John Cena recently opened up about the making of the Firefly Fun House Match with Bray Wyatt back at WrestleMania 36, in which he praised Wyatt’s character work and the unique finished product the two were able to create. The 16-time former world champion told Sports Illustrated, “I’ve had many experiences and many stories in WWE over my tenure there, and a lot of it has been embracing conflict and embracing the tale of good versus evil,” Cena said. “This isn’t the first time I’ve done something like this. For the viewing audience, it was the first time they’d seen a cinematic depiction of this, but this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen a conflicted John Cena character. As with all the opportunities I get in WWE, I never try to be complacent and I always like to push the envelope. This was an instance where we could do just that, and I think we put forth a product that certainly got people’s attention and got people talking.”
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He also mentioned how well Wyatt has done with his character while working without live fans in the WWE Performance Center, saying, “Bray is obviously doing a great job.” In a recent interview with ESPN, Wyatt (somewhat in-character) responded to Cena’s comments.
“John’s such a sweet guy, isn’t he? What a sweet guy that John Cena is,” Wyatt said. “What a sweet, sweet guy. I’ve been through so much with John Cena, you know, it’s amazing to me to see him, you know, from the star he always was turned into this gigantic movie star. And John is very much the type of person you have to earn his respect. Because he doesn’t just give it, he’s very forward that way. So hearing that phrase, for me and Seth [Rollins], it’s a big deal because, like I said, John is this huge star. That’s a milestone, for me and my legacy, I think it’s pretty neat.”
Wyatt also gave his thoughts on the concept of cinematic matches. So far he’s been in two — the Firefly Fun House Match and the Wyatt Swamp Fight.
“I think they’re fun and all, but like I said, I like being around the people more,” he said. “And those [matches], they should be select. There should be a few here and there. That’s what keeps them special. Especially after the humdinger that Undertaker and AJ Styles put together, because that thing’s close to undefeatable. But you know it’s something that you get to approach differently, so it’s wonderful for your creativity. But they should be finite.”
