Chris Masters says he and John Cena ‘never mixed too well’ in WWE
Chris Masters and John Cena never got along well when they were both coming up together in WWE.
Appearing on a new episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Masters addressed whether he ever came close to winning a WWE championship. There were plans for him to win the Tag Team titles and Intercontinental Championship that never came to fruition. Masters feels like Vince McMahon was even giving him some consideration for a World Championship run. That never happened either, and Masters thinks the differences between him and Cena could have played a part in McMahon’s decision.
“Oh, all of them,” Masters responded when asked if he ever came close to winning a title. “There was a point, I mean, Carlito and me were supposed to win them at that WrestleMania [22], but it literally got switched like the day before. We were penciled in to win it, but then Carlito, they wanted him to turn baby. And the Spirit Squad, they kind of wanted to get the belts on them somehow to give them some steam. And so that was that.
“And then the Intercontinental title, I was actually supposed to win that, but it was the same point where they had given me an intervention for my prescription painkiller abuse at the time. And they even told me, I remember having the meeting with Johnny [Laurinaitis], because there was a four-way match that night. It was in Vegas for the Intercontinental title that I was slated to win, but then they have caught wind that I had the issues I had and I had a little intervention. Basically told me, ‘You’re going to rehab.’ And so, I screwed that.”
Masters said he thinks McMahon was feeling out a lot of options at one point in the 2000s to see if they had World Champion potential. Though he doesn’t know for sure if Cena was against him getting a World title push, Masters suspects that he was.
“Tag belts, I had no control over, that just happened. [Intercontinental], I effed up. And then, there was a point there, cause you can even watch back to those old Raws where Vince was playing with the idea of making me the youngest champion. But he was feeling out a lot of guys at that point. And I’m pretty sure Cena gave me probably the thumbs down at some point. So I don’t know, maybe,” Masters said.
“We never mixed too well, for whatever reason, you know what I mean? I don’t know. Massachusetts guy, California guy, I don’t know. Just kind of oil and water. But I don’t take away anything from the fact that he’s this generation’s [Hulk] Hogan. And he definitely worked harder than anybody probably would have in that spot, especially for that long.”
Reflecting further on the time he was sent to rehab, Masters said he was initially bitter about it but is happy about the ways the wrestling industry has changed for the better.
“The business is such a cleaner place than it was when I entered,” he said. “It’s nice to not walk into a locker room and have somebody who has issues like that going on or passing out in the locker room. And it’s just a cleaner business now.”
Masters and Cena both trained together at UPW in California when they started out their wrestling careers. Masters still competes on the indies and was formerly part of the NWA roster.
In December of 2025, Cena retired from the ring with a loss to Gunther. He remains under contract with WWE as an ambassador as he transitions into post-wrestling life.
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.