31 and speaks with our Graham Caygill.

John Cena, cheers the fans before the fight during a Intercontinental Championship match the main event of WWE Live at Zayed Sports City yesterday in Abu Dhabi. Ravindranath / The National
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SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA // John Cena, the 15-time WWE world champion, bids to win the United States title on Sunday for the first time in more than 10 years as he goes up against Rusev at WrestleMania 31. Ahead of the match, Graham Caygill heard what he had to say on several topics relating to him and his future in the WWE.

On working with emerging talent at WrestleMania

“I said something on Raw a while back that any moment at WrestleMania is an opportunity to make life-long memories, and you hear so many people putting stress on the main event of WrestleMania. The product has grown to such an extent essentially every match is a main event, and the goal of everyone should be just to be involved at WrestleMania. It has been a pleasure, it truly has, to see the excitement, to see the anticipation, to see the nerves of what is about to happen and it is something I still go through, but to be able to be a life-long memory in a competitive situation, a story they will have to tell for the rest of their life that is a pretty cool thing.”

On his secret of lasting so long at the top

“Everyone always asks the question, how does he do it? How does he go on? I love what I do. You will hear everyone say that, but I prove it. I am not saying that to condescend anyone else’s opinion, I am saying it because I love this, I truly do and I want to be in this as long as I can and I am going to. When I am a step slower than I should be and I should not be out there, it will be time to go.”

On the advice he is giving Roman Reigns on dealing with adverse crowd reactions

“I told him to be just himself out there. As long as they [the fans] are making noise, I think he is doing just fine.”

On what winning the United States title at WrestleMania on Sunday would mean to him

“I think it is a beacon of achievement, I really do. Right now we are a bit of a fickle situation with a WWE Heavyweight champion [Brock Lesnar]. When he shows he does some damage, believe me. I think I spoke German after Summerslam he suplexed me so many times, but I want to be able to have a viable, competitive championship that is available at every live event, at every television screening, at every special event, and at every pay-per-view. And on top of that those who have watched WWE, I am almost overly patriotic. That is not a work, that is who I am. It gives me great pride, not just from a nostalgia factor to win the championship that I won at WrestleMania 20 but to be the bearer of the championship that essentially defines the United States.”

On what is left for him to achieve in the WWE

“We can always go someplace else. I really want to get the WWE to be able to perform on a regular basis in China. I think we should be able to go to India on a regular basis and whatever I can do, and I am not the person whose booking live events, but whatever I can do to push that message forward and help those things happen, I will. WrestleMania this year is at Levi’s Stadium. We should do every show in a stadium, and at that point we should build a bigger stadium. That is what is great about the WWE. We are always extending the fanbase, there is always another story to tell and it is never essentially over. You can tell I still have passion for this and I really love it. We will see what is next when we see what is next.”

gcaygill@thenational.ae

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