“From a genuine standpoint, if you’re taking it from more than entertainment, if you’re taking it for ‘okay, what you said was absolutely personal,’ I’m sorry, I was wrong, and I spoke out of ignorance. When you do a movie you are not allowed to do anything else. Because if I go do Monday Night Raw and Seth Rollins puts my nose over here, that messes up the movie. And not just like ‘well, you’ve messed up the movie.’ People don’t understand, there are 150 people on a movie set who are financially dependent on that movie getting done on time, that movie moving costs everybody money and sets the movie up to fail, which means we don’t get to do another movie, which means these people don’t get to make money. This is their livelihood.
“So you want to take a deep dive into stuff like that, I spoke from ignorance. I wasn’t in the movie making business, I was in the WWE business. I was like ‘man, you love this? Why aren’t you here? Oh, you’re not here because you go from one movie immediately to another immediately to another because you’re so successful and you’re doing well in this venture. And in doing so, you’re paving the way for people like me to be successful in this venture. I owe a lot of what I’ve done in WWE and in cinema to Dwayne Johnson. He’s always been genuine, he’s always shot straight -- and that’s on TV and off TV. We have a very good rapport with each other and I can... I’ve told this to him that I’m sorry, and I can tell it to you, and I can tell it to you: I spoke out of ignorance, I was wrong, and I’m sorry. So for any WWE person right now saying ‘you’re a part timer, you’re going to Hollywood,’ you’re absolutely right. And if they can’t see why I’m making those moves, I don’t expect them to. I don’t expect to change their mind.”
It was always strange that John Cena — and, really, anyone in WWE — complained at The Rock for being successful in Hollywood but it’s especially rich to think back on it now, with Cena following the same career path. What makes Cena, though, is the fact that he recognizes all this and is willing to apologize for his previously ridiculous viewpoint.
Other highlights in the interview include him mentioning that the hair isn’t going anywhere and he may not be able to wear a cap when he returns to wrestling, and the fact that he would love to be a heel but that’s not ever how WWE is going to write his character.