-My guest today is huge in every way possible --
Huge body, huge personality, and a huge career
with the WWE.
And guess what that translates into?
A big box office career as well.
Guys, he's doing it all -- comedy, drama, action.
And who am I talking about?
Well, you should know by now.
None other than John Cena.
Did you see that? Did you see what I did?
-I -- I didn't see you for a second.
You became invisible. It actually works, yeah.
-Did you see me? You can't see me.
-No, I didn't see that. I didn't see you.
-Huh? You can't see me. Huh?
Dude, thank you man. -No, no. Thank you, man.
First of all, it's great to see you again.
-Great to see you. -I love the format of the show.
So I, you know, I want to tip back some wine,
talk a little bit, have some fun.
-Well, I'm not going to let you start talking
without addressing how good you look, man.
Clean up well, you do.
You look like a star.
You look like you belong where you are.
-What does -- What does that mean?
-When people say you look like a star?
-Yeah, what does that mean? -It means you actually do
look like a star. You know this.
-Because these are my PJs. I slept in this.
-Well, now I don't believe that. And if you do,
then do I need to start doing the same thing?
Is that what we're doing right now? Is this what --
Is this what the stars are doing now?
Uh, look, you said it. You said what the show's about, right?
It's a comfortable format. -Yeah.
-We sit, we talk. -Yeah.
-But we talk over a glass of wine.
That's what makes the show special. Right?
So with that being said, let me get my somm out here.
-I know you got some caffeine in you.
It's time to balance it out.
It's time to go uppers and downers.
-I don't have any caffeine in me.
I don't what you're talking about.
-It seems like you might be revving a little high.
Let's slow it down. What do we got?
-Mr. Hart, Mr. Cena. -Yeah.
-Single-vineyard, exquisite Syrah from the Edna Valley,
not too far up the road.
SLO, the cool kids call it. -Not the SLO.
San Luis Obispo with a wonderful Slide Hill Vineyard Syrah.
I think you'll both love it.
-Excellent. -An Obispo, huh?
-A little bit of whole cluster in here, too.
Wonderful texture. Balanced.
-Nothing better than a little a whole cluster.
-Absolutely.
-How do you make your choice? -How do I make my choice?
-No, no, no. He's got the skills in this department.
How do you make your choice? Is it dependent on the guest?
-Well, first off, it's always dependent on the guest.
But Mr. Hart has a directive here.
The wine has to be Black-owned, Black-made, Black-run.
-Hm, okay. -Very, very few,
but the producers that are out there, of color, are exquisite,
so I craft the best wines for this show.
This Syrah happens to be one of them.
Less than 100 cases made.
-Well, cheers to you for knowledge, Kevin. Thank you.
-Cheers to you. -Appreciate you.
-Gents, enjoy. -Man. Hey. Hey.
Let me tell you something. -Cheers.
-Me and you, okay? Me and you, talking about a team.
-Seems, yeah. -I may --
I may try out for that Somm thing.
-You got it. -As you see,
my knowledge is getting more in tune as we do more. Right?
John, to you, man. -No, no. Cheers.
Thanks for having me.
So, less an interview, more of a discussion, right?
-Yeah. What are you talking -- -What's off --
-There is no interview. -What's off limits?
-Nothing's off limits. -Are you sure?
Because we've talked before behind the camera,
not too, much.
I mean, you were kind enough to take, like, the one minute
that you do have in between doing everything.
Um, we had a few conversations, shared a few wonderful moments.
-Nothing is off limits. -Are you sure?
-Listen, this is not an interview, right?
-I know, it's a discussion. -It's a discussion.
What I was going to say earlier is that when I got a chance
to talk to you when we worked together, dude,
you are intelligent as hell, but you were such a --
you were such a, like, sponge for information.
And our -- our conversation that we had, like,
we were both giving so much information to one another.
And I found that we -- we were more interested
in each other's story than we probably thought we would be.
-Well, thanks, man. I appreciate that.
And likewise, you were extremely open and extremely gracious
about kind of showing myself and whoever was around
pages from your playbook. -Mm-hmm.
-And not just your story, I mean your playbook operations now.
-Yeah. -Where you are. You --
You are -- I think people understand this about you
because you do document your life,
and you share a whole lot.
But there's no way,
unless you're standing in your orbit,
to understand exactly how hard you go.
I was amazed at how hard go. -Thank you. Thank you, man.
-You -- You are on another level.
-Well, let's start -- let's start there then.
-Sure.
-Let's start in a place of hard work, right?
Like, I don't know if everybody truly understands
the machine of the WWE.
And what blew me away the most was how committed you have to be
to a schedule that never seems to die, right?
Like, in the WWE, you are a part of almost,
what I would call a 365, right?
Like, you're part... -Sure. Sure.
-...of a 365 work regimen.
And in that 365 place and space of work,
you're committing to the --
to the world of your progression
as a wrestler, as a talent.
And in -- in the orbit of WWE,
all of the personnel that comes through,
everybody that wants to touch,
that wants to be the biggest, the best, or whatever,
sometimes a lot of these things, you know,
they don't pan out the way that some would want them to.
Um, in your case, you know, you're talking about,
how many years?
You -- You have --
How many years do you have in there?
-It's been a lot. I started in 2002.
-And the beginning of it, what I found, like,
to be crazy was you coming in on the, I guess you could say,
the old generation, the old-school generation...
-Yeah. -...of legends...
-Yeah. -...Hall of Famers.
You know, you kind of had to earn your stripes,
for lack of a better word, right?
Your comfort in that space,
it wasn't immediate with those guys.
-WWE, they run all the time.
But I think that's kind of where we might have,
and I'm thinking for you at this point,
but I think that's were we might have found common ground.
