The episode features John Cena, 16-time WWE Champion, actor, and former aspiring Marine, alongside Tony Hinchcliffe, who serves as wrestling translator and superfan. Cena discusses his 23-year wrestling career, upcoming retirement, transition to acting, and personal philosophy on gratitude and opportunity.

Cena reveals his decade-long journey learning Mandarin Chinese to help WWE expand into China, including living in Inner Mongolia for six months while filming with Jackie Chan. The conversation explores how this led to an international incident when he accidentally referred to Taiwan as a country during a press tour.

The discussion covers Cena's early days sleeping in his 1991 Continental in Gold's Gym parking lot in Venice Beach, his transition from failed movie career to successful acting through Trainwreck, and his approach to pain management through 10+ surgeries without opioids.

Cena shares insights on WWE's evolution from 220+ shows per year to content-focused programming, the challenges young wrestlers face learning to fail on camera, and his philosophy of capitalizing on opportunities while maintaining gratitude for an improbable career trajectory.

Learning Mandarin and the Taiwan Controversy

Cena studied Mandarin for approximately 10 years through WWE's free language program, motivated by wanting to help the company break into the Chinese market where wrestling wasn't understood

"I lived in China for a little bit. I filmed a movie with Jackie Chan. So I was there for like six or seven months. I lived there. And, man, we were in Inner Mongolia." - John

During a 2011-2012 global press tour, Cena committed to doing 70% of his media appearances in Mandarin, successfully removing translator headphones from audiences

At the end of a 10-hour press day, Cena read a teleprompter in Mandarin that described Taiwan as "the first country" to see a movie, causing immediate backlash in China

The prompter was written by the movie studio's local PR team, not WWE

Cena immediately apologized to China, which then angered his home country

"I had to apologize to China. And in apologizing to China, I pissed off my home country." - John

"I went directly to James Gunn and was like, hey, man, if you have to fire me, I understand." - John was filming Peacemaker Season 1 when the controversy erupted, believing he might lose his job

Cena's key lesson: "Just because you know the language doesn't mean you know the culture." He now avoids speaking Mandarin publicly due to lack of cultural depth despite language fluency

Pain Management and Surgery Without Opioids

"I've had fusion in my neck, right pec completely detached, reattached, both triceps reattached, both triceps scoped, nose relocated... Never taken one pain pill." - John has undergone approximately 10 physical surgeries

Cena keeps all prescribed pain medications in the bottom drawer of his house, with some bottles labeled from 2008, never having opened them

"I know my pain threshold... when I woke up, I was able to like mess around with the stress ball. And I never took one pill." - John's worst surgery was pectoral reattachment

Medical staff at multiple facilities consistently expressed disbelief that Cena refused pain medication after major surgeries

Rogan shared his experience taking one Vicodin after 1993-94 knee surgery: "I felt so stupid. I was lying on my couch, watching TV, and I felt so dumb... I can't be this dumb. I'm dumb enough as it is."

Cena's mother has similar pain tolerance - stem cell doctor noted she "doesn't even flinch" during knee injections, unlike typical 75-year-old patients

WWE Schedule Evolution and Learning to Fail

"We used to do 220, 230" matches per year - WWE's traditional schedule involved approximately 220-230 shows annually, now scaled back to around 70 shows for workhorses

Old model: four live shows plus one TV taping per week, allowing wrestlers to test material in non-televised environments like Lafayette, Little Rock, Pensacola, and then TV in Orlando

"I learned how to fail in those non-televised events. I could take big swings because it's like, man, if I'm on the middle of a card in Valparaiso and I kind of fuck up in a gymnasium with 3,500 people." - John

Current WWE model prioritizes media content with 99% of performances televised across three weekly shows, creating approximately 50 segments of TV per week

"You're failing in front of the world... It's like you would work out your set at home, and then you just play the Intuit Dome, or you play Barclays Dome." - Young wrestlers now lack small-room testing grounds

WWE's NXT development program currently has approximately 200 personnel, with Cena estimating "maybe 10 will make it" and realistically "maybe one will make it" to top-tier status

The Hip-Hop Persona Origin Story

Cena was on the verge of being fired from WWE in early 2000s, receiving direct notification: "hey, we're going to cut you because it's not working"

Stephanie McMahon heard Cena freestyling on the back of a tour bus during his final overseas tour and asked if he would do it on TV

"I heard these guys rapping... And I literally like played Roller Coaster Tycoon on my laptop... And just waited my turn and then filleted like 12 guys." - John

Stephanie tested him: "make up something about me" using the plane boarding scene, what she was wearing and eating

"I got a shitty chance on a small spot, and that worked. So then I got moved to like the dog shit Saturday night program that nobody watches." - Cena started on low-viewership shows

The white hip-hop persona worked in both Madison Square Garden and Wheeling, West Virginia because "it's a universal language" - audiences either loved or hated it, but never felt apathy

Cena's approach ruffled feathers backstage: "I never followed dress code. I was saying disrespectful shit about my peers... I was taking big swings because... The alternative was lose my job."

