"It was a lot different in 2004" - Wrestling legend breaks down how John Cena "wasn't the phenomenon he is today"

John Cena is arguably one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. The Cenation Leader is a 16-time WWE World Champion. ECW legend and former WWE Superstar Nunzio recently talked about wrestling Cena during the early days of The Franchise Player's wrestling career.

Nunzio had a six-year stint with the Stamford-based company from 2002 to 2008 before he was released. He has since made sporadic performances, including the recent one at NXT 2300. In a recent interaction with MuscleManMalcolm, the two-time Cruiserweight Champion spoke about the time when he wrestled John Cena in 2004 before the 47-year-old became a main-event superstar.

In 2004, it was a lot different because John Cena wasn't the phenomenon that he is today. He was just getting started in 2003-2004 with the rap gimmick stuff,'' he said. [1:10-1:25]

The wrestling veteran stated how it was a privilege to step into the ring with John Cena and expressed his gratitude for the opportunity.

''It was great to be in [the] ring with him altogether because he is a great guy, and I love John. It was great to see what he became and the success he had. It's a privilege to say I got a chance to be in the ring with him even though it was before he became the big superstar he is right now. You know what? John never changes; he's a great guy; very happy for his success,'' he added. [1:25-1:50]

Check out the episode below:

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ECW legend speaks about sharing the ring with The Undertaker

Apart from John Cena, Nunzio also locked horns with The Undertaker during his time in the Stamford-based company.

During the same interaction, the two-time ECW World Tag Team Champion opened up about his experience wrestling The Deadman several times on live shows and how people only remember the one instance when they battled in a match on SmackDown.

''Well, I wrestled The Undertaker many times; people watch that one match on TV. I did a lot of house shows with him, so that wasn't my first time; it's the only one on TV. We also did six-man tags with The Undertaker. So, I got to wrestle him multiple times. That wasn't a spur in [SIC] the moment thing; we just ended up doing it, and he liked it, and we ended up doing it a few times,'' he said. [2:25-3:02]

Meanwhile, John Cena recently kicked off his Retirement Tour. It will be interesting to see if he wins another world title in the coming months.