What -- What was the first time you hit the stages of stand-up?
-First time I hit the stage?
-What was the first time you hit the stage?
-2000 and --
No, 1998.
And that was in the space of amateur night
and me just falling in love with amateur night
and competitions.
Small stage, but from '98 to '99,
was where I was just performing on things, right?
Like, whether it was a stage, whether it was a cabaret,
whether it was a lounge, we had to create our environments.
They weren't -- They weren't all set up for comedy.
They weren't all, like, entertainment-like environments.
-But it's a nonstop grind. -Yeah. Yeah.
-And you're always on stage. -Yeah.
-And it's a different city every night and you're hustling.
I went through the same thing. -Yeah.
-You know, it's the same thing.
And the business has changed so much since I started.
-For the better or the worse? -I think some --
I think a whole lot better.
And I'm -- I'm just, again, I'm thinking for you,
I bet you comedy has changed since '98...
-Absolutely. Absolutely. -...until now.
I bet you a lot of it's changed.
-I mean, the times -- the times have changed,
which in return have caused comedy to change.
Right? So comedy has changed
because we had no choice but to change.
-I hear you there. I hear you there.
-Now, in your side when you say it's changed drastically,
I feel like it's grown, right?
-And I think that's the biggest thing that's changed.
-Okay. -It has grown exponentially.
-Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. -Like, exponentially.
To the point where, you know, I always preface the NBA
and the ABA in the '70s... -Mm-hmm.
-Major League Baseball in the late '70s and '80s,
pro football in the '80s.
Like, pro football now, it's an -- it's an operation.
-Mm-hmm. -The NBA now is an operation.
Major League Baseball's an operation.
WWE's kind of followed the same trajectory
where it is this massive, globally reaching
entertainment juggernaut that can show up anywhere.
-Mm-hmm. -I've been to --
You know, we've been to AT&T Stadium in Dallas,
and I've performed in Afghanistan.
-Yeah. -And everywhere in between.
-Yeah. -And, uh, I think as --
as you have more success,
and especially they cast a PG net,
the program is PG, but it also changed from TV-14 to PG.
-Mm-hmm. -See?
And it's also a generational product.
Like, I'll talk to older folks and they'll be like,
"Oh, I grew up with Hulk Hogan and Ricky Steamboat
and Ric Flair and 'Macho Man' Randy Savage."
And then there are people that'll be like,
"Ah, the Attitude era was the best with Rock
and Steve Austin and DX and The Undertaker."
And there are folks that grew up watching me,
and then there's the current generation
that watches the current superstars and --
and, you know, comments and critiques
and appreciates that product.
So if it's not your generation,
you always romanticize about the performers,
the comics before. -Yeah.
-I liked Richard Pryor. I liked George Carlin.
-Yeah. -I dig these comics
instead of what's -- what's up there now.
I don't -- I don't understand.
The same can be said for styles of music.
You know, I -- I love hip-hop music,
but I correlate to, like, '90s boom-bap style music.
And I just don't understand a lot of the other stuff.
But it doesn't mean it's not bad,
it's just that I have, like, kind of my --
my sweet spot, the stuff that I romanticize about.
And as the company grows, it's trying to --
it's trying to gain more of a following.
It's trying to gain more of a fan base,
a general fan base, so you have to --
you have to act accordingly.
The -- The great news is, I feel, the talent,
the performers are better taken care of.
They're more professional. They're more understanding.
They're not -- not as wasteful. They're a lot smarter.
-Yeah. -They're a lot healthier.
-I mean, that's from seeing the mistakes of others, right?
-It's -- It's wisdom.
-John, I don't want to stop you, but I have to.
Guys, I want to take a quick break.
Please don't go nowhere. We've got John Cena,
and he's talking about his road, his journey.
You don't want to miss it. Stick around.
We've got more "Hart to Heart" when we get back after this.
-Alright, well, I've got a refill, which means that
the conversation is going to continue to flow.
John, so dude, right now, you sit a place of success, right?
You've been in the war though. -What -- What does that mean?
-Well, when I say you sit in a place of success,
meaning that the WWE that you entered
is not the WWE that you sit in now.
How was wrestling, like -- How was it the go-to?
Like, was it -- was that -- was that the journey all along?
Was it... -No. Not even close.
-..."This is what I want to get to. This is what I'm gonna do"?
-My -- My whole existence is, uh, an accident.
-What is that? What the fuck does that mean?
What? -Well, it's --
My whole existence is based on a series of fortunate events
that kind of lined up with each other.
-Okay. -I did not know
that wrestling was even a career option.
-Mm-hmm. -I watched it as a young man.
Kind of fell out of it as an adolescent, a teenager,
because you're like, "Oh, you've got to study hard
and maybe play sports or go to get a real job or whatever."
Went to college, got a degree, tried to apply my degree
out here in California.
Now, I didn't move out to LA to -- to pursue entertainment.
I moved out to apply my degree
in Exercise Physiology and Kinesiologies,
so all the... -Goddamn!
-It's basically just a degree in working out.
So I like-- -Kinesiology?
-Yeah. -Kinesiology?
-The study of movement of the body.
So I -- I, uh, I was passionate about that at the time.
I started working out at 13,
so it's kind of something I knew.
And, like, I didn't -- never felt like I was going to class.
Came out here to try to apply my degree and really failed.
But, uh, my dad, in a brilliant --
-Why do you say failed? -Because I --
I couldn't get, um, any sort of validation
for that piece of paper that I paid for.
-Wow. -That 4-year certificate
from Springfield College saying,
"We think you know what you're talking about."
-Mm-hmm. -And then I go out and try to,
"Well, I got this."
