WWE is all I have, by Nui Te Koha - Herald Sun - 2nd November 2008
SOMETIMES, the best professional wrestling is all talk. It seemed that way when World Wrestling Entertainment star Triple H rated colleague John Cena recently.
"This is his life, this is his wife, this is his kids," Triple H said of Cena's WWE commitment.
"This is everything he is."
Cena, 31, considers the comment carefully. Was Triple H, the league's cerebral assassin, playing mind games?
"Coming from one of my peers, it could be taken two ways," Cena smiles.
"I guess I am a one-trick pony. I love what I do. I've had opportunities to make a living in other facets of entertainment and I've turned a lot of things down to stay in the wrestling ring."
Cena pauses for thought.
"However I choose to look at it, Triple H is actually very correct," he says.
"I've been in this company quite a while now and everybody knows I'm the guy who doesn't say no.
"I want to spread the good word of this company to whoever will listen.
"I don't have a wife, I don't have kids and I certainly travel 300 days a year. So, well said, Triple H.
"This is my family. I certainly don't have a back-up plan. This is all I have."
Of course, Cena, a WWE champion, actor and rapper, has other options.
His 2005 album, a solid hip-hop outing titled You Can't See Me, was a US Top 10 hit. Cena starred in the action flick The Marine and coming cop drama 12 Rounds.
But his brand as a WWE superstar is global. Initially a bodybuilder, Cena became a wrestler in 2000 and signed to the WWE two years later.
Cena's mojo is based in truth and backing himself -- no matter how it plays with audiences.
"I'm a genuine guy. I act how I want to act, I dress how I want to dress. I don't follow trends," he says.
"If it happens to be cool at the time, so be it, then I'm the cool guy. If it's out of date, then I'm out of date.
"If I'm getting booed because I'm out of place, I don't try to put myself in place. I stay the course and wait for good things to happen."
You Can't See Me was equally polarising.
Cena, influenced heavily by his cousin, Marc Predka, a Boston area rapper known as The Trademarc, had tight flows.
The album rolled with party jams, fight music and battle raps.
On the rhyme Just Another Day, Cena compared his struggles in poverty and wealth.
"I've been broke enough to live out of my car," Cena says.
"I've been virtually homeless and I've been successful and there is a struggle at every rung of the ladder.
"If you don't have two nickels to rub together and win the lotto tomorrow, would you be set for life? No. You'd have a new set of problems to deal with.
"Mo' money, mo' problems," Cena says. "Something happens with every step."
Cena has always put a funny spin on the good life, sex and women.
On his hilarious (and WWE-disowned) video blog, Five Questions with the Champ, Cena once said he was single, available and easy.
In another episode he named his manhood Richard Hammerbush.
How does Cena view women and relationships?
"If you asked me five years ago, I would've had a different answer for you," Cena responds.
"But, being on tour for so many years and having been across the globe seven or eight times, I'm slowing down when it comes to things like that.
"I'm really focusing on being an adult.
"I'd love to be the guy who took this business (WWE) to the next level. Where we can walk the red carpet at the Oscars, we can go on any television talk show in the world, we can be associated with the entertainment and sport elements we're supposed to be associated with.
"That's my vision rather than having a good time tonight so I can have story for you tomorrow. I'm focusing on the big picture."
Summerslam 2008 DVD is out now. WWE Raw Live Tour 2009 (with John Cena, Batista, CM Punk, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio and Kane), Rod Laver Arena, July 7. Tickets on sale now. Raw vs Smackdown 2009 (for XBox 360, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii and Nintendo DS), is released on Thursday. (Credit: Herald Sun)
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