At the WWE Money in the Bank 2023 pay-per-view event, John Cena made a surprise return for an in-ring segment with Grayson Waller.
On Monday’s edition of the “MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani” podcast, Waller opined on his confrontation with The Champ, whether he was happy with his performance in the segment, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his confrontation with Cena: “The weird thing is, I felt like I have been there before, because I put a lot of work into what I do. I work very very hard. If you don’t think I haven’t thought about what I would say to John Cena if I stood across from him, I’ve thought about that many times. It’s very funny. Myself and Carmelo Hayes a few weeks before talked about it. ‘If you’re ever in there with Cena and he came at you.’ We’ve all seen before that Cena goes in on people. He doesn’t hold back. He’s going to tell you what he thinks. I love that about him. He’s the measuring stick on the microphone, and he tests people. You see what he did with (Austin) Theory earlier in the year. He was testing Theory, the way he talked to him and put it on him. I’ve thought about that moment so many times. When I went out there, I felt completely comfortable. I’ve thought about being across from you, your music is not going to scare me, you standing here is not going to scare me. This is where I belong. That’s the attitude I bring into these things and that’s why I look so comfortable. I work hard. Nights like that are easy for me. They are the nights I get to enjoy.”
On if he was happy with his performance in the segment: “I guess so. I don’t think I’m happy with anything I do. I think I showed a lot of people who I was. I know online people were complaining, ‘Oh, he’s a talk show host now.’ People didn’t know I was hurt. ‘What’s he even doing, he doesn’t belong there.’ All of a sudden, everyone switches because fans are so easy to change. Now it’s, ‘Wow, he’s so good.’ Get off the bandwagon, I don’t need you on my side. I think I proved myself, not only to people online, but people backstage. No one knew John was there. I’m walking around all day, and people are like, ‘why is he here? The SmackDown crew flew home yesterday.’ ‘Just hanging out.’ Obviously, there was someone hiding in the halls of the O2 Arena.”