It was like, "I don't give a shit."
-What do you think -- What do you think that was?
Like, when you say you couldn't get a job,
I mean, having a degree, having a diploma --
-I don't know. I don't know. Uh, may--
You know, knowledge is one thing.
-Mm-hmm. -Life experience,
wisdom is another. -Mm-hmm.
-Maybe I just didn't -- Maybe I rubbed the people the wrong way.
Maybe I didn't know how to carry myself in interviews.
Maybe I didn't search the right places.
This is, uh, 1999,
so we're not as interconnected as we all are now.
-Mm-hmm. -Um, but I'd failed
to the point of like, man, I'm, like, living in my car.
-What? -I love it out here,
but I think I've got to -- I've got to go back.
I took the California Highway Patrol exam, failed.
So I was going to be a cop -- failed.
-Goddamn it, John. This is getting sad.
-Every avenue of fitness... -Yeah.
-Failed, closed door, closed door.
I remember bouncing at a place called Sharkeez
in Hermosa Beach.
And there was a pizza place, Zeppy's Pizza,
right next to Sharkeez.
They had a deal where -- They had a challenge
if you could eat their whole pizza, you got it for free.
I used to eat there every night, a whole pizza,
so I didn't have to pay because I didn't have money
to pay the guy.
So I had to, like, Joey Chestnut...
-Hold on, John, Goddamn.
I'm-a need another one just to --
just to deal with the weight of this discussion.
Wait a second John. -But it --
You know, through -- through uncomfortable situations,
we find out who we are.
And I really had to take a look at, like,
"Okay, what do I feel I have to offer and..."
-Well -- Well, just let me -- let me just make sure
I'm grasping, okay, correctly. -Yeah, sure.
-My guy. Okay. -I'll take a little bit.
Looks like I'm out of it. I'm going to need some, too.
-Yeah, no, this is -- this is good, by the way.
And this is what I mean about our conversations, right?
And this is what is was on set,
but on set, we didn't go here.
So, um, homeless? -Uh, well,
a Lincoln Continental's a big car.
I lived in the back of a '91 Lincoln Continental for awhile.
-How long? -But it was a --
Uh, 3 or 4 months, and then I moved into a garage.
-That's fucked up. -So the garage
I actually stayed into for, that was, like, 6 months.
But it was -- And here's the thing, like,
often you hear stories of hard times.
-Mm-hmm. -I'm very fortunate for my story
because it was my choice to have hard times.
-Define that. -Uh, my father always said,
you know, "You're my son. I love you.
You're -- You're always welcome back home."
I had -- If I could get to West Newbury, Massachusetts,
I would be fed, I would have a roof over my head,
I would be able to regroup.
I chose to stay out.
-You said your father, uh, not your mother.
What -- Is there --
-Oh, well, uh, I think at that point my mom --
I've got four brothers. -Okay.
-I think my mom was just happy we were all in one piece.
-Okay. Okay. -You know, like, it's, uh,
traditional -- My -- My parents are no longer together
but as they raised us,
it was kind of the traditional father is the spokesperson.
Mom is just... -Four brothers,
same mom, same dad? -...crossing her fingers --
Yeah. Hoping that we don't kill each other, you know?
-And they are all aware of your hard times at this point
or this is your battle? -No, because, again, my choice.
-Wow. -Like, it was --
And I -- I look back on those days not with any regret.
I -- I loved it. I was, uh --
I had a front desk job at Gold's Gym Venice at the time.
I had my degree in Kinesiology.
I'm in the center of, like, body-building fitness industry.
All the equipment manufacturers are there.
I've got pretty much
the best gym in the world at my fingertips.
I would show up early for work,
go to the locker room take a shower,
work my shift... -Wow.
-Work out, take another shower,
and go sleep in my car. -Are you seeing at this time,
I mean, you're talking about '99, right?
-Yeah. -'99, even going into 2000.
-Yeah. -Gold's Gym has always been,
especially in Venice, it's always been a highlight of --
of your action stars of tomorrow or the future of --
-WWE superstars. -Yeah, everybody. Your --
I was going to say, action stars, your WWE.
-I got my picture with The Rock.
-There? -Yeah.
-Holy shit. -Me in my Gold's Gym
Nutrition Club store polo.
-Is it when he had that dumbass hair?
The -- The stupid ass hairdo?
-I -- I thought it was quite nice.
-When he had that dumbass hairdo.
-I think if you look at our picture together --
-When he looked like a fucking idiot.
-I remember myself having a blond sort of golf tee flat top.
-I'm not talking about you.
I'm talking about The Rock early on.
-So I'm just saying I can't -- I can't really throw stones...
-He had that piece. -...because I was in
a papier-mâché house at that --
-Well, he had that piece that hung down.
-You know? -That stupid-ass piece.
That dick piece. -I -- I think you have a --
-Right on his fucking forehead.
-You got anything else you want to unload?
It feels like you're holding on to something.
-Yeah, I'm just telling you I remember. I know the per--
I know the guy that you're talking about at that time.
-Okay. -I've seen the pictures.
-Alright. -Now you don't have to say it.
But you can look at me... -I didn't say it.
It's your words. -You can look at me,
and if you blink twice -- -It's your fight.
-If you look at me and blink twice.
He looked like a dick. -I'm just --
I'm remembering my hairdo choice.
-You blinked three times. That's a double dick.
Ha! We got him, John.
I'm going to find the picture.
Okay. Guys, we're going to take a quick break.
We'll be right back with more "Hart to Heart" after this.
-And we're back. We're still here with John Cena.
And oh, my God, uh, the gems that are being dropped.
So, John, you're in Venice. You're at Gold's Gym.
