WWE NXT star says John Cena gave ‘so much insight’ in visit
Getting to spend a little bit of time with John Cena was an insightful experience for WWE NXT star Kelani Jordan.
With his in-ring career winding down, Cena made a couple of visits to the WWE Performance Center last month to share some wisdom with the talent in NXT. Jordan reflected on those visits in a new interview with Denise Salcedo. Jordan got to ask Cena a few questions, with Cena telling her that there are inevitably going to be peaks and valleys in any wrestler’s journey — but it’s important to believe in yourself when adversity hits.
“First of all, he is just so intellectual. And he is incredible. He gave us so much insight,” Jordan said. “He honestly just kept reminding us that, ‘Hey, wrestling’s a journey. It’s not going to always be the mountain top, there’s going to be times you’re in the valleys.’ So he just kept on, like, reinforcing, ‘Hey, believe in yourself. Dare to be different.’ He told me, because I asked him a few questions, he’s like, ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing, stay the course.’
“Because, guess what? There’s going to be times where — sometimes on social media, people love you. Sometimes in the crowd, they love you. But sometimes they boo you, and that’s okay. He was a babyface for so long and there were times where the crowd turned on him. But guess what? He’s still John Cena, and they’re still paying tickets to come see him. So he just kind of reminded us, like, ‘Hey, there’s going to be valleys, there’s going to be hills, but just believe in yourself and keep at it because then you’re destined for greatness.'”
Cena only has three WWE appearances left on his retirement tour, which will conclude with his last match taking place at Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13. Because Cena loved his Performance Center visits so much, he came up with the idea for the SNME card to include some exhibition matches between NXT talent and main roster stars. Jordan told Salcedo that being part of SNME would mean the world to her. If she’s able to compete, either Rhea Ripley or IYO SKY would be dream opponents.
At the moment, Jordan is the TNA Knockouts World Champion. She has a title defense coming up at NXT Gold Rush week two later this month. It will be Jordan putting her belt on the line against Jordynne Grace and Lei Ying Lee in a triple threat.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.