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Rikishi Doesn’t Think John Cena Will Become World Champion At WrestleMania

March 27, 2025 | Posted by Andrew Ravens
WWE Raw John Cena 3-24-25 mentions Ric Flair Image Credit: WWE

On the latest episode of Off The Top, Rikishi talked about his belief that John Cena won’t break the world title record and become a 17-time World Champion in his last year. You can check out some highlights below:

On John Cena’s first heel promo: “Well of course it hit. I mean, it hit everybody in the mouth, including myself. I was like, ‘What the hell has happened to John?’ By the way, I already threw out all the action figures. Oh, yeah, we already canned them all. We threw ’em out, ‘You’re not playing with John Cena no more. John Cena seems like he’s leaving us, well dammit we’re leaving John Cena.’

“But yeah, man. He came out and man. I guess he’s got a lot that he’s been holding on [to]. You know John, it’s not good to hold on to a lot of bad feelings like that. Because when you hold stuff like that for a long time, stressed and it just tends to mess with your mind. And it makes you make bad decisions. And yeah, so listening to his promo I was like, ‘Damn, just have a shot of Jack or something.’ I mean, chill. For a long time, we’ve always seen ‘Goody goody goody.’ Mr. John Cena, never does anything wrong. Mister John Cena, the man that just makes the world happy, makes the fans happy. Mr. John Cena. Well, you sold out. And if you wonder why all the fans across the world are just booing you and just disappointed? Welllook at yourself in the mirror, John. You broke a lot of kids, you know, you broke a lot of their hearts, and even grown adults. Even divorced women.”

On whether Cena will break the World Title record: “No, no, absolutely not. For me like, I don’t see that for a company moving forward, especially if this is his last run. Of course we’re like what, three or three weeks away or something like that from Mania. A lot of things can happen. Because this promo that he just put out there, it stirred a lot of people up. Stirred a lot of people up that all and every podcast is talking about, including ourselves. And so you know, things can change. This might be some as — they might be picking up momentum with John Cena being a heel, and it just might be what we’d call good for business. I mean, deals can probably take place within a matter of three weeks. Because we can talk about this as his last tour. But who knows? Maybe two weeks out from WrestleMania, something happens. Now it becomes like, ‘Okay.’ It lights something up underneath John. Like, ‘You know what? I’m having fun doing this.’

“The one thing I’m gonna let John Cena know from experiencing — he has experience but as a babyface. As a worker, it’s so much fun being a heel because you can actually tell people, ‘Just shut the f**k up.’ How you really feel. You can let it all out, and people think it’s a promo, yeah? ‘No, no, I’m serious. I really didn’t like you for 10 years. Yeah no, your breath really stinks. Every time we talk to each other. You call us, but I hated you. And I’m telling you right now.’ And so they would not even know that, if it’s a truth or — right? But it’s just so easy, rather than trying to come out as a babyface, say every good thing you can say as a babyface. But by listening to what’s happening with John and this recent promo he shouted out there, man I think he’s picking momentum up.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Off The Top with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.