These people are coming in and out.
You're seeing these people, right?
Um, although, hard times you're in, is this --
is this amplifying the idea of your future?
Where did the idea of wrestling come from?
When did that start? -So when I began to be,
like, "Well, what do I have to offer?"
-Mm-hmm. -"I believe I'm disciplined.
I work on my strength and fitness.
I take care of myself. I'll join the Marines."
And Camp Pendleton's down in San Diego.
I'm, like, "Man, I'll just go down and join. Like, I'll --
They'll probably take me."
-By the way, do you know how dedicated
to fitness you have to be to be homeless and fit? Goddamn.
-But like I said, once again, it was --
-That is a -- -I wasn't --
I wasn't, like, thrown out of anywhere. I was --
You've got to understand I was choosing to do this.
-Yeah, I know. But you're still living in a garage,
and you're like, "Ah, let me get my workout in."
That's tough. -No, to me it was --
It was like clarity. -Shit.
-That's -- That's my -- That's kind of like my church.
-Your mental, that's your mental.
-Yeah, man. That's the place to go to lighten my backpack.
-Okay. -Always has been. Uh...
-So the Marines. -So I'm about to go to enlist,
and a buddy of mine -- Like, that was '99.
-Mm-hmm. -And so, like, WWE,
WWF, WCW head -- like, going head to head.
Like, they're doing massive ratings.
Everybody's watching sports entertainment.
-Mm-hmm.
-And us in Gold's Gym were no different.
We always had it on. We were always talking about it.
But literally the weekend I'm about to go down,
a buddy of mine says,
"Yo, you know we train to be wrestlers over in Orange County.
You ever thought about going down?"
I was like, "Motherfucker, there's a --
What?! There's a school? We can do this?"
Yes, of course.
-"I was about to go to the Marines."
-Literally. -"I was going to go --"
-I was like -- I was like, "Yo, I'll go with you this weekend.
I'll see what it's about."
We went to a place called LA Boxing in Orange County.
It was a one story, like, glass house,
sweat shop gym.
I remember pulling up
and seeing the ring through the window.
And being like, "Yo, I'll do whatever it takes to get --
to get in there as long as I can."
-I mean... -So it wasn't --
It wasn't like a, um...
When I saw it and I was like, "This is what I'm going to do,"
It wasn't like I'm going to be The Rock.
It was like, "I'm going to work my job during the week,
so I can work flea markets on Saturday and Sunday
because I fucking love this." -Yeah.
This was your light bulb. It was your light bulb.
-And as soon as I -- As soon as I got in there,
it was amateur nights.
It was working at male -- It was like wherever.
"Hey, we've got a show in the middle of the street."
-Yeah. -"I'm there, no problem."
"I don't even think we have a show."
"I'm there, no problem." -It doesn't matter.
When the light bulb goes off, your immediate --
your immediate ability to turn on your work switch
is like nothing else.
-Because you talk to anybody it's like entrepreneurs are --
It's kind of a running philosophy --
"If you love what you do, you never work a day
in your life." -Mm-hmm.
-And I don't -- -Say that again, John.
-Well, the philosophy or the mantra
is "If you love what you do,
you never work a day in your life."
I disagree with that.
I think that every person,
even, like, anyone out here,
anyone hiding in the oak cellar you have behind...
-They're in the back working. -...behind the barrels
or anything... -They're back there.
-...everybody you meet is going through a struggle
that we know nothing about. -Mm-hmm.
-So there -- there is hard work at every turn for everyone.
-Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. -But if you love it,
and it's wonderful conversations I've had with --
with people close to me and people that I love,
If you love it, it makes the hard times more memorable,
more valuable.
You can gain from them.
You can learn from your mistakes.
If you don't love it, it -- it is hard work.
It sucks.
You know, I tell a lot of young people that are in the WWE,
"If you're in this to make money,
go somewhere else." -Mm-hmm.
-"This is a hard living to make money at."
If you love it, sky's the limit.
You stop counting the money and just go -- go out and do.
And the money will show up. -Mm-hmm.
-But I saw it, and I was like,
"I'm going to exist out here
and do this as a long as I can as a weekend hobby,"
and never thought it would be anything.
So, like, it happened by accident.
I'm about to go join the military,
and a buddy is like, "Hey, man, we've been doing this forever.
Where have you been?"
Let's do it. -I relate to the accident.
Because I didn't know that
the comedy club was around the corner.
I didn't know that the amateur nights existed.
It was a recommendation of a friend.
-Yeah. -And the discovery of the thing
that you end up finding some of the most passion for
sometimes is an accident, right?
And I think people can definitely relate
to what you just said.
I mean, as you said it, I'm --
As you see, I'm engulfed. I'm listening.
You said you met The Rock. -Mm-hmm.
-You also said he looked like a dickhead.
You said... -I -- You know, that's, um...
I don't know. I think you're bending some things.
-I'm not sure. -Yeah.
-We can look at it in the edit. I remember --
I think I remember you said he was a dickhead.
Um, either way, let's just throw that out.
That's neither here nor there, okay?
The point that I'm about to make is there was a connection.
"Wow, I saw him here."
In that world that you were in, who were some of the, like,
the person to person contacts early on
that were a representation of the high level in --
in this space, right?
Did you -- Did you have any --
Did you have any, like, moments where it was like,
"Oh, shit, that's...
Oh, fuck, that's -- Right there is..."
-Sure, right now with Kevin Hart.
-Well, I don't -- I don't wrestle
so I'm saying in the WWE job... -No, but I --
I can have those moments all of the time, like...
-Okay, John. I understand that, but I'm saying --
I'm asking you about that time. -So --
So anyone who was doing what I loved as a hobby.
