John Cena is one of the most polarizing personalities in World Wrestling Entertainment. Every time he appears on WWE programming, he is greeted by dueling chants of “Let’s Go Cena/Cena Sucks!” Some view him as a legitimate hero with over 500 Make-A-Wish Foundation wishes granted and a classic knight in shining armour. Others see him as a goody two shoes whose personality went stale years ago. No matter which side of the fence you sit on when it comes to Cena, there is no denying the fact that he is the face of WWE.
Why Do Celebrities Hate John Cena?
Because Cena has sat atop the WWE mountain for over a decade, he has had a number of interactions with celebrities, not all of them positive ones. In fact, looking back at John’s history with the world of entertainment outside of WWE, Cena seems to have a love/hate relationship with those celebrities invited to spend some time in Vince McMahon’s Empire. This begs the question of why so many actors, musicians, and talk show hosts seem to take issue with the leader of the Cenation? What is it about the man that embodies the motto of hustle, loyalty, and respect that drives these men to heinous acts of betrayal? Perhaps if we look into Cena’s past problems with celebrities, we can find an answer.
Kevin Federline
In the Fall of 2006, John Cena was into his second year as the king of the WWE kingdom, but there was another man who quite literally saw himself as the King of WWE. Booker T, who earlier in the year had won the resurrected King of the Ring tournament and proclaimed himself the actual monarch of sports entertainment, had also won the World Heavyweight Championship from Rey Mysterio and was challenging Cena to a battle of dominance. Things became even more interesting when the seven foot tall Extreme Championship Wrestling champion the Big Show entered the rivalry, with all three vying for the title of Champion of Champions.
At the same time this was occurring, Kevin Federline, back up dancer and husband to pop sensation Brittany Spears began appearing on WWE programming, aligning himself with the trio MNM (Joey Mercury, Johnny Nitro, and Melina). The alliance led to a physical altercation between Cena and K-Fed on an episode of RAW and retaliation from Federline at the Cyber Sunday event, in which he waffled Cena with his own championship belt, leading to a distraction allowing King Booker to take advantage and hit John with the belt for a second time and score the victory. Cena would attempt to gain a measure of revenge against Mr. Spears on a later episode of RAW when he challenged Kevin to a match, but ultimately, Federline would defeat John after interference from the Samoan Bulldozer, Umaga.
So, why the hate from K-Fed? My theory is jealousy. Federline has proven himself to be nothing more than a hack who was riding the coattails of his superstar wife. He tried to release a rap album and it flopped. In fact, when compared to the sales of John Cena’s album “You Can’t See Me”, it wasn’t even close. Perhaps Kevin saw the success of other celebrities who came into the world of WWE and thought he could just use his status as a Z grade celebrity to further his own career and be treated like a star without having any actual star power. When Cena wouldn’t allow himself to be bossed around, Federline threw a hissy fit and proven to be toxic for the Doctor of Thuganomics.
Jeremy Piven
A few years later, WWE was fully entrenched in their Raw Guest Host experiment, with numerous celebrities taking up the mantle of a pseudo General Manager role, creating matches, and plugging their latest projects. It was a good idea that was rarely executed well. One of the most memorable guest hosts was actor Jeremy Piven, most notable for his work on the television series Entourage. Piven was there to promote his upcoming theatrical film The Goods, but ended up getting roped into WWE matters when the Miz interrupted him. Coming to the rescue was John Cena, who not only tore down the Miz verbally, but tried to help Piven recover from making the mistake of referring to Summer Slam as Summerfest. Taking matters into his own hands, Piven decided to create a main event Lumberjack match pitting Cena against the Miz.
After a few hours of badly acted backstage skits, Piven came out for the main event where he revealed that he was a fan of Randy Orton, who happened to be John Cena’s opponent at the aforementioned Summerfest – excuse me, SummerSlam. Then he announced that all of the lumberjacks in the main event were WWE villains, men who wouldn’t think twice to bend the rules in order to humiliate or hurt the leader of the Cenation. By the end of the night, when Piven’s political power play had failed, he decided to get physically involved by scaling the ring post and leaping onto John with a cross body block. Unfortunately for Jeremy, Cena caught the Entourage star with ease. Had it not been for the interference of Piven’s guest Ken Jeong causing John to drop the man known as Ari Gold, I imagine things would have been a lot worse for him.
When it comes to Jeremy Piven, my theory is pretty straight forward. He’s a jerk. I’m not basing this theory merely on his actions from RAW, but from the numerous reports of his bad behavior on sets and blow ups with other actors and fans. At one point in time, there were several articles asking if Jeremy was in fact, the biggest jerk in Hollywood. Given the number of repulsive characters that make their living in the Hollywood Hills, it’s easy to see how I could theorize that Piven is just a natural heel.
Jon Stewart
By now you all know the story. Former host of the Daily Show and long time wrestling fan Jon Stewart had been involved with WWE in many capacities over the last year. He served as a guest host for RAW, and had several WWE Superstars on the Daily Show, most notably WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins. It seemed at one time like Rollins and Stewart might even be headed for an in-ring confrontation, but nothing ever came of it.
When it was announced that Jon was hosting SummerSlam this year, it made complete sense. Stewart wasn’t going to plug an upcoming project, he was there as a fan. He was going to enjoy the show and maybe even entertain the audience. While his attempt at comedy early on with WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley wasn’t met with resounding laughter, his actions later on in the night caused a huge reaction throughout the WWE Universe.
During the title for title showdown between Seth Rollins and United States Champion John Cena, the referee became incapacitated and Stewart made his way to the ring brandishing a steel chair. Most assumed that he would be going after his penultimate rival Rollins, but instead he chose to smash Cena in the gut. This left John open to an attack from Seth, who scored the victory with a pedigree on Stewarts’s weapon of choice.
So why the confusing swerve? Stewart explained his motivations the next night on RAW. You see, the reason he did what he did was to prevent Cena from tying the record of World Championships won by Ric Flair. What? For some fans, this might be easy enough to swallow. Jon is a fan who has a lot of respect for the heroes of his past. Conceivably, he was just doing what he believed is right, and didn’t have any ill will towards Cena. As for me? I’m not buying it. I think there’s something else at play here. I think Stewart actually does hate Cena. Jon is a fan, but he isn’t the kind of fan who is content to just sit back and enjoy the show. He’s the kind of fan who fantasizes about seeing John Cena lose because he hates that the 15 time champion no longer raps with an adult edge or caters to him. He’s the kind of fan who would sing “John Cena Sucks” during Cena’s entrance. He’s the kind of fan who will cheer on whoever Cena faces, even if that person is a despicable villain who has spent the last year mocking him on his own talk show. He hates John Cena and was living out the fantasy of every smark keyboard warrior who has ever typed “Super Cena”, “Five moves of doom”, or “Cena wins, LOL”.
Final Thoughts
It has been said that the worst reaction a wrestler can receive is no reaction at all. If that is the case, then love him or hate him, John Cena is an unquestionable success in the industry. However, success can breed contempt, and that rings true no matter the industry. With Cena landing roles in both Trainwreck and Sisters this year, and receiving positive reviews for his work, John’s portfolio in Hollywood is starting to grow. It may only be a matter of time before his rivalry with the Rock (another Hollywood celebrity he has had problems with, albeit, one with closer connections to his own industry) expands from the wrestling ring to the box office. If and when that time comes, I think he’ll do well for himself. The world of Hollywood may be manipulative, self-serving, and phony, but no more than the world of professional wrestling.
