John Cena Gives His Thoughts on Roman Reigns’ Part-Time Schedule and His WrestleMania 39 Program With Austin Theory

John Cena appeared on Busted Open Radio this week and touched on a few topics, including his recent WrestleMania 39 program with Austin Theory over the United States Championship and Roman Reigns’ continued run as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. Cena’s brief feud with Theory resulted in mixed reactions from fans as many felt their one face-to-face confrontation on Monday Night Raw saw Cena “bury” Theory. The young champ then turned around and cheated to retain his title against Cena in a fairly elementary match but didn’t seem to benefit much from it. Cena wove his interactions with Theory into a long answer he gave about Reigns’ uncanny ability to create stars (i.e. The Bloodline and whoever they’re feuding with at the time) without needing to be at TV each week. 

“I love that Roman did it his way,” Cena began (h/t WrestlingNews.co). “He did it his own way by crafting his own personality. He did it as a way by redefining what it is to be at the tip of the spear. He is there selectively. He has made himself exclusive and in doing so, he’s brought like eight people with him. He’s allowed the whole Bloodline to get over. So with me, if you put me in that conversation, I could only help the person that I was working with while I was working with him. The reputation I had in the sauce while I was in it was that I buried talent because I would really invest my wholeheartedness. I sat with Austin Theory for like 10 hours. Not wasted a day, invested a day, to talk about our why, like, what’s our story going to be? I would do that with everyone. I live it. My heart is on the plate. But after they were with me, they didn’t take that energy with them, but I gave it to the next guy. So okay, who’s next? It was AJ (Styles) and now it’s Kevin Owens. Alright, ‘Kevin, come here. We’re gonna sit down for two weeks and just talk about stuff. Then we’re gonna go out there and try some crazy stuff, see what works, and then put our best foot forward.’ Kevin’s done, Sami (Zayn), no problem. 

“What Roman does, just being affiliated with his energy, he gets so many people over,” he continued. “That’s something I could never do, ever, period. Like, you’re with me and you got a chance when you’re there, but a lot of times you went off to do stuff that wasn’t looked at in the same way, and then the perception of the audience is, ‘Oh my god, he buried him.’ Winning and losing doesn’t matter. I haven’t won a match in five years. It doesn’t matter. Roman’s ability to be that good, to spread his energy so thin that he makes other talents, and do it exclusive. That’s the difference between Ric. Ric was always the centerpiece. Roman has off days. but he’s still there, like, his presence is so great. I think that’s never been done. I’ve never seen anything like it.”