John Cena has elaborated on his opinions on memorabilia hounds and how he deals with the fans who are known for taking things too far.
While the majority of the wrestling fanbase is respectful of performers and will only ask for pictures and/or photos at paid meet and greets or a chance meeting in public, others have massively overstepped the boundary. From lurking at airports to waiting outside hotels and even turning up uninvited at private addresses, some will do anything necessary to get that signature, often to make a profit off of.
With Cena being one of the biggest WWE stars of the 21st century and also recognisable from his work in Hollywood, it’s no surprise that the 17-time World Champion has often become the target of autograph hunters.
While appearing on The Breakfast Club, Cena first spoke about his earlier experiences of dealing with fans when he started to gain traction in WWE:
“I’ve had the luxury of a lot of experience with that. If you asked me that ten years ago, my answer would be different. Starting out trying to gain a following, you want to give as much as you can. You get that following and you realize, well, in order to give, I’ve lost the ability to essentially have all the luxuries of anonymity. That’s a little frustrating. I went through a period of thinking that work is different than my human life and I’m a human here and I’m working here and you need to leave me alone. That is a perspective that wasn’t successful.”
Continuing, Cena spoke about being targeted by the memorabilia hounds, noting that the signed items can fuel a business and possibly create new opportunities from the sale:
“The business has been great to me. I’m a small town kid from West Newbury who didn’t grow up with much and now life has given me so many opportunities. The tradeoff of that is your work is absorbed by a lot of folks and it affects their life. I am not perfect because there are some days I wake up grumpy and there are some days I am short on patience. But if there’s one thing I’m really trying to hit the throttle on, it it just have a second of empathy for everyone. There’s a difference between like fans and memorabilia hounds because memorabilia, it’s a business. Even those people, who dont necessarily care about or for you, your thing is going to help them financially. I used to look at it like, ‘Man, I’m just going to sign this and you’re going to sell it.’ But, yo, my work can be a vehicle to help someone. Maybe that’s my give back. Maybe one signature at time, I can help give someone resources to have a better life. I try to keep that mindset. I will say, it is f*cking tough. Sometimes, I’m with my wife, I worry about her safety because people don’t pay attention, they just want what’s out for them. They don’t have a lot of empathy of the scope of field. Sometimes, all the flash photography, people don’t worry about the safety of the situation and who’s going to get hurt, they just want their picture so they can go sell it. I’m aware of that and I try to be understanding. Dude, I’m like really trying to lean into one conversation at a time.”
John Cena Describes Dangerous Experience With Memorabilia Hounds
Later in the interview, Cena spoke about one scary instance where it was clear that his car was being followed by fans. After first issuing a warning that the followers were verging on stalking, meaning that the authorities would have to get involved, Cena signed the items and the autograph hunters left him alone. The WWE Champion also added that his wife was also in the car with him at that time:
“I got followed by three or four people a few nights ago. I’m in the car and I’m like, I told the driver, ‘Change lanes.’ Three cars change lanes. Change lanes again, alright, pull over. The guys pull over, they come out, I’m like, ‘Dudes, get out of the car.’ The third car, the guy is standing there. I told my wife to stay in the car and I’m like, ‘Guys, come here, get out of the car.’ I said, ‘What you’re doing is wrong, you know that.’ The driver of the car is like, ‘Yeah, I know.’ I said, ‘Okay, listen. You want autographs, I get it. You didn’t get a chance to get it. Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to sign your stuff, but please, you know what you’re doing is wrong. Just get in your car and turn around because we’re about to be a position where I’m going to have to take a step that’s going to put everybody under a microscope. If you stalk me, I got to involve the authorities. I don’t know how that’s going to go after that. Here’s what you want.’ Normally, I would just be pissed off. Just took a deep breath, here’s what you want, is it okay if we come to agreement, you guys just bang a u-turn, everybody’s happy. I got to tell you, I don’t think that approach is going to work 100% of the time, but they banged a u-turn and left me on my way.”
In a previous interview, John Cena named his favourite WrestleMania entrances.
Cena appeared for the interview alongside Idris Elba to promote the new movie Heads of State, which is scheduled to be released on July 2.
H/t to Fightful.
Featured image: WWE
