Dwayne Johnson and John Cena have both gone from all-time great WWE wrestlers to huge stars in Hollywood. They’ve also both taken breaks from Hollywood to return to WWE, sometimes working together and sometimes working separately. They’ve also both been key players in the Fast & Furious franchise. Given the shared history, similar trajectories and obvious overlap in fans, there’s periodic speculation about the two making a movie together. Well, it turns out that’s complicated.
Cena was on the Happy Sad Confused podcast and was asked about his relationship with Johnson and whether a co-starring turn might be in their future. As per usual with Cena, the multi-time WWE champion gave a very measured but also honest answer about why he hasn’t pushed for it to happen, nor will he push for it to happen. Here’s a portion of his quote…
He’s very giving with his time and very sincere and very present… and I don’t want to bug him down with like, ‘Yo, man, I got this pitch.’ My perspective is that individual doesn’t seem like he gets a lot of time to himself, and when he’s giving enough of his time to be present with me, the last thing I want to do is hand him a pitch deck.
During the same conversation, Cena was clear that the two have talked extensively and collaborate really well together when they’re actively doing business together. They’ve main evented WrestleMania together multiple times and clearly have the ability to brainstorm, scheme and put together awesome matches and moments. Cena said they also have the type of relationship where they go out of their way to make time for each other’s spouses and do other meaningful gestures, but he’s never going to use what time he has with Johnson to try and set up future projects. That’s just not the relationship they have or how he wants to spend the time they share together.
That being said, Cena also made it very clear that if someone else wants to bring an opportunity to both of them, he’s very interested. He was very clear during the interview that it would be an honor to make a movie with The Rock, who is arguably one of the biggest movie stars in the world, and if a power broker in Hollywood wants to orchestrate that, he’s ready to sign. Here’s another portion of his quote…
If folks that make movies… if they see Dwayne’s body of work and my body of work and they’re like, ‘They’d be great together’… if that opportunity comes, I’m all in. To say I wouldn’t want to share the screen with Dwayne Johnson is a bold-faced lie.
Johnson and Cena are only five years apart in age, but they actually didn’t spend as much time together in WWE as you would guess. The Rock’s original and most famous WWE run was between 1996 and 2004, at which point he left for a full-time career in Hollywood. Cena didn’t debut on WWE’s main roster until 2003 and wasn’t really in the main event scene for the company until after Johnson left. The two have worked together for big matches and big angles in the year since, most notably at WrestleMania 28 and WrestleMania 29, but it’s not like they spent decades sharing locker rooms and travel itineraries.
Still, there would be something very fitting about the two leading a movie together. I know fans want to see it, and if they had the right script, I’m sure it would be a blast to watch. Fingers crossed it happens, and if it does, maybe they find a part for their fellow WWE legend turned actor Dave Bautista.