3 WWE Superstars John Cena wanted to work with and 2 he did not

#2 John Cena did not initially want to work with AJ Styles

It is not known whether John Cena requested to face AJ Styles before their six-month storyline in 2016-17, but we do know that “Big Match John” had no interest in working with “The Phenomenal One” prior to him signing with WWE.

Former WWE producer Arn Anderson, who worked alongside John Cena as the producer for many of his WWE matches, revealed on his ARN podcast in 2020 that he once suggested that the company sign Styles, Bobby Roode and James Storm.

Anderson felt that John Cena needed fresh heels to work with and he thought the three wrestlers, who all worked in IMPACT Wrestling at the time, could be possible opponents.

“I said, 'It would really beef up the company if we went out and stole Bobby Roode, AJ Styles and 'The Cowboy' James Storm. If you brought those three guys in it would give you a whole plethora of new opponents, it would give a lot of guys new opponents.' John looked at me and said, 'We've got NXT, we make our own stars.'” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]

Anderson clarified that John Cena was simply transferring Vince McMahon’s psychology to him and he probably did not mean to put down Styles, Roode and Storm.