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John Cena’s WrestleMania Performance Heavily Criticized by WWE Hall of Famer: “I Don’t Think His Heart Is in Wrestling”

Published 04/11/2023, 4:30 PM EDT

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The young promising face of the roster Austin Theory defeated legendary John Cena to retain his United States Championship title at the grandest stage of WrestleMania 39. Needless to say that it brought major heartbreak to all the fans who were eagerly waiting to see Cena win at the biggest annual wrestling event.

Cena was pretty average in his performance except for delivering some initial blows to Theory, who later bounced back and dominated the rest of the match. Finally, it resulted in a devastating defeat of the 16-time WWE World Champion with A-Town-Down finisher by Theory.

Teddy Long harshly criticizes Cena for his WrestleMania performance

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It was not definitely Cena’s usual in-ring image that says never give up. The Cenation leader has evidently gone below his elite standard. While some veterans will like to call it a WrestleMania misfire, former Hall of Famer Teddy Long believes it was Cena’s Hollywood inclination that caused the degradation of his wrestling skill.

In a recent interview with a wrestling time machine, a 75-year-old wrestling veteran referred to Cena’s Hollywood commitment to point out where he lacks as a wrestler. He stated, ‘I feel that Cena is basically going to spend the rest of his career in Hollywood doing movies and stuff. I don’t know. I don’t want to say this, but I don’t think his heart is in wrestling like it used to be.’

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“Don’t forget where you come from. Back in the day, a guy that was in the territory, if he was going to leave for a good bit, then he would always leave the guy that’s left in the territory strong. I think he could have had a way better match with the kid than he did because I’ve seen him work in the ring before.” he further added.

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But that might not be the case as fans got to see Cena on WWE TV more frequently before WrestleMania amid his tight movie schedule.

John Cena compromised with his Hollywood endeavors for his WrestleMania match

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Cena wrestled his first-ever match of this year in the grandest stage of wrestling. The Hollywood hunk has recently lessened his matches due to his rousing acting career. In fact, since last year September 2021, this is the second time fans got to see him in the squared circle. With that being said, Cena was pretty serious about his bout against Theory. The top-rated actor even cut down his tight Hollywood involvement to some extent to make frequent WWE TV appearances before his high-profile mania match. But unfortunately, he fell short of winning in the end and couldn’t escape getting his acting career blamed for that.

via Imago

However, the good news is that John Cena is not done yet and will possibly be back to action in the upcoming King and Queen of the Ring Premium Live Event in Saudi Arabia next month.

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Written by:

Shreya Nag

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Shreya Nag is a WWE writer at EssentiallySports, whose love for the sport began when she saw Cody Rhodes win the Royal Rumble in 2023. Since then, she has been an ardent fan of Rhodes and the world of pro wrestling. Shreya's writing combines her passion for the sport with her writing abilities, which she uses to provide readers with a nuanced analysis of WWE superstars.
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Edited by:

Debmallya Chakraborty