As quickly as a photo of John Cena is shown online will someone quickly react by saying there’s nothing in the photo. This reference to his wrestling catchphrase of “You Can’t See Me,” has taken on a life of its own in the world of online memedom and one might expect, in the same way that Dave Bautista is tired of hearing Drax jokes, that perhaps Cena feels the same way. Speaking with ComicBook.com at today’s F9 event in Miami, we asked the wrestler turned actor about that and he delivered a surprising and eloquent answer.
“I’m never tired of that,” Cena said. “That entire joke familiarized me with a brand new generation of people which has extended the ability to do what I love and call it work. I don’t ever- If you do this entire interview and everyone in the comments is like ‘I don’t know why he’s pointing a mic to thin air,’ I think it’s funny and I never get tired of hearing it. Don’t ever take yourself too seriously out there guys.”
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To tie it all back, the Fast & Furious franchise which Cena has now joined pre-dates his career as a professional wrestler with the WWE, and for Cena the similarities were to numerous to not notice.
“The most surreal thing is I’ve always been extremely involved in cars,” Cena added. “And this was a movie where it got its beginnings from embracing car culture and tuning culture, and the battle of muscle vs import and then has morphed into still having its roots in car culture but keeping, obviously, the focus on family as well. It’s just as rewarding as someone saying ‘Hey, you’re gonna be in the WWE,’ you never think that that’s going to happen ever and when you do you certainly want to work hard and do your best and there’s a sense of professionalism but there’s also a sense of pancake eye’d kid going like ‘What is all this?’ because it’s pretty amazing.”
In the upcoming film, Cena will take on the role of Jakob, the long lost and “forsaken” brother of Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto, who is responsible for a “world-shattering plot” and has become a high-caliber assassin an thief in his quest to outdo his brother. He’ll team up with Charlize Theron’s Cipher and give the Fast Family the run of their lives. Fans are freaking out over the new trailer to say the least.
F9, which is the official title for the movie and the shortest of the series, is scheduled to be released on May 22, 2020.
(Header Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)
