John Cena Says He Regrets Making His WWE Rivalry With The Rock Personal

John Cena’s rivalry with the Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson wound up being one of the highlights of his historic WWE career, but the 16-time world champion recently admitted he has some regrets about how things went down. In a new interview with UK outlet The Sun, Cena said that he regretted how personal things got between the two, particularly in how he called Johnson a “sell-out” for leaving WWE to launch a career in Hollywood. Cena has since done the same, picking up roles in films like Bumblebee, Blockers, Sisters, Daddy’s Home and Trainwreck.

“I said some things that were less than nice,” Cena said. “He said some things that were less than nice. And I can assure you, in our line of work there is a grey area where imagination becomes very real and we were right in the sweet spot of that grey area, each watching the other’s every move and not too happy with the other party.”

“It was stupid of me,” he added. “It genuinely was. That was my perspective at the time.”

After making a few critical comments about Johnson in various interviews, the feud made its way to television in 2011 when Rock returned to WWE television to serve as the host for WrestleMania XXVII. He wound up costing Cena in the main event of the show, and the year later the pair announced they would compete in a match a full year later at WrestleMania XXVIII. Johnson wound up winning that match, though Cena would get his revenge a year later by beating him at WrestleMania 29 for the WWE Championship.

Cena currently has five films in production — F9, The Suicide Squad, Project X-Traction, Vacation Friends and The Janson Directive. Sadly his arrival in the Fast & Furious franchise will not see him and Johnson share the screen, as the latter will reportedly not appear in the latest installment.

Earlier this year Cena returned to WWE television and wound up on the losing end of a Firefly Fun House Match with Bray Wyatt. He disappeared after being pinned by The Fiend and hasn’t been seen since.

Meanwhile, he made a number of appearances during the Undertaker: The Last Ride documentary series, which at one point recapped the unorthodox WrestleMania match between him and The Undertaker.

“I think knowing what you want to achieve, in any sort of storytelling is the most important thing. And with this story, we needed to bring back The Undertaker,” Cena said while explaining the thought process behind the storyline. “I get chills thinking about it, because really the energy was there, the anticipation was there. They just want to see the guy.”