John Cena is the ultimate WWE company man, or more reasons the heel turn is never happening

As our own Rumor Roundup reported yesterday, 37 year old John Cena is gearing up for life after pro wrestling.

Part of that plan is to follow in the footsteps of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Dave "Batista" Bautista, and head to Hollywood for film roles, large and small.  An article in yesterday's edition of Variety provides an update on how that effort is going for the 15-time WWE champ, and how he's using it to raise the profile of his current employer at the same time.

The level of Ce-Nation awareness among his new movie industry collaborators varies.  Mega-producer Judd Apatow, who produced him in Trainwreck and recommended him for The Nest, had no idea who he was.  The writer and star of Trainwreck, Amy Schumer, has some backstage insight into WWE having dated Nick Nemeth (Dolph Ziggler), and was well aware of the man of whom every wrestling fan has an opinion.

Both were very impressed, and could see some of the skills that Johnson and Bautista have used in their rise on the Hollywood scene.

Apatow said:

I wasn't so familiar with his other work, so I had no bias. I just saw him as an actor who was riotously funny. We read a bunch of people, and he was by far the funniest. Then he came and did a table read before we shot the movie, and got more laughs than anyone.  He is a great improviser. He has a great sense of humor, and is the most professional person I have ever met.

Schumer's perspective was similar, just without the surprise:

I know that they're performers and roll with things. They're quick on their feet...he blew us away. He was as good an actor as anyone, and as funny as anyone. There were so many moments when I was crying on set.

Cena does see his pair of 2015 comedy roles for Universal as a chance to present a different side of himself (he plays a drug dealer in The Nest with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and a loutish ex-boyfriend in the semi-autobiographical Schumer flick), he also wants to use any notoriety he gains to raise the profile of the company that helped get him a shot at these roles, WWE.

Of his relationship with his employer:

I'm as involved as I can be without having to live in Stamford, Conn. I don't want to be a guy who just punches the clock. I'm much more interested in how we grow the business.

His loyalty extends far enough that when asked to take off his "You Can't See Me" logo ball cap, he says no - "They don't pay me to promote my hair cut".

That loyalty, and his understanding of how his current role with the company grows his and WWE's business, are the reason why, even as he gets a chance to play the rogue a little bit on movie screens next year, he won't be making the turn to the dark side on Raw.

When you do that, everything you said, everything you stand for gets erased. It's a poor business decision.

As an example, he talks about a recent meeting with a young boy who has twice been diagnosed with cancer.

He was shy and reserved but simply said, ‘I never give up because you tell me not to.' It's tough to win that eight-year-old kid back (with heel turns). I don't want to lose them. Athletics has become such a business. Everything is circulated around the almighty dollar. It's tough to find people to look up to.

Even if we don't always agree with how his character is presented, or disagree that his decisions are best for business, it's tough to argue with that logic.

And if Cena achieves his goal of joining The Rock and The Animal as wrestlers who crossed over to mainstream movie careers, his heel/face alignment will be a moot point anyhow.