"The they's behind the curtain weren't really invested, but they were also humble enough to be like, there's noise out there. Got to give them another match." - Meritocracy based on audience reaction

Transition from Wrestling to Acting

Vince McMahon opened WWE Studios with the goal of making wrestlers into movie stars, initially planning Steve Austin for The Marine before it fell through two weeks before shooting

Cena struggled with movie production pace: "arrive in a town at noon" for wrestling versus "you're in hair and makeup at six o'clock... we probably will get to you around 5.30 p.m." for films

"I couldn't handle the nature of the business... my passion wasn't in it. I wasn't fully invested... I was always back in, fuck, maybe if I had the feud with this guy." - John

By 2009-2010, Cena's agent Dan Boehm honestly told him: "nope, we will find another way, though" after doing so many failed movies they got "run out of town"

Judd Apatow and Amy Schumer gave Cena a chance in Trainwreck (2014-2015) with a small part, creating "an environment where I wasn't judged. They only showed the good jokes."

"At that point, I've been playing the same character on TV for 15 fucking years. And now I'm like, yo, I get to do something different." - Cena finally accepted the patient process of filmmaking

WWE's schedule reduction enabled acting career: "I was their biggest act. So at 220 shows a year, for me to be like, hey, I need six months off to film this action movie, that really fucks with the bottom line."

The Iconic Heel Turn and WrestleMania Entrance

Cena's 2024 heel turn at WrestleMania in Las Vegas marked his first main event at WrestleMania since 2012, a 12-year gap during which he "worked new wrestlers... worked for lower level titles... sat ringside and crushed three beers"

The entrance featured no music, black LED background, and white text reading simply "Cena" - complete reversal of his typical colorful, high-energy Tasmanian devil entrance

"I have a degree in pro wrestling, but my master's is in healdum... I just love a bad guy." - John on his preference for villain roles

Cena's creative process involves consulting multiple departments: "I don't want to tell them what to do because I want to hear their ideas first... What do we do for lighting? What do we do for production?"

Production team suggested going basic with the entrance, proposing to "just black everything out" - Cena approved immediately, trusting their expertise

Tony Hinchcliffe witnessed from front row: "Everyone else for four hours coming out with colorful music and pyro... And there's the guy that normally did it the best and the biggest, just really... cold as ice."

The "You Can't See Me" Gesture Origin

While making his rap album, Cena would bring tracks home to test on his little brother, who would perform a dance "where he would like shake his head and keep his hand in front of him"

"He's like, you won't do that on TV. And again, I was on the programs that no one was watching. So it's like no one's watching anyway. Yeah, fuck you. I will do it on TV." - John

Cena first performed the gesture on "some meaningless Saturday show" (low-viewership Velocity program) and "there was a little bit of noise"

He tested it on non-televised live events the following week, received positive response, and it became his signature move

"I was in a place to be able to tell my brother, okay, I can waste two seconds on an inside joke between you and I... if you're the only one person watching Velocity that night, you'll be like, inside joke, got it." - John

Philosophy on Gratitude and Opportunity

"I'm not supposed to be here... There's not a day that doesn't go by where I look at someone I love and connect with and be like, man, what a life. I understand how lucky I am." - John

Cena's core approach: "The goal is to live useful... to live useful and not lack a depth of purpose in my life."

"I have been awarded more opportunity than one human being should get... the best way to honor that opportunity is to do your best."

On retirement timeline: "Three weeks after I retire, nobody's going to give a fuck... That is real facts. I will be forgotten... People move on." - Final match scheduled for December 13th

Cena's decision-making philosophy: "Life will deal opportunity. It's a matter of understanding that it's happening... don't get in your own way."