-Yes. Yes. Who, like in other words --
-And making -- No, the -- Anyone.
-You -- You now said, "I'm doing wrestling."
-Yes. -"That's what I want to do."
-Yes, and my answer to it is
anyone who was doing what I love...
-Mm-hmm. -...and calling it their work.
-Ah. -Like to me...
-I got you. -...they were cheating.
-I got you. -They had it figured out.
-Like, they -- You know, "The joke's on them,
I do this for free." -They cracked --
They cracked the code. -They cracked the code.
-Yeah. Mm-hmm. -So you could be,
what we call in the business, you could be an op--
opening act, opening match guy. -Mm-hmm.
-You could be an intermission guy.
You could be the main event. It doesn't matter what you do,
if you -- like, if you're getting paid to do
what I'm going to do for free... -Mm-hmm.
You did it. -You did it. You figured it out.
-Uh, guys, do me a favor. Stick around.
We've got more "Hart to Heart" when we come back after this.
-Alright, well, I got a a refill,
which means that the conversation is going
to continue to flow.
Uh, John, so dude, my next question to you is a doozy.
You've endured the world of hardship,
and you welcomed it.
You didn't bitch and complain.
Like you said, you strapped your boots up.
It is what it is. I'm going to figure it out.
-Again, I chose it though. -I know, that's what I said.
You -- You endured it, like, you said,
"Alright, this is what it is. I'm not bitching about it.
I'm not complaining about it." -The good outweighed the bad.
-"I'm going to make this -- I'm going to make it make sense.
I'm going to figure it out." -Yeah.
-Upon figuring it out,
what's the conversation with Mom, Dad,
and the brothers?
-Uh, so, my dad is a life-long wrestling fan.
-Really? -And I remember...
-Are you really close to your dad?
-Not as -- Not as much as I should be.
-Okay. -Not as much as I should be.
Um, and you? -We weren't --
We weren't close, but we were -- We were okay.
I love my dad, but we weren't, like, close-close. Right?
We were okay, but my dad was in and out.
And that distance is probably
the reason for not being close-close.
Um, but his trials and tribulations
ultimately became lessons to me
and my reasons for not doing certain things
came from the bird's-eye view
as to what was right and what was wrong.
-I think this is why our conversations --
We -- We run very parallel paths.
-Okay. -And I don't --
I don't know the circumstances of what's your relationship
with your dad -- -My dad was a crackhead.
-Mine was not. But when you --
When you describe your relat--
-I thought you said they were similar.
I just threw myself out there.
I threw myself out there based off of you saying
we're on similar paths thinking you were going to say,
"Mine's, too."
And now one of us look like a dickhead,
and one of us don't. -No. No.
-No? Well, it's kind of --
kind of how I took it. -Okay.
-Maybe I'll go back and take that out in edit.
-First -- First of all, I'm sorry about that.
-Yeah? Well, are you? -Sorry. Sorry to --
-Are you? Because you set me up.
You fucking set me up good, John.
You sat there, with your beady eyes,
you looked me right in mine.
You said, "I think we run very similar paths."
And I said, "Alright, here it comes."
-Yeah. -"He's a fucking crackhead."
And you go, "Well, that's tough."
-I didn't -- I didn't say exact. I didn't say exact.
I said very similar. -You said --
Your exact words after I said it was, "That's tough."
-Mine -- My dad was not a crackhead.
-Okay. -But when you described
the relationship you had with your father,
I have a very similar relationship with my dad.
-Okay. Okay. -The in and out and, you know,
not -- not ideal in -- in my mind but a lot that --
a lot of that's my fault. -Okay.
-You know, a lot of that rests on me.
-Okay. -Um,
but what I will say is he was ecstatic.
Like, I don't know how much he cared
when I did graduate college. -Mm-hmm.
-I don't know how much he cared about accolades I had
before I was hired by the WWE. -Mm-hmm.
-My first contract for the WWE was $12,000 a year.
I quit my job the day I was signed.
-What year? -2000.
-Wow. Okay.
-So I think my rent was 1,000 bucks a month.
So, like, all my money is now rent.
-Yeah. -12,000 bucks a year,
quit my job, like... -By the way, you're in debt.
You have to pay taxes. -Yeah, exactly.
-Yeah. -Yeah, exactly.
Uh, but when I told my mom, she's just like,
"I hope you're okay."
Um, my brothers, it's a very --
I grew up in a small town in New England.
It's a very, uh...
It's a very -- like, you -- you have an edge.
You don't talk about anything except sports.
Like, if -- if you're really hurting inside,
it's, "Yeah, fucking Red Sox, huh?"
You know, and that look says everything.
-Mm-hmm. -And that's it.
And that's -- that's, like, that's the end of it.
-Mm-hmm. -But they also won't let you
grow too big for your britches.
And I love my brothers, and I love my family for --
for desperately latching onto my feet
and stapling them to the floor. -Okay.
-When -- When I wanted, you know,
if I wanted to think that I was looking at life
from a different perspective, they always kept me level
and looking at people eye-to-eye,
and I love them for that.
Uh, but they didn't give a shit.
-Okay. -My dad thought I was like --
It -- It -- I could have told him any other position,
he'd been like, "Yeah, whatever."
"Dad, I just got a job with the WWE."
"Oh, my son!"
Like, the one time he was like, "Yeah, this is unreal.
You're gonna do -- It's gonna be great.
I can't believe it." And he's --
Still, to this day, he's extremely proud of that.
-Well, you're talking about validation,
and I want to pause there.
This is an important place
that we should, uh, that we should spend some time.
But I can't spend time here if I don't pay bills there.
Do me a favor, guys. Stick around.
