5 Superstars John Cena Hated in WWE
Read on to know 5 WWE superstars whom John Cena never liked. And out of these 5, Cena even convinced Vince McMahon to throw one of them out. Find out who he is.
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John Cena has spent more than two decades in WWE, and every living soul in the company knows him inside out. However, Cena hasn’t gelled up with everybody he has met. No, he hasn’t had duels with guys like Triple H, Vince McMahon, or Stephanie McMahon. But Cena has had hiccups with the midcarders whom he came across when he was already the face of the company. So let’s read about superstars whom John Cena legitimately hated.
1. Chris Masters
The king of Master Lock, Chris Masters is one of the few wrestlers whom Cena never liked. Master made his WWE debut in 2005 and went on to feature in several WWE RAW episodes where he would challenge other talents to break his master lock.
John Cena also was one of those, but Cena never liked working with him. Masters made this revelation himself once while speaking at the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast.
“With Cena and me, like, I don’t know, it just felt like he didn’t — we never got a good rhythm in terms of our work and that’s probably my fault. Anyway, it’s hard to say for sure. I just remember that there were sometimes Cena had voiced his displeasure in my work," Cena had said.
2. Wade Barrett
The former Intercontinental Champion has openly said that he never cozied up with Cena and the two never liked each other. Cena was the first main roster superstar to work with Barrett after the NXT superstar led an attack against Cena and Punk in 2010 during an episode of Monday Night RAW. The two featured in several matches, but never gelled up.
"He has been the face for ten years, and he's really good at what he does. But everyone knows that I don't like John Cena, and he doesn't like me either,” Barett said to DNA India in 2017. He continued that personally, he and John Cena are not friends, as neither of them like each other.
2. Michael Tarver
He was another Nexus superstar, who didn’t connect well with Cena. In fact, Tarver who stayed on the main roster for only 1 year (2010-2011) accused John Cena of burying him. In an interview with the VOC Nation’s Talkin Sass podcast, Tarver claimed that Cena targeted him.
"If one of the main people there doesn’t like you, they will do everything they can do to bury you. I got to the main roster and just got buried. (...) It was Cena,” Tarver said. He stated that he doesn’t know why Cena targeted him but it is what it is.
Read More: 5 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About John Cena
3. Freddie Prinze Jr.
He wasn’t a renowned WWE superstar though but a Hollywood actor who handled creative production and direction, who made only a few WWE appearances. While speaking during an episode of Wrestling with Freddie Podcast, the former WWE Champion claimed Cena disliked him during his time at the Stamford-based promotion.
“I've always said I respected John, even though he didn't like me whilst I was there because I was an actor, which he is now,” Freddie had said. The actor had a four-year stint with the company (2008-2012), and after that, he was never seen again.
5. Alex Riley
Amongst all the superstars, Cena hated, Alex Riley is seemingly in the number one position. Riley is actually that wrestler whom Cena hated to such an extent, that he got Vince McMahon to evict him out of the company.
Riley made his WWE debut in 2010 and wrestled for three years before turning to color commentary. Then he returned to wrestling once again in 2015 but was released from the company by 2016.
“I think it came down to, at the end, two men just not liking each other. As sad as that is, it had an impact on my career because he is who he is,” Cena said. He further said that he made a mistake once while working with Cena and for that, he went and apologized to him, too but it didn’t work out.
After a few days, Riley was released from his WWE contract. He has now quit wrestling to pursue an acting career. He also owns a real estate investment corporation.
Also Read: John Cena Explains Why He Wants WWE WrestleMania To Happen In UK: ‘Be there as a fan’
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