"I never wanted to be a fucking champion. I just wanted to wrestle... if you start with the goal of, I want to hold one of those, man, am I pigeonholing my goal?" - John's approach avoided outcome-focused thinking

On gratitude terminology: "The word makes you feel weird, come up with your own word... Thanks. Yes. Whatever. Having thanks." - Acknowledges the word has been co-opted but maintains its importance

Early Career Struggles and Father Relationship

Cena slept in his 1991 Continental in Gold's Gym Venice parking lot by choice: "I didn't want to leave. My old man had a room for me... I stayed in the car because I wanted to."

"I got to see like the body... I got to train at the gym and shower at the gym, and the rock came through." - Photo from 1999 shows Cena in Gold's Gym Club store shirt with The Rock

Dave Nock, dean of students at Cushing Academy, gave Cena a scholarship in 1994: "if you get your grades from C's to A's and you play two varsity sports... This place costs 35 grand a year. We will give you aid."

Cushing Academy provided crucial diversity experience: "there's like royalty that goes to that school. And then there's fucking poor kids. My roommate was a basketball player from Compton... when it's just like 450 kids in a social experiment, money goes."

Cena recently reconciled with his father after years of wanting him to change: "The hard thing is meeting that guy where he's at. The hard thing is allowing him to be who he is."

"I've learned about my father's story. I've learned about what he wants to do with his life, why he does what he does, maybe what he wanted to do, dreams he didn't have." - John on gaining wisdom from reconciliation

iShowSpeed and Modern Content Creation

iShowSpeed, 20-year-old streamer with 46.2 million YouTube subscribers and 40+ million video views, appeared at WWE Royal Rumble and "took a hell of a bump" - got speared by Braun Strowman

Speed raced Ashton Forbes (bodybuilder/content creator) multiple times, winning repeatedly while talking trash: "The first one, I slip. Second one, you barely beat me. Let's run it again. Do I gotta beat you three times?"

Speed also sprinted against an Olympic gold medalist, staying competitive despite no formal training

His content strategy: spent entire summer "going to a city every day... Everything was live streamed for like 24 hours straight... What's the coolest thing to do in the city? And do it."

Cena on Speed's WWE potential: "This kid should be a wrestler... he is athletic and he can talk shit and back it up... he would be a 20-time champion."

Rogan and Hinchcliffe's perspective: Speed should continue current path rather than pivot to wrestling or Olympic sprinting - "He's got the world by the nuts... He should do what he's doing."

Kill Tony's Wrestling-Inspired Production

Tony Hinchcliffe was offered a WWE writing job early in his comedy career (before his first Netflix special) but would have had to move to Connecticut and take trains to New York

Patrice O'Neal wrote for WWE for approximately two years, handling full writing responsibilities across multiple weekly shows

Hinchcliffe applies wrestling production principles to Kill Tony: "Everything's so pre-planned that if we over-pre-planned it, we wouldn't... We wouldn't have had the topical RFK endorsement because it was like news that day."

At Madison Square Garden show, Hinchcliffe coordinated Shane Gillis as Trump and Joey Diaz appearance "literally, I think, 15 minutes before go time" with hand-written notes

Stephanie McMahon offered to let Rogan super kick her on camera: "oh, that'd be funny if next time I'm with Triple H, you just super kick me out of nowhere. I'll sell it. I'll fall down."

Rogan on Kill Tony's wrestling parallels: "if it was just run like a traditional stand-up show, there's so much else going on that makes it the biggest show... without your love of pro wrestling, it would be such a different show."

Retirement Plans and Future Aspirations

Cena's final WWE match scheduled for December 13th, with Royal Rumble appearance shortly after: "Three weeks after I retire, nobody's going to give a fuck... They will be moved on by the Royal Rumble."

Future interests beyond acting: "Love messing around with music. I never read as a kid, so I'm reading more than I ever have. Love cars... just being in a car and driving, not track stuff, just like going on long drives."

"I've been around the world like 12 times. I haven't seen shit. I've seen the inside of arenas, a hotel bar, and a fucking airport... I want to know what Tokyo is all about. I've been there like 20 times." - John

On acting career continuation: "I can't control if the phone rings and they say, We want the kid in the picture... What I can do is when someone bets on me, do my fucking damnedest for every dollar."

Cena's ultimate goal: "I never want to wake up and be like, man, life's taking forever... I think there's always something to do with the day."

"When I go into the dirt, I feel as if I didn't waste it... I want to know that I honored the luck I was given by not fucking squandering it, by not wasting it." - John's life philosophy