We've got more "Hart to Heart" when we come back.
-We're back. I'm still here with John Cena.
And we left -- we left talking about validation.
John, that's such a good -- It's such a good place.
It's a good place for us to get into more. Right?
-Yeah, sure. -Like, when you're talking
about validation -- I don't need anybody else's.
I got to a place where I found calm, comfort in myself.
I wanted it from my dad. I didn't get it.
But I got to a place where I said, "I can exist without it."
So early on, you cracked the code of,
"I'm not bothered with or without.
I'm more focused on the thing that I have to do
that I'm signing up to do."
You understand what I'm saying? -I -- I do. I do.
Um, do you remember the first thing I said to you when we met?
-Uh, "Kevin, you are a handsome man."
I said, "Thank you, John." -You did.
Do you remember the second thing?
Aside from what you thought I said to you?
-When you told me that, I said,
"I was waiting for you to say that." Right?
-I -- I saw you as you got off a plane.
You were on a business call of some sort.
You were getting wired to film a television show.
-Oh, I was doing -- I was doing a whole bunch.
Yeah. -You were --
You were doing 18 things at once.
-Things at one time. Okay, yeah.
-And this is my first real --
This is my first trip in your orbit.
-Mm-hmm. -You hang up. You get wired.
Like, you do, like, a once over the script in your mind
because it's in there somewhere.
And I, like, I can see it, too, kind of.
And I literally asked you, "Why do you do this?"
-Yeah. Yeah. -Why --
-The fir-- The first -- That was, like, your first thing
that you said. -Yeah. "Hi, I'm John."
-Yeah. -"Why are you doing this?"
-Yeah. Yeah. -Do you --
Do you remember your answer? Do you want to --
-No. But I remember, in my mind, I was like,
"What the fuck is your problem?" That's --
I remember that. Because I was like...
-Yeah. -"Hey, man..."
-"I asked you to be here, motherfucker."
-Yeah, I was like, "Hey, man, what's going on with you?!"
But you know, you're too big. I can't come at you crazy.
-Why -- -You'd bop me in the head.
-Why -- -I remember that.
I swear I remember that.
-Why do you go as hard as you do?
-As I told you then,
there's a significant amount of joy
that I find in not just the work
but in the idea of working towards.
I -- I find joy in having a reason
to put my feet on the ground in the morning
and having a reason to occupy my mind.
I think that's the best thing ever.
If I go and I say, "I've made enough.
I've done enough. It's time to relax,"
that's great for me,
but what have I really done to --
to put a real, like, stamp on my want
and change for the culture or for the narrative
of how we feel the culture is perceived
or the opportunities are given?
-I'll also take it one step further, Kevin.
There's not a lot of folks as, um...
You know, there are -- there are many paths to immediate --
some -- some immediate success out there, now.
I think more than ever before. -Mm-hmm.
-There may be some people who come into some --
some financial success,
some success where they can make decisions,
that maybe don't have your perspective.
-Mm-hmm. -And I'm saying that I --
I heard Jay-Z sit here, someone who I admire,
and have a through-line similar to your through-line,
someone who I admire, and maybe people at home,
who necessarily, they might have climbed that hill.
They might have experienced some success
and want to go out and do something nice for themselves
or continue to make decisions based on
just their small bubble. -Mm-hmm.
-Don't -- don't sell the nuggets you give away short.
That's what I was blown away about.
I -- I got to spend three days with you, just three.
-Amazing three days, by the way. -And, dude, you --
you set up a learning tree
and you were just, like, throwing --
just throwing spirals down it.
Like, just -- just, you were on fire.
It's the first time I'd heard anyone
talk about themselves as a vehicle.
Like, I -- You said nothing's off limits.
I saw you short-sell yourself to further your company.
-Mm-hmm. -Like, I saw that.
-Mm-hmm. -And I looked around,
and we were all like, "What the fuck?
Who does..."
No. No. It's like you had some --
It's like I was playing a grand master
and I just got checkmated in four moves.
And you were like, "No, this is how you do it
because this and this feeds this.
And I'm -- I need to be the catalyst to feed the thing
because if we feed the thing, man,
I've got, like, 400 people on staff, everybody's good,
and maybe they learn something.
And I want them to go out and do more."
It was a --
It was a level in perspective that I hadn't seen.
-Here. I want to tell you something,
and it's so simple, but it comes off so profound
because nobody else says it. Right?
The biggest businesses are the biggest businesses
not because they're the smartest
but just because they keep the information.
And there's an assumption
that you can't ask about the information.
Let's just say -- Let's just say in general,
in business in general. The confidence of going,
"Hey, man, how did you start this shit?"
Right? Of being someone that is on par
in the same space doing the same thing,
you'd be surprised at how many people go,
"Man, dude, let me tell you something."
So many people are so happy to tell you about what they built,
what they did.
So many people have been waiting to offload this information.
I love fucking cars. The craziest thing about cars...
-Dude, I was just gonna ask you about cars.
-...is so -- Here's the craziest thing about the cars, John.
We go to these little things,
and everybody drives their cars.
But what I look at are the old men that have these cars.
And they have a lawn chair,
and they sit in front of their cars.
And they have a book, and the book is --
every page shows something else that was done to the car.
They sit there in hopes that somebody says,
"What'd you do to this car?"
-"Yo, man, is this yours?"
-"What'd you say?
You said is this mine?
Well, let me tell you something about this car."
-"What year is this one?"
-"Oh, that's a funny thing. You think it's a '66."
They -- They -- By the way, you're --
you're there for 45 minutes, stuck,
because nobody's ever asked them.
Right? So when you ask me the questions,
I'm excited to give you the information,
not just because I want to talk about it
because there's another person that can become a weapon
in the business that people assume has to be one way.
