John Cena Pays Respect to Cody Rhodes in an Apparent ‘Passing-of-the-Torch’ Moment on His Podcast

John Cena made Cody Rhodes tear up by letting him know what he means to the wrestling landscape by virtue of the hard yards he has put in.

John Cena Pays Respect to Cody Rhodes in an Apparent ‘Passing-of-the-Torch’ Moment on His Podcast

John Cena and Cody Rhodes [via- WWE]

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In his first public interview since his WWE retirement, John Cena shot an episode of What Do You Wanna Talk About? with Cody Rhodes in the Nightmare Factory. The latter had the honor of wrestling Cena in two singles matches during his retirement tour.

Part one of when they went at it was a complete bust at WrestleMania 41, factoring in Travis Scott‘s uncalled-for involvement. Cena and Rhodes made serious amends for letting the fans down a few months later at SummerSlam, where Cena’s last reign as a world champion came to an end.

‘The Cenation Leader’ mixed it up with Rhodes frequently enough during these last months to grasp what it takes to be in those shoes as the critically acclaimed ‘Quarterback of WWE’. Cena spoke his heart out for Rhodes on his podcast.

I want to thank you because you are going nose-to-nose and you go as hard, in some cases harder than I can imagine. Your work ethic is aspirational…..You’re a family man. A dedicated father. A wonderful husband. You got people to support and that support you. And sometimes that helps, but you are juggling so much more than I ever possibly could.

John Cena via What Do You Wanna Talk About? podcast

‘The Franchise Player’ hailed the former AEW EVP for pushing as hard as, and in some cases harder than, Cena ever did in his career. The latter called Rhodes’ work ethic aspirational. ‘The Last Real Champion’ tried establishing the fact that Rhodes is making others walk with him, as opposed to how things were when Cena was in his prime, saying he was basically running a one-man show.

Moving on, the Massachusetts-born WWE legend complimented ‘The American Nightmare’ for being a great father and a wonderful husband. Cena even said that Rhodes is juggling more stuff than he could possibly do. At last, the 17-time world champion stated that he needed to have this conversation with Cody Rhodes, his friend, whom he misses.

While Cena was saying all this, the viewers could see Rhodes choking up as he gathered himself to the best of his abilities to say one last thank you to Cena from every one of his fans. Seeing Rhodes getting emotional, ‘The Cenation Leader’ proceeded on to give a warm hug to the current WWE Undisputed Champion.

Rhodes was seemingly the worst-hit WWE star in that building the night Cena wrestled Gunther. A picture of Rhodes is all over the internet, where he’s just lost in the moment, staring at the sneakers, the armbands, and the wristband that Cena had left in the ring before exiting.

John Cena reveals what he did in the locker room after the farewell match with Gunther at SNME

John Cena revealed in the aforementioned conversation that he toasted one last beer in his WWE gear after heading to the back from causing an emotional trainwreck in the arena. Cena said that the toast was to celebrate the largest arena gate record in WWE history.

The only reason why he wanted to share those metrics was that there were enough people in the locker room, varying from retired legends like Haku to NXT upstarts like Je’Von Evans.

John Cena
John Cena [via- WWE]

Joking that he had exactly 12 ounces of conversation left in him, ‘The Prototype’ used it as an opportunity to highlight the magnitude of what those metrics mean in this business. He wanted all the young guns to take it by heart and carry forward the legacy of the sport that icons like Haku, as Cena pointed out, built.

It was Cena’s last act of telling the younger talent to take the baton from him and prove what they’ve got in themselves. Several NXT stars, including Je’Von Evans, Sol Ruca, Zaria, and Oba Femi, featured on the card at Saturday Night’s Main Event. It was Cena’s idea to showcase them on the same night, which was going to be his last as an active performer for WWE.

‘The Babe Ruth of WWE’ also revealed in the podcast that the entire Judgment Day run-in at Survivor Series was pitched by him so that every member of the faction could have a moment in front of that packed house at Petco Park in San Diego.

Cena lost the IC title back to Dominik Mysterio that evening after a returning Liv Morgan went low on the Peacemaker star.

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