John Cena On WWE Being A Meritocracy, Embracing Secondary Titles

When most of the biggest stars in pro wrestling reach the World Championship, you rarely see them go back into a secondary title scene. It certainly happens from time to time, but top guys generally remain focused on the biggest championships. John Cena wasn’t quite like that. Sure, he won the World Championship 17 times, but that didn’t stop from targeting the Intercontinental or United States Championship as well. Cena caring about those championships made them more relevant in the eyes of his fans.

John Cena spoke about this recently on the No-Contest Wrestling Podcast. Here’s some highlights of what he had to say:

John Cena on Making the Most of Opportunities Within WWE

“That is what I loved about the meritocracy of the WWE. Good work gets you another chance. Yes, there is only one main event spot on WrestleMania. Now there’s two, but another chance is another chance. Yeah. That’s why I don’t care if I’m first, last, in the middle. In the year of retirement, very few times was I closing the show. I was all over the place. You know what I’m saying? And it doesn’t matter because (it’s) just an opportunity to do good work. If you’re the marquee of a movie and you do good work, it might get you an opportunity to be ninth on the depth chart. But it’s another opportunity to do good work. It’s just a matter of if you’re going to build the obstacles in front of yourself to take it or not.”

John Cena on embracing secondary titles

“You know, so many of the wrestling performers, they’ll touch the sun, so to speak. And then when I had the US Open challenge, when I won the Intercontinental title, it’s a joke. And I know these people personally, hopefully they’ll take the joke, I would look and be like, “Yeah, just like Austin would have done.” Steve Austin has not taken the United States title after he takes the world title because in his personality and what keeps him sharp and driven and motivated is that’s a demotion and I understand that and I respect that. And by the way, one of the greatest to do it, one of the top three. Yeah, I think that DJ (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) would be the same way. I’m not going in this direction. We do this stuff. This is top level stuff and I respect that, too. I don’t have their talent, strengths, and gifts. So, give me anything, right? Give me a paper belt. I’ll try to make it work. You know what I’m saying? So, it’s like, what op what are you chasing?”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit No-Contest Wrestling Podcast with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.