The more ground breakers,
the more fucking shakers,
the more that the business keeps growing.
If it doesn't have those people, those minds,
well, then, we're in a plug and play
for the next 30 years again.
-Yeah, but I mean, that's -- By the way, uh, man, you're --
you're hitting on all cylinders.
But that's also very brave to say because I think --
I think there is a philosophy of human nature
out there that like, "Oh, man, I cracked the code.
I've got the secret. I'm going to --
I don't want to tell anyone what I'm doing."
You know, a lot of the times,
I'll use WWE as an example, we go out there
and it's physically brutal.
But when we choreograph the physical stuff,
you trust your partner,
you trust the person you're in there with.
A lot of times, you make double sure
that everything's gonna go right.
If you have to practice something
umpteen million times, you do.
But when it comes to talking shit,
I always try to say, like,
"Okay, we're gonna go out there and talk shit about each other.
Do you want to go in the room together
and figure out what we're gonna say?"
99 times out of 100, people will be like,
"Nope. I'll just see you out there."
And I like that because I like to be connected.
I like to be present,
but, man, they don't want to share the secret.
That -- I'll use that as a -- as an analogy of like if --
if you think you have the code cracked,
of, like, "No, I'm not --
No, because I'm not gonna tell you my jokes.
Like, I got some shit on you, man. I'm not gonna --
I'm not gonna give away my secret."
What astounded me about you is you operate
at such a high capacity,
and you were like, "Here's the playbook."
But honestly, in listening to you give me the playbook,
and watching you over the three days, I was, like --
I'm like, "Yo, man, I'm -- I am so --"
One, I'm proud of you, for whatever that means.
Two, I'm astounded, and three, I'm happy for your success.
I just don't know if I got that gear in the shifter, dude.
-That's what we talked about the most.
-You -- You just fucking go. Like...
-Well, stop there, because we're talking about a gear.
And before we shift to another gear,
I want to take another break, man.
Guys, as you can see, this car is moving.
Right now we're in third but I'm about to Goddamn get to fifth.
Don't move because I've got fucking shots to be made.
-But you said you were moving. You said we were moving.
Don't move, but we're moving. -I've got -- Goddamn.
A turbo swift... -I'll tell you what.
-Fuck me. -You've got that air cooler.
You've got that -- -Goddamn it, guys.
I told you write something and put it in the prompter, Harry.
-It's -- It's savory. Savory.
-I said put a car reference in the prompter!
-Savory. -Fuck me, man!
Guys, we'll be right back with more "Hart to Heart" after this.
This is great. -Thank you.
-Hello? -The sign says "No soliciting."
Go away. -Yeah -- Yeah, no,
we didn't see a sign. There's no sign.
-Who took my sign?! -We didn't take it.
-Go. -Alright!
-Hey! Hey! It's me. -It's Kevin Hart.
-Oh, how do you like your tea?
-Guys, we were talking about shifting gears.
Uh, jokingly I said that we were going to get to fifth,
but I was serious, man.
Um, in shifting gears,
there's a real question that I have for you.
Right? Like, you --
It's the second time that you've said to me,
you said, "Man, I don't know if I have that gear."
You said, "I don't know if I can do that
or if I want that much." Right?
You're very at peace with your now.
You're very at peace with understanding the opportunities,
and you're appreciative of them all.
Um, and it's like this -- this world of, you know,
what's going to happen is going to happen,
and I'm thankful for all of it.
Is there a "What now?" Is there --
Is there something else that John wants to do,
like, before it's all said and done,
I have to make sure that I do "X," "Y," and "Z?"
Is there anything like that for you?
-I think --
I think when you -- when you are young
and you are figuring life out, you get put in direction
and it might be a direction of fluency,
it might be something you have to work hard to achieve.
But when you experience something
that you may be good at
or, like, you feel you can excel at,
I remember thinking about purpose,
and for years -- for --
seeing a ring and knowing that I wanted to do it.
But then being a contributing member of the WWE family
and being like, "This is what I was born to do."
At a young age thinking,
"This is my purpose." -Mm-hmm.
-And then, of course, time's undefeated,
so the body gets a little bit beat up,
and I get an opportunity to become a storyteller onscreen.
And man, through reading the news,
through hosting some shows,
just take the things that I've learned and I enjoy
without the physical aspect
because it's getting tougher and tougher for me to --
to run that hard, and enjoy putting on a wig
and letting my balls hang out. -Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
-And have fun with that, and then --
and then do it in a -- in another avenue, um,
for "Fast and the Furious" or for "Peacemaker."
Uh, so I think,
"Well, my purpose on this earth is to tell stories.
That's what I was born to do. I was born to tell stories."
And then you get to look at more
because that's not all I'm --
That's not all that defines me. I want to --
I want to try to be a good husband to my loving wife.
I want to try to be a good friend to those I love.
I want to try to take care of myself and my health.
I want to try to take care of my mental health
and stay stable.
I'm not just a storyteller.
So I boiled down my purpose to just --
to just earning every sunrise.
-Damn. -Like --
And that's why I don't necessarily hunt down things.
Um, and if nothing...
And, you know... So that, th--
I'm sh-- shifting around here.
You've got to bear with me. -No, you're fine.
I'm honestly following you. -What, uh --
What is wealth? What is wealth to you?
-Happiness. -How so?
-Your personal definition of happiness
has to be a clear definition of what wealth is, right?
I mean, but you can only make that decision sometimes,
and I don't want to speak for everybody,
after having money and realizing that money does not
solve all problems.
There's a concept
and idea that's attached to money,
that it solves everything.
And by the way, it doesn't.
