John Cena pushed to lose the WWE Championship to up-and-coming star; felt he could do business with him

A current SmackDown Superstar recently spoke about winning the WWE Championship from John Cena.

The star in question is Sheamus. The Celtic Warrior burst onto the scene back in 2009 and won the biggest prize in the company in a matter of months on the main roster. While he was dubbed a rookie, yet he went on to defeat Cena at TLC, winning the WWE Championship for the first time in his career.

In an exclusive interview with Virgin Media Sports Stories, The Celtic Warrior mentioned that he was originally slated to lose the match, but Cena influenced the outcome.

"That was a different conversation. Up until that day, I was losing that match. Things changed."

Sheamus revealed that The Cenation Leader felt he was a credible foe and was happy to take the fall. The Brawling Brutes member felt that he looked very different from the rest of the roster, and that helped his case.

"Cena had a lot to do with it. Cena had a lot to do with what happened that day. It was like, 'This is someone I can do business with. This is someone I can go around and is a believable foe,' which is what John needed. What every good hero needs is a good villain. He saw that with me too, people did not like me. People hated me. I was so different compared to everybody in there. Long hair, short hair, super tan, tattoos. I was a different mix and he saw he could do something good with me." [H/T: Fightful]

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John Cena's last match was at Crown Jewel

Last year, John Cena had a steady run with the company during the SAG AFTRA strike. The Cenation Leader returned to the blue brand and picked up his feud with The Bloodline.

This resulted in a huge matchup at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, where he faced off against Solo Sikoa. The two stars had a stellar match where The Enforcer of The Bloodline picked up the win. Sikoa neutralized John with over a dozen Samoan Strikes.

Since then, Cena has not competed in a match and returned to Hollywood. It will be interesting to see if the 16-time World Champion returns to the company again later this year.

What did you think of John Cena's latest run with the company? Sound off in the comments section below.