John Cena appeared on the YES Network to promote his FOX reality series “American Grit.” The YES Network has sent along the following highlights from the interview:
On his signature “You can’t see me” hand gesture: The whole thing came about as a dare and a joke. We were playing (music) tracks that were supposed to be on the rap album that I cut a while back, and I would always use my younger brother as, like, the litmus test. And I would play a track for him and if he kinda grooved to it, like, “Okay, we got something here,” and there was a dance with the video “In the Club.” That’s 50 Cent and the G-Unit crew, and Tony Yayo, one of 50’s (Cent’s) guys is doing this [gestures], and that was his dance and, like, we played something that my brother really liked and he was doing this, and I’m like, “Man, that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. I’m gonna do that on TV,” and he said, “No you won’t,” and I said, “Okay. Watch this.” And back then, nobody was watching me or cared about me. And I kinda had liberty to do what I want. So, I did it, but I wanted to do it different, and when I got my opponent down, I could do this, like, “You can’t see me,” and I’m like, wow, that is such an easy way to be like, “I’m over here and you’re not even close.”
On his reality series: Here’s the thing about American Grit that’s unique…all the competitors, they come from different walks of life, and I wanted to be involved with a show that was aspirational and attainable, same thing as the WWE. You say you wanna be a WWE Superstar, there’s a chance (you) can be, and always hold onto that dream if you have it. When you watch American Grit on FOX, you’ll be able to watch these people go through these evolutions and it’s not something you feel as if you’ll be alienated from. I think everyone in this room will get the sense of, “I could probably do that,” and that’s what I want America to feel, because I want you to have that experience. I want you to be able to come back for American Grit 2 and compete and be able to get the knowledge of these military leaders and really live this experience. It is a special show. It’ll be entertaining, but it’s just a really, really cool message, and some really awesome people are a part of it, so I hope they watch it.
On his first character, “The Prototype”: I was half-man, half-machine, a hundred percent mayhem. And they called me The Prototype, and that was the same friend that was like, “Hey, man, why don’t you come on down and train.” (He) just couldn’t believe the things that I was doing in the gym for my age and the dedication. And it just stuck.
On his rap career: I was more, much more in tune to hip-hop style than I am now, so I would just wear all the latest fashions, and then I was like, man, you know, the music they have for me is just so rotten. I could create my own and it wouldn’t be this bad. So, I was like, “All right, book some studio time” and then I presented my boss with an album. I said, “Is there anything you can do with this?” He said, “Yeah. We’ll just put it out.”
