Our first guest is a world famous actor and television
host, a WWE superstar, and a New York Times best-selling author,
please welcome the very busy John Cena.
Hi, John.
Ellen, how are you?
Thank you very much for having me back.
Twitch, good to see you again.
Great dance number.
And Ellen, very Hanna Barbera, Fred Flintstone type bowling
maneuver.
I like your form.
Thank you.
I don't really bowl.
I don't know if you could tell that or not, but I--
Well, I couldn't tell.
Couldn't tell at all.
Well, I've seen people bowl.
And I think that's what they do.
It's a great interpretation of that.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Where are you?
Are you in some kind of void?
Are you OK?
So this is-- so this is where they keep me.
I've been here since March, since about a year ago.
And amazingly enough, the suit's kept up.
Wow Well, you look good.
And you are, as I introduced you, a very, very busy man.
And the last time you were here, you
said it's really hard for you to take any time off.
So what was it like being forced to stay put over the last year?
Well, that's an interesting question.
I think a lot of us went through the same journey.
And it wasn't without its setbacks.
I love to work.
I love to try to contribute to be a part of something.
I love try to work towards a goal and a lot of that
is career based.
But as soon as this all happened,
I just took it for what it was.
And I knew that there would be no near end in sight.
So for the first time in 30 years,
I was able to just kick back.
It felt like I was a 10-year-old kid again.
I just enjoyed what I was doing when I was doing it.
There's a lot out there to life.
And being dedicated to craft is excellent,
and I don't knock anyone who is, but there's
a lot more dimension to life.
And if anything, in this pandemic,
I've been encouraged to explore that.
Yeah.
You learned how to play piano.
I know you were learning Mandarin before.
And--
Yeah.
So how are you doing with Mandarin?
Oh, I suck at both.
But I'm learning.
I'm better than I was yesterday.
So I'm still learning basic blues in the piano.
I know a few pieces and learn that through the pandemic,
and certainly had time to study language.
I really am fascinated with China
and Chinese culture, which is what drew me to Mandarin,
and being able to spend a little time towards that,
connect with those.
Amazingly enough, we've been so separate,
but because of forms like this, it's both a gift and a curse.
I can't be there sitting next to you,
which would be really awesome.
But I can still connect with those that I love.
And hopefully, each sunset brings us a little more closer
to normal, as it seems like Americans
are starting to actually move in the right direction.
Yeah.
Well, I hope so.
Because I look forward to having human beings in this building
again.
That would be-- we have five, six people here right now.
I saw a picture of you on a horse.
Is that something you do a lot?
No.
That's a rare occurrence.
I think horses are beautiful.
But they scare the horse--
you know what, out of me.
And I had to learn to ride a little bit for an upcoming
comedy I have coming out this winter, I believe.
And that was my 1 and 1/2 riding sessions.
So I wanted to make sure to capture it,
to remember that I was actually on a horse.
Did you have to--
was the horse galloping or cantering?
A light trot.
A light [INAUDIBLE].
I'm not going to be an equestrian or anything
like that in the near future.
I'm much more in tune with horsepower than actual horses.
When you get it down to one horsepower, I'm no good.
I understand.
I feel the same way.
But people who love horses, love horses.
It's a passion.
Portia is obsessed with them.
And WrestleMania is this weekend.
It's going to be the first time that you've missed a WWE.
How does that feel to you?
So yeah.
This is the first time in a long time
I won't be able to be at WrestleMania,
and it is bittersweet.
But at the same time, I don't consider
the entire picture of the industry revolves around me.
It is not planet Cena.
It is the WWE, and I know WrestleMania
will be a spectacular event.
And as my time comes to a close, as I'm turning 44 pretty soon,
I will still be active but certainly,
not as active as I have been in the past.
I wish I could be there.
But those spots are earned.
And I think everyone performing has earned a spot.
Yeah.
Well, you've got-- like we said, you have so much going on.
You have not one, but you have two books coming out.
And these are positive little paragraphs or quotes.
They're just inspirational things
that you actually were posting on Twitter.
And look, I can do that too.
Look.
We'll both do it.
I'm doing this because these are the only two things
they give me in the cave.
It's so great.
I was looking through, and you have one for younger children.
And it's inspirational.
I mean, it's really good.
And all these things are things that you just came up with,
which are, don't be afraid to establish boundaries,
doing so allows you to give and to remain you.
And if you find yourself continually
disappointed in the behavior of those close to you,
it may be time to stand in a place
where they can't get close.
I mean, you're just--
they're all good.
You just open any page.
Well, thank you very much.
