CM Punk On John Cena’s Acting Success, Similarities Between Pro Wrestling & Live Theater

In a recent interview with ET Canada, CM Punk discussed John Cena’s acting success, the similarities between pro wrestling and live theater, and much more. Here are some of the highlights:

CM Punk on John Cena’s acting success: “One hundred percent [I’m impressed], but I’m also not surprised. I think a lot of people conflate the two. You see a guy like Dave Bautista killing it with this myriad of different roles. Dave can do comedy, Dave can do drama, he can do it all. Cena has always been that funny guy. I always thought behind the scenes, and I think anybody who has worked with him always thought. A lot of the guys at that top-level in WWE may not want to admit it, but alls we are are theatre actors.”

On the similarities between pro wrestling and live theater: “We’re doing live theatre every Monday, every Friday, Thursday, Tuesday, whatever the hell the schedule is now. All that is, is theatre. It gets you accustomed to improv and working on the fly. I read James Gunn said that John Cena was the best improv actor he’s ever worked with. That does not surprise me in the least. We do it every week for decades. When we transition to film, I think people are pleasantly surprised like, ‘Oh wow, I thought you were just going to be this muscled up stiff guy.’ I’m not surprised that John is killing it.”

On his return to wrestling in AEW: “I think it was just quieting that voice in my head that doubted anything. Cardio is fine, timing is fine. I was always a storyteller. You’ll never see me do a triple-jump moonsault to the floor or anything like that. It’s more about tugging on people’s heartstrings and getting them to care about me as a human being, really. If I have an advantage over anybody, I think that’s one of them. I have this rare connection with the crowd. I just think I need more reps. I need to get out there more in front of a live audience and wrestle. I’ll be back to form in no time. I think I haven’t missed a beat. That was kind of the goal. To go out there and make it look like I’ve been wrestling last week. I think mission accomplished. I just want to get out there and here the crowd more. That’s all I want to do is be in that moment.”