John Cena Responds to Drew McIntyre’s Challenge for a WWE Match

Drew McIntyre openly pushed for a dream match with John Cena late last month, telling On Demand Entertainment, “I’ve been around John since I was 22 years old. I just turned 36 and we’ve never had any singles match, which blows my mind. We’ve been in tag matches and multi-man matches, but never a singles match. Where I’m at today in my career and managing to reach the top of the industry after so many ups and downs, and where John is at, he’s just on another level. He’s conquered WWE, conquering Hollywood, but he still loves WWE more than anything and wants to come back and help and have those big matches. There’s no bigger match, as far as I’m concerned than John Cena vs. McIntyre.”

Cena, who has been rumored for a WWE return for a program with Roman Reigns at SummerSlam, responded to that challenge while also speaking with the outlet. The 16-time world champion said (h/t Fightful), “Well, I always appreciate being involved in a conversation of saying things are important because that means people haven’t forgotten what you’ve put forth as an effort. But, what a way to set yourself up for disappointment. In no way, shape, or form is Drew in a position to make matches or make things happen and I’m not either. Neither of us have that power. That’s beyond our capacity so I certainly am grateful for being mentioned, which is awesome.

“I got more matches left in the WWE,” he continued. “I’m not done. But I’ve never approached anything like, ‘I’d like to work with this person or ‘I want to have a match with this person,’ because I don’t make those choices. They say, ‘Hey, we’d like you to do this.’ Alright, it’s time to go to work and that’s really allowed me to enjoy every step of the way. I think if we build up expectations in our head, like I hate to say this to Drew, but if that never happens, how is supposed to feel about that?”

Cena and McIntyre briefly crossed paths in early 2019, taking part in a four-way No. 1 contender’s match for Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship on an episode of Raw. Finn Balor wound up winning, but McIntyre was credited with injuring Cena during the match thus writing him off television. McIntyre will take part in the upcoming Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match later this month.