John Cena Sr. on Being Disappointed with WWE’s Handling of His Son’s Match Against Brock Lesnar at Wrestlepalooza & Heel Turn During Retirement Tour

A recent episode of Sportskeeda’s WrestleBinge podcast featured John Cena’s father John Cena Sr. as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Cena Sr.’s thoughts about his son’s match against Brock Lesnar at Wrestlepalooza and him not understanding WWE’s decision to book it as a squash match.

“I don’t know if I can help you understand it because I don’t understand it… And that was a squash match. When (Paul) Heyman came out and said, ‘The last real ass kicker,’ you knew right there. I said, ‘Cena’s done. It’s over, it’s over,’ and it’s gonna be the same type of thing when he gave him the 15 F5s. It’s gonna be the same type of squash, and I kind of sat back and I said, ‘It shouldn’t go down that way.’ Brock doesn’t need the rub. Cena’s on his way out. So a smart thing would have been at some point, maybe we had an outside interference. Maybe we had a — I don’t like countouts — but the outside interference setting up the next match with Cena, whomever that might have been, would have been a better way to take it out than the way I saw it go down. Look, you know in this business, you wanna leave ‘em happy, sometimes. When I saw those kids crying, that is not the way you wanna have business go, and it’s my son, and when I saw those F5s, I’m going, ‘Man oh man, I hope he’s alright.’ Brock is a wonderful human being and took good care of John, as he does the most of his opponents. But there again, why would you take the man on a tour, who’s leaving… It just makes no sense to me at all. I don’t understand it. I don’t understand it, and I don’t know if you can call that a match. That was just a squash. That’s all it was.”

Cena Sr. also gave his thoughts about how he was disappointed with WWE’s handling of his son’s heel turn during his retirement tour.

“That’s a good question. I wish I had a good answer for you. As far as some of the pros, I think what he’s done is right, it’s good, it’s positive. I think he’s done what he said he would do. He’s thanked the fans in the only way he knows how and that’s by giving them 36 appearances. Those fans mean an awful lot to him, as does the wrestling business. Some of the cons that I think I’ve seen — maybe some of the mistakes in the booking they’ve made. You know, turning John Cena heel was a great idea. The shock factor was great. But I think the storyline was destroyed, and that was a very poor move in my opinion, because it was a big gamble for everyone that was involved, and to see how it started and then to see the characters who were involved no longer be present, well, the heel turn almost became non-essential… That was something I really wasn’t too really hyped up on. I’ll say it like it is. I’ll probably get in trouble for saying things but, I’m just gonna say it like it is. I think that bothers me the most of anything. I think the positive aspects of this is the face turn. I think that was a real positive move. I think they did it at the right time. I just think that what he’s done and what he’s doing and the legacy he will leave behind is really positive because if you listen to what he has to say, it’s not about John Cena. Part of it is he’s thanking the fans and he said, ‘It’s my turn to leave so some of the great young talent in the back can come forward…’ Outside of that, I think it’s been a good tour. I think it’s been well done, except for those instances that I mentioned. Outside of that, I guess that’s all I have to say about that…”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com