John Cena has successfully transformed a professional wrestling career into a film career in a way that few others have been quite as successful. Cena will have his biggest film role to date when he joins the cast of the Fast and Furious franchise and while you might think that's about as far from the WWE as one could get, Cena found making the movie a lot like the locker room he used to rule, though it seems this time he felt like the rookie.
John Cena recently appeared on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon and he explained how walking on to the set of F9 was a lot like when he walked into the WWE for the first time. While making movies is usually a group of people coming together to do a thing, and then all go their separate ways, Fast and Furious isn't like that because the rest of the cast has been working together for so long. According to Cena...
Normally it’s a job and movies are kind of like summer camp. You meet someone for the first time, and establish relationships and then you move on. Fast is different because literally it's been 20 years in the making. So walking into the set of Fast is very similar to walking into the WWE locker room. You have guys, men and women, who risk their lives for a living, and have curated this experience that they’re very proud of. So when we get a newcomer to walk in, like you can’t help but ‘Man, I hope this person works out because I’m killing myself for this.’
John Cena made his mark in WWE from basically day one, but it still took him many years of working to gain the respect of the locker room and the loyalty of the fans, though he sometimes still has issues with that. He's now had the experience in WWE from both sides, as the young kid just getting started and as the veteran who watches the new kids come in.
It was a long time ago that John Cena felt like he was the new guy, but that's apparently what it was like working on Fast and Furious, which isn't that shocking considering the bulk of the stars have been together now for over a decade making theme movies. John Cena admits that joining that group was a high-pressure situation, but it sounds like they welcomed him fairly quickly. Cena continues...
I felt just as much pressure as my first month on the road with WWE. But what I love about the Fast family is that as soon as they see you’re a fan of the franchise, that your intention is for the family, they take you in. And it really is, they talk so much about family.
From all accounts, John Cena is now a part of the family. Vin Diesel sang Cena's praises throughout the production of F9. Unfortunately, due to the theatrical delays, it will be next year before we know how the actual movie has turned out.