Is money important? Absolutely.
I'm not gonna sit up here and act as if it's not.
Absolutely it is.
But when you really start to get down to it,
your foundation, the people around you, um,
that world that you've chosen that not only represents you
but that makes your heart beat the best possible beat
that you can -- that you can deliver, right,
that's when your happiness really starts
to present itself.
Um, falling in love with your surroundings
and what you've chose to give yourself to,
that to me is real wealth.
My happiness, now,
is realizing how blessed I am to experience life
at the level that I have.
And I understand that it's not given.
Since we've talked here today,
we both are talking as experienced,
evolved men that have overcome obstacles
that better help us appreciate the world of our now.
So our rewards we hold on to
because we know where the fuck we've come from.
Everybody can't have that mind-set.
-Sure. -So everybody's not going to
have the same answer for wealth. -Sure.
Uh, that's the reason I asked. -Mm-hmm.
-Mine is -- Mine is of a different prospective.
-What is yours? -We think of the word --
-If you fucking say something that makes me sound stupid,
John, I swear to God. -No. No. Kevin.
-I swear to God. I swear to God. -I, um...
This -- This one took me a long time.
And my definition of wealth has changed.
And only recently,
and maybe this would attribute to how you saw my personality.
It was like, "Man, you just seem so...okay."
-Mm-hmm. -We often attribute
the word wealth to finance.
We attribute the word wealth to economy.
But you can have a wealth of love in your life.
-Mm-hmm. -It's a phrase to have
a wealth of knowledge.
You can have a wealth of wisdom.
You can have a wealth of strength.
You can have a wealth of money,
which is a wealth of resource.
Wealth is the comfort to skip to an advanced level.
If you have a wealth of knowledge,
you don't have to think about it.
Yeah, I know that from this.
If you have a wealth of wisdom,
"Let me tell you, young buck,
this is how it is because I've been there."
-Mm-hmm. -If you have a wealth
of strength, not as many warm-up sets
before there are four plates on the bar.
If you have a wealth of resource,
"I want to get from here to there right now."
Because that's what I need to do.
If you have a wealth of love,
well, you're not searching for anything else
because you feel genuinely happy.
If you have self worth or wealth of self,
you feel that you are enough
and you don't have to go searching for any angles.
I have adopted that philosophy of
earning every sunrise to try to take each day
and make sure that I spread the wealth.
That it is not just of economic gain because if --
I spent so long just running
and I'm grateful for it,
just like I spent so long trying to get validation from my dad.
I'm grate-- My dad was my biggest driving force
for so long,
but then it was counterproductive.
I'm never going to get it,
and if I do, then it's never gonna be the reward that I want.
He'll say, "This is the best I can give."
And "That's not enough!"
You can do the same with money.
Make hay while the sun shines in our business
because if you get hurt, you don't get paid.
I have -- I have a wealth of wisdom in the WWE,
and I have a wealth of resources because of my investment,
but, man, was I short on love,
man, was I short on self-worth.
You know, my -- my physical health,
my strength was showcased on TV,
but, damn, I wasn't really taking care of myself.
So I learned kind of at a tipping point to, like,
spread the wealth.
And if -- if one bucket gets too low, where --
where am I in excess?
Where am I going too hard?
Am I chasing too much money?
And I -- That seems, like, so anti- what everybody's heard,
but, like, man, what are --
like, what are you chasing?
-Mm-hmm. -You know, like, if you --
if you define your needs in life,
like, when you say like, "Yo, I want to shift culture,"
that takes tremendous resource.
So, boy, do I understand when you're like,
"Yo, I need to do this,
I need to do this, I need to this."
Because your purpose you feel is changing culture.
That doesn't happen overnight, and it -- it ain't cheap.
So I get that. I just --
I lacked a lot of stuff when I looked in the glass
of like, "Man, you should have the world by the nuts."
But there were points where I was so off.
It's like, man, I'm, like, wondering
what the hell's the point of it all?
And I -- My definition,
just changing my definition of wealth,
to just be like, "Hey, have --
Fill the buckets of whatever you want
to have proficiency in."
You know, um, I just look at --
I look at purpose a little -- a little different,
and I look at wealth a little different.
When I got a chance to just work with you, like, I'm --
I'm still in awe of all this.
I'm still in awe of every set I go to.
I'm still in awe of the functionality of every crew.
I should not be here. -Mm-hmm.
-That doesn't mean I don't work hard.
-Mm-hmm. -That means I'm appreciative.
-Mm-hmm. -And I just think
if you start laser --
To me, if I start, not if you start,
if I start laser focusing,
chasing one piece of wealth,
that's when I start --
maybe my perspective starts to get a little skewed.
So I just -- I just try to spread the wealth.
And, you know, these are the conversations I have
with the people I love.
These are the conversations I have
with the closest people in my life.
And that's why I can use the word love with them
because we've had these for years.
And then, we become close. That's how --
That's how friendship starts.
It's, uh, that's just it.
-I'm-a tell you what you did.
Today you changed the perception of how some people may view you.
Um, man, your knowledge, your approach,
your take not just on life but on your journey, man,
it's, uh, it's refreshing.
You know what this was, John? -"Hart to Heart."
-This was a "Hart to Heart."
Cheers, man. -Cheers.
-Ladies and gentlemen, that's John Cena.
I'll see you next time. Goddamn.
Make some noise for John Cena everybody.
Goddamn, come on, guys.
This fella deserves it. Holy cow.
-Alright. Savory.
Savory, you know?
-I told you it would be one of the best ones.
I knew it. I knew it, guys.
By the way I was able to navigate that conversation
in every direction.
-He did. -Have you guys noticed?
Nobody?