John Cena Calls Former Feud With Dwayne Johnson ‘Shortsighted and Selfish’

John Cena opened up about his former feud with Dwayne Johnson, admitting he "really messed up."

Before the two became major Hollywood stars, they regularly faced off against each other in matches for WWE. But between 2011 and 2013, Cena and the Black Adam star's relationship was on the rocks after the actor, 51, returned to WWE following a decade of working in Hollywood.

On the May 18 episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Cena, 46, revisited the old beef, suggesting that if he could do it differently, he would.

"I would like to think, in my perspective, that we always have been good, except for one little patch where I really messed up," Cena began.

"I got selfish, and me living WWE at the point and not having any concept of growth or someone else's perspective, I took Dwayne's comments as not genuine," he admitted. "My view was if you love something, be there every day. What a hypocrite I am because I still love WWE and I can't go all the time."

"I just didn't see that, I was so selfish," he added.

Cena said his feud with his fellow WWE veteran drove the popularity of two WrestleMania matches in 2012 and 2013. Johnson won the first, while Cena brought home the belt in the rematch. Despite bringing in views and making great television, Cena said he regrets how it all went down.

“I wanted a main event marquee match because it would better what I thought was the business. And that’s so short-sighted and selfish,” he confessed. “It worked, but it worked at the cost of two people who communicated and almost put it in jeopardy. And there was a moment where there was a lot of bad vibes between us, and rightfully so.”

Cena continued, explaining that the feud, while good for TV, almost cost the duo their friendship.

"I knew that my perspective was wrong. And yes, it worked, and yes, we sold tickets, and yes, people loved it, and they chose sides. It was a real polarizing event," he said, adding, "We could have done that with everybody working together and playing it nice, and that was my fault."

Thankfully, he said, the two worked to grow past the issues and are now "in a really good place."

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