John Cena got the wrestling world buzzing on Monday thanks to his latest Instagram post. As always, the photo didn’t come with a caption but it was a close-up of the famous Monday Night Raw segment where a then-debuting Kevin Owens took out Cena with a powerbomb and stomped on the United States Championship as he held up his NXT Championship. Theory, the current US Champion, has been openly campaigning for a match with Cena for years and started calling out the former five-time United States Champion shortly after he won the gold.
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“Everyone understands that you have far more talent, strength, and gifts than I ever had. Don’t apologize for that. Ever. An apology should come 20 years from now if you fail to provide the EFFORT needed to turn your potential into your legacy. I hope that day never comes,” Cena wrote on Twitter while deflecting Theory’s attempt at trolling. The young champ didn’t respond, but he did seem confident that the match would happen in an interview with The New York Post last week.
“It just takes words out of my mouth, because I think when that moment happens and I’m in the ring with John Cena, man, I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what I’m gonna say. I don’t know. I have no idea just because like you’re saying and the way you spoke about it, I clearly know what it was like for me growing up watching John, just the story there and how much we’d actually have for a story. Man that’s just so crazy to me. I see it happening for sure,” Theory said.
He also discussed the kind of advice Cena has given him behind the scenes — “Typically it’s work-related and how can you improve this or what looks better to you here. Honestly man, not even advice he’s given me but I think just his character. Watching him as I was growing up, the whole ‘Never give up’ [slogan.] As cheesy as people may think that sounds, that mentality, that never-give-up mentality is what really helped me through my life and really got me to this point. And I think a lot of people that see me as the 24-year-old United States champion, the youngest in WWE history, and how I’ve gotten here so far is that mindset, that never-give-up attitude. That’s something that’s been an inspiration to me and that’s definitely somebody that’s a big influence on me and helps me guide my way.”
“It kind of just blows my mind. It’s so wild. I don’t want to say I didn’t expect it because I’ve always had the motivation and the drive and the determination to be here. But to actually think like, ‘Oh whoa, I can actually get some advice from John Cena’ is just mind-blowing. When you think, who’s your ultimate inspiration in life, whether it’s a baseball player, a football player, a WWE superstar, and to finally meet them and be able to conversate with them about work and how to get better and get to that next level, it’s wild,” he added.
Cena returned to WWE programming at last year’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view and kicked off “The Summer of Cena,” which had him competing at various live events before challenging Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam. His last match took place after the Sept. 10 episode of SmackDown, where he and The Mysterios beat The Bloodline in a six-man tag match at Madison Square Garden.
