JBL Recalls Vince McMahon’s Early Reaction To John Cena

JBL was one of the first guys in WWE to notice John Cena’s top-name potential, and he recently recalled telling Vince McMahon such early in Cena’s career. Cena celebrated 20 years in WWE on Monday’s Raw, and JBL talked about McMahon asking his opinion of Cena in the early days on the latest Busted Open Radio. You can check out a couple of highlights from the discussion below, courtesy of Wrestling Inc:

20 years ago, a young talent in WWE was just getting his start, wrestling in trunks based on the local town’s sports team and promising to deliver “ruthless aggression.” That young man was future 16-time World Champion John Cena, and WWE Hall of Famer John Bradshaw Layfield was one of the first to notice his star potential.

On how he saw Cena in the early days an facing Cena in the ring: “I don’t think the magnitude of being a star, but being a star? Yes, no doubt about it. Anybody can be trained to do that, you start the match, get heat, go home. A 30-minute match is difficult, and that’s really deep water. Because now you’ve got to go on a rollercoaster and you’re into the unknown.”

On Vince McMahon asking him about Cena after the match: “Vince pulled me aside and asked me ‘How is he?’ And I said ‘He’s your guy.’ Vince was really surprised, happily surprised… [He] had no feeling one way or the other. He said, ‘Really?’ and I said ‘Yeah, he’s that good.’”