John Cena on Brock Lesnar’s WWE return: ‘They deal ‘em, I play ‘em’
John Cena commented on Brock Lesnar returning to WWE during a recent interview.
Lesnar returned to WWE programming for the first time in two years at SummerSlam on Sunday, closing the show by giving an F-5 to Cena. When asked about Lesnar returning to WWE recently, Cena simply said, “they deal ‘em, I play ‘em‘”
Cena said to Adam Glyn of Adam’s Apple:
“I’ve been saying the same thing for 25 years: They deal ’em, I play ’em.”
“I’m just really excited. We’ve got like 12 of these things left. I think SummerSlam was an indication from the audience where everybody kind of knows we’re closing our book. And just because I close my book in December, that doesn’t mean the WWE closes its books. They’ve got to continue their programming going forward. So, they’re just trying to make the most exciting shows for the fans and for the dozen of them I got left, they deal ‘em, I play ‘em.”
Triple H addressed Lesnar WWE return at the SummerSlam post-show. He indicated that facing Lesnar was something Cena put on his “wish list.”
Triple H said:
“For me, this is sort of…this is John Cena’s wishlist…it’s him writing the last chapter of his book, and I think people saw a conversation with us where he said we’d have to screw it up pretty badly to ruin his career. But it’s not about that for me,” he said. “It’s about John being able to go out the way he wants to go out, to write his chapter. I know what that’s like as a performer. I know what that’s like for everybody to feel that, and I think for John to be able to do what he wants to do. One of the very first things I said to him was ‘Who do you want, and how?’ and we’re working through that.”
Not including house shows, Cena and Lesnar have had six singles matches on WWE programming. Cena won their last match via DQ at Night of Champions 2014, but Lesnar leads their head-to-head series 4-2. Cena is scheduled for Friday’s edition of WWE SmackDown in Montreal. He turned babyface on last week’s show in an in-ring promo segment with Cody Rhodes.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.