"It was rotten" - Arn Anderson disliked controversial John Cena match

John Cena once lost a match on WWE RAW against celebrity guest Kevin Federline. The producer of the match, Arn Anderson, has given his opinion that WWE should not have allowed Britney Spears’ ex-husband to compete.

Anderson often worked alongside John Cena during his time as a WWE producer from 2001 to 2019. The WWE Hall of Famer flew out to meet Federline shortly before the match occurred on the New Year’s Day 2007 episode of RAW.

Speaking on his ARN podcast, Anderson described Federline's win over John Cena as “rotten” and questioned why the match took place.

"Yep [Anderson was the producer], yes sir, and it was rotten," Anderson said. "What did anybody think it was gonna be? I flew out a couple of weeks beforehand with John and we met him, Federline, and someone had a ring out there on the west coast. I’m not sure exactly whose ring it was but for a couple of hours we tried to show him some basics. No offense to Kevin, you don’t just walk in this business and pick it up in an afternoon. You just don’t."

It's been a whole decade since @JohnCena suffered the biggest upset of his career, courtesy of... @kevinfederline?! #RAW pic.twitter.com/FyXPJy5afG

— WWE (@WWE) January 2, 2017

Anderson added that every person alive would be a professional wrestler if it was easy to pick up. He also said he does not like it when actors and entertainers come out on top in physical altercations with wrestlers.

Please credit ARN and give a H/T to SK Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.

Why did John Cena face Kevin Federline?

Kevin Federline received help from Umaga to defeat John Cena

WWE executive Bruce Prichard recently spoke about the John Cena vs. Kevin Federline match on his Something to Wrestle With podcast. He said Federline’s appearance came about because the rapper wanted to promote an album.

Prichard clarified that Federline’s wife at the time, Britney Spears, was not discussed in negotiations. However, there was some hope that she would appear in WWE at some stage.