It started as-- you know, we all go through ups and downs
in life.
And I think although I'm stuck in a dark void,
I am human after all.
And I was going through a pretty down period in my life.
It was about four years ago.
And I decided just to have a vulnerable moment
and put one of those thought-provoking journal
entries out on Twitter.
And four years ago when I started this, a lot of them
were about self-love because I was
going through that down period and realizing that I
didn't consider myself enough.
And amazingly enough, talk about wonderful timing and just
being ready for an opportunity, a very popular group BTS
had just released an album called Love Yourself.
So I put out all these messages about self-love.
And I'm thinking, this is not going
to be a good idea because this big, larger than life,
sixteen-time champion is now talking about vulnerability
and the fact that you are enough,
and you shouldn't be ashamed of who you are.
But it caught fire because of the BTS.
Army.
I was, I was essentially sending a similar message of the band.
And this book-- these books exist
because the army was brave enough--
the BTS army was brave enough to support my vulnerable moment.
And now it's become a part of my daily routine.
It's basically my journal.
I contemplate how I'm feeling.
I basically try to put forth a thought.
I never try to squeeze it to a certain individual.
I always try to be as inclusive as I can.
Because I think all of those statements, some of them
are aspirational, but they all engage conversation.
You're going to feel a certain way about each one.
And I think that's why the book is great for young readers.
Because if you don't know how, at home,
maybe to approach certain subjects,
this is someone, hopefully, that your kids
will gravitate towards.
And maybe you can start that conversation
And for adult readers, man, especially
with the last year, it just--
it gives you a chance to reflect.
But these are things that I've said over the past four years.
And I go through the pages, and I'm moved to emotion.
And these words have changed my life.
So I've already reached one.
I've helped myself.
And they helped me so much live my best life in these last four
years that Random House wanted to put together
a collection of them to try to do the same.
So I really got to think K-pop.
I got to thank BTS for supporting me
in a moment of weakness and turning it
into a passion of mine.
Yeah.
And thank you to Random House.
And it's really a pleasure to be able have these two books come
out.
It's fantastic.
So that was John Cena.
That's a clip from your new show.
Wipeout.
So the silver bullet that is on the show, so people--
it launches people into the air.
And--
Yes.
This is my this is my favorite obstacle
because it's one that anyone can do.
So basically, normally, obstacles on Wipeout
are jumping and trying to avoid swinging things that
are going to knock you into getting messy.
The silver bullet is simply a rocket ship
that launches you 40 feet into the air into water.
And it goes at such a speed that when you're launched out,
you look down and you realize that you've
made such a terrible mistake.
And we filmed it night in January.
So not only that, when you hit that water
and because you're on your stomach,
most people couldn't get out of the bellyflop position,
the water is almost freezing cold.
So you go for this crazy adrenaline ride,
and I would be totally spooked because I
have a fear of heights.
Knowing that I'm falling 40 feet down into an ice bath,
it really shocks the system.
And it does-- I mean, you just hang on.
It's the least amount of skill, but I think the most underrated
obstacle in Wipeout.
Right.
And the winner gets what for doing that?
We're handing out $25,000 every episode.
And so each episode, one team will eventually get the chance
to compete and win $25,000.
All right.
So you have two huge movies coming out this summer.
You have the new Fast and Furious movie.
You have the new Suicide Squad movie.
People are excited about them.
I mean, that's fantastic, two great movies.
Thank you very much.
I think people are excited to get to the theaters.
I know California's theaters are on the brink of
or opening as we speak in capacities of safety.
Both of these movies are theater movies.
And I think people are really--
we're missing a lot of stuff.
But just to be able to go see a franchise
picture on the big screen in a theater, I think,
is really important as we take steps to get back to normal.
It's the reason Fast 9 was delayed for so long.
And now, it's going to come out June
because it deserves that release not only because
of the enormity of the movie, but it's
the ninth installment of the franchise,
and it has fans the world over.
And certainly, the hype behind the Suicide Squad
is going to deliver.
I've seen early pieces of the movie.
And man, it's going to be something.
It really is something special.
And that's coming out in August.
Well, we can't wait.
I can't wait to have you in the studio.
Hopefully, that'll be soon, John, great talking to you,
Wipeout airs Thursdays at 9:00 on TBS.
Hi, I'm Andy.
Ellen asked me to remind you to subscribe to her channel
so you can see more awesome videos,
like videos of me getting scared or saying embarrassing things
like ball, peen, hammer, and also
some videos of Ellen and other celebrities,
if you're into that sort of thing.
Yah!
God.
[BLEEP]