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Former WWE Champion and Hall of Famer JBL was recently a guest on Sportskeeda's UnSKripted with host Dr. Chris Featherstone. JBL discussed a number of topics during the session including working with John Cena early on in Cena's career and you can check out the full interview below:
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JBL knew that John Cena was going to be 'the guy'
During the interview, JBL was asked about whether there was any backstage heat on John Cena early on in his WWE career when he was just starting to rise to the main event level. JBL said that he had never heard of anything like this and added that he had told Vince McMahon backstage that John Cena was going to be 'the guy'. JBL added that his review was so glowing that it actually surprised Vince McMahon a little bit:
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Absolutely not. None whatsoever that I knew of and I think I would have heard it. I was one of the first to take Cena, and you know its easy to go 8 minutes in a match, you go out there and its the basic formula of the match, it's hard to go your first 30-35 minute match. I was the first one to go with John Cena on the road, I think Kurt Angle did who right at that time was doing it as well with Cena, but first to go with Cena, 30 minutes on the house shows. That's when you really feel if the guy knows what he's doing and I remember coming back and talking to Vince and Vince said 'how is he?' and I said 'the kid is awesome' and he said 'really?'.
He wasn't surprised because he didn't expect him to be good. He was surprised about how effusive my praise was of him. I said, 'He has an incredible feel, he has a knack for this business, I think he's your guy'. I don't take credit for Cena's career, I just happened to be a guy who was there and handed the title to him. He would have had that happen to him eventually anyway. To me there was no heat whatsoever and when I was asked by the office, I gave him a ringing endorsement. I knew he was 'the guy'. I had no doubt in my mind that he was 'the guy'.
John Cena beat JBL at WrestleMania 21 to win his first world championship in WWE, going on to win a total of 16 world titles and equalling Ric Flair's record.
If any quotes are used from this article please credit Legion of RAW and add an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling
