It was the year 2017. It was time for the Royal Rumble PLE. Entering into the event John Cena was a 15-time champion. The Cenation leader challenged AJ Styles for the WWE Championship.
In a recent video on WWE’s YouTube channel, the Greatest of All Time opened up about his greatest matches. One of the matches was the one against Styles.
“I talk about the nuance. Sometimes, especially in the Royal Rumble where the goal of the match is to get everyone to leave the ring, we took a broad look at that. And we’re, ‘Well what if for a championship match, we didn’t leave the ring? What would that look like? Could we do it?’ So, it allowed us to stay with that, and try to put on a match where two highly killed competitors show their skill in a marquee Premium Live Event. In front of an audience for the biggest prize in sports entertainment.
“I think the most important thing I could say is, AJ exercises humility, and that allows him to move forward. With all the success he had before he arrived in WWE, there’s no reason for him to think that he could grow, that this would be a place, especially because of the effort and the exhibition of his talents and gifts that he put on in other promotions. How could he possibly do something more from a physical performance aspect here? And he could have been more complicated, but he had a growth mindset and he really was humble,” John Cena said.
John Cena weighs in on AJ Styles and his in-ring skills
During the same episode, Cena had some words of praise for The Phenomenal One.
“And I think that helped us do what we did. And hopefully, not hopefully, I know, I talk to AJ often, we look back at the time fondly. I learned a lot. He taught me how to do a bunch of stuff that I’d never done before and do it well. And he said he learned a lot professionally bout how this place, WWE, is just in its own thing. It’s not like any other place with a ring and four posts or whatever. It’s not like any other place ever. There’s the rest of it and then there’s here. And WWE is the way it is for a reason. And I think that first year or him, especially us having so much time together was important for him in understanding that. And he was humble enough in understanding that.
“Man AJ’s good. He just moves around you like all I have to do is be a statue in there and he can move around. We threw in the figure four because it was for the 16h time champion. So it would be cool if, as an homage to Ric, again, a nuance, that if you get it, you get it, if not, we did it. That’s kinda us doing stuff for ourselves. And, yeah, I think this was the match where we didn’t go to the floor. We might have jumped off the ropes, but we didn’t go to the floor at all.”
John Cena on winning the match
As the video came to an end, the Cenation leader spoke about how he felt when he finally hit a second Attitude Adjustment to make history by equalling Ric Flair’s record.
“And, yeah, adjusting your attitude once isn’t enough. I have to adjust it, and then adjust it back to where it was, and that, that’ll get it done. And just the small nuances of how things work. Not being overly excited for the three count, but authentically, one, it’s over, two, ‘Wow, I can’t believe that I just was part of that.’ That one, man, I have fond memories of that. There are so many that I don’t have any recollection of. I have fond memories of that. And when a plan comes together and everyone has a good time and it works, there isn’t a better feeling out there.
Jon Cena is currently set to wrestle Solo Sikoa at the WWE Crown Jewel PLE.
What is your favorite John Cena match of all time?
