John Cena has plenty of experience with both wrestling in the ring and filming action sequences, and he recently compared the two. Cena appeared on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn and spoke about the difference between the two forms of action entertainment.
“They’re just two different disciplines,” Cena said (per Wrestling Inc). “The strategies you learn in live performance are different than the strategies you would incorporate with camera cutaways. Uh, in the movies, everything should be a miss. Because you can stack it and [it’s] safety first. Like the goal really, truly is not to hit the other person you’re fighting. If a director should choose or if a coordinator should choose to shoot the impacts, then you’re kind of towing that line.”
He continued, “But in live performance … you can’t stack punches. You have to bring them all. So there’s a lot more physical contact. But I like the magic. I don’t like getting hit in the face. So I like the magic aspect of cinema, and it really makes for some wonderful choreography, especially when you can film it in beats and then weave it all together and see it as a masterpiece where, you know, in live performance, you have what you have.”
Cena is going on his retirement tour with WWE starting in 2025 and remains busy in Hollywood as well with his latest film, the action comedy Jackpot, releasing through Prime Video earlier this month.
