John Cena will make his debut in the Fast & Furious franchise as Jakob Toretto in F9 (Fast & Furious 9) next April. While appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon the 16-time world champion talked about arriving in the decades-spanning franchise, admitting that it was a bit intimidating to suddenly join a close-knit group. He even went so far as to compare it to being the newcomer in the WWE locker room.
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“Normally no (I wouldn’t be nervous), normally it’s a job. And movies are kind of like summer camp where you meet people for the first time, you establish relationships and you move on,” Cena explained. “Fast is different, because literally it’s been 20 years in the making. So walking into the set of Fast was very similar to walking into the WWE locker room. You have guys, men and women, who risk their lives for a living and have curated this experience that they’re very proud of. So when we get a newcomer to walk in, you can’t help it but go, ‘Man I hope this person works out because I’m killing myself for this.’
“And I’m geeked out on Fast,” he continued. “I’m looking at Dom Toretto like ‘oh my god!’ And it’s like this [imitates Vin Diesel turning around menacingly]. And not just him, bro, everybody was like, ‘Yo, what’s up with the new kid.’ I felt just as much pressure as my first month on the road in WWE.”
He then said once the group sees that you’re a fan of the series and “for the family,” they accept you as one of their own. He said that camaraderie is also just like WWE.
In the same interview Cena clarified that, despite his increasingly busy schedule, he’s not retired from WWE.
“I have a very young audience in WWE, a lot of kids and families. And as my in-ring career with WWE is not as active, although not over, I wanted to continue to send messaging to those younger viewers (with his new children’s book, Elbow Grease: Fast Friends).”
WWE returns to pay-per-view this Sunday with the NXT TakeOver 31 event. Check out the full card below:
- NXT Championship: Finn Balor vs. Kyle O’Reilly
- NXT Women’s Championship: Io Shirai vs. Candice LeRae
- NXT North American Championship: Damian Priest vs. Johnny Gargano
- NXT Cruiserweight Championship: Santos Escobar vs. Swerve Scott
- Kushida vs. Velveteen Dream
