Chris Masters Recalls Issues With John Cena In WWE, Recalls Taking First-Ever STFU

Chris Masters recently looked back at his time in WWE and why he and John Cena never “mixed well.” The WWE alumnus came into WWE around the same time as Cena and even came into wrestling at the same time in UPW. He recently noted on Insight With Chris Van Vliet that they never quite gelled during a discussion about how he never won a title in the company.

Masters also recalled how he was the first person to have Cena’s STFU applied to him and noted that Cena did it to him “for a shoot,” though he clarified that he didn’t think Cena did it intentionally. You can see highlights below:

On If He Ever Felt Close To Winning a Title In WWE:

“There was a point. I mean, Carlito and me were supposed to win them at that WrestleMania, but it literally got switched like the day before. We were penciled in to win it. But then Carlito, they wanted him to turn baby and The Spirit Squad, they kind of wanted to get the belts on them somehow, to give them some steam, so that was that. Then the Intercontinental title. I was actually supposed to win that, but it was the same point where they had given me intervention for my prescription painkiller abuse at the time. They even told me, I remember having the meeting with Johnny [Ace], and because there was a four way match that night, it was in Vegas for the Intercontinental title that I was slated to win. But then they caught wind of the issues I had, and I had an intervention, and basically told me you’re going to rehab. I screwed that. So tag belts, I had no control over that, just happened. IC [Title], I f’d up. There was a point there, because you can even watch back to those old Raws where Vince was playing with the idea of making me the youngest champion. But, you know, he was feeling out a lot of guys at that point. I’m pretty sure Cena gave me probably the thumbs down at some point.”

On Issues With Cena:

“Oh yeah, we never mixed too well for whatever reason. I don’t know, Massachusetts guy, California guy, I don’t know, just kind of oil and water. But I don’t take away anything from the fact that he’s this generation’s Hogan, and he definitely worked harder than anybody probably would have in that spot, especially for that long.”

On Cena Giving Him the First STFU:

“Yes, and it was a shoot STFU. I mean, again, I’m not saying that Cena was purposely doing it to shoot on me. I used to think sometimes with Cena, he got so fired up in the moment that he wouldn’t even know his own strength type of thing. So, yeah, he did it to me for a shoot. You’ll see my face starts turning red, I start trying to get it a little bit looser. I’m pretty sure that I heard later on that he was working with Kurt, and Kurt had to tell him to loosen it up a little bit. But Kurt with his neck issues and stuff. But my Master Lock could be kind of brutal sometimes with guys, because I didn’t really know how to work it either. So sometimes when I look back at those videos and I look at me putting on Kurt, I’m kind of like, ‘Oh man, I was probably rougher with him than I needed to be.’ Because when you’re that green, you don’t know how to shake spirit as much. You do do stuff a little more real than you have to.

“I can remember, actually, there was a time with Shane Helms, we were working at a live event, and I Master Locked him, I guess, way too hard. So I released the Master Lock, and they ring the bell, the match is over, and he gets up, and I think he tells me to f off, and just walks off. I’m not even saying it to heel on him, I was too stiff, I didn’t know how to work it, and it became a big drama with everybody, because then it was like, you know, he no sold the hold, I’m obviously doing it too rough, and I know that too. Because with Shelton, one time, he was telling me, I was about to pass out. I mean, if it’s too tight, some of the guys were so broad here that it’d be so tight that it would be tough, because you start twerking their neck from the start. [It’s a legit hold]. You’ll pass out, cuts off the blood flow, and you’ll go out.”