10 Things We Learned From John Cena On Stephanie McMahon's WWE Show

That's a wrap on the first season of Stephanie's Places on ESPN.

Highlights from the series include Stephanie McMahon interviewing then-WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and getting some cool insight about WCW, her personal chat with Rhea Ripley, some really cool bonding with Steve Austin, and more. For the final episode, Steph caught up with John Cena to discuss everything from his upbringing to putting a bow on his wrestling career with 2025's retirement tour.

As always, McMahon and the producers at ESPN managed to pack a lot more into the show than some might think they'd be able to. There was a gripping contrast between how Cena approaches ongoing storylines compared to The Rock too, so look out for that. Let's just say that it might not be a bad idea for ol' Dwayne Johnson to check out Stephanie's Places ASAP!

The episode was hosted from Cena's very own private gym. That's been a safe space for countless WWE stars over the years, and it actually acted as a soft predecessor to the company's Performance Center. According to John, the gym's peak years came between 2009-2015; the PC opened in 2013, so an emerging generation of hopefuls began working out from there more exclusively instead.

Guys like Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, New Day and others can count themselves lucky that they got to experience Hard Nocks South though.

Here's everything gleaned from a fitting finale to McMahon's series of interviews. Unsurprisingly, Cena was engaging, honest and humble throughout. The man has lived some story, and it's easy to lose sight of just how difficult it is for him to walk away from WWE rings forever.

Look, millions of young people around the globe have stories like this, but it’s always fascinating to hear about pro wrestlers being relatable. John Cena was bullied for the way he dressed and the kind of music he was into, for example. He first got into rap as a way to rebel against his parents who wouldn’t let him watch MTV, and that’s also how he discovered wrestling - John saw build up to the first WrestleMania on MTV at a friend’s house.

Cena was shoved around by other kids for wearing “turquoise polka dots”, and he knew then he had to fight back. The problem? He didn't really know how to fight, and he wasn't exactly intimidating. That's when fate intervened. JC's grandfather gave him a modest weights set for his 12th birthday. Responding in an encouraging way, his parents also gave him a little corner in the house where he could listen to his music and workout.

That stopped the bullying and changed Cena’s life forever.

He hadn't been too sure how to deal with the bullies at school, but they stopped trying to push him around once he started lifting some weights. Obviously, kids have to be careful when doing weights, because their bodies haven't fully developed yet. Cena was only looking for a little win though, and a means to stop the bullying that had started to plague his childhood.

This is a cool story, one that helped redefine Cena's expectations for himself growing up. Weightlifting gave him confidence, stopped bullies and it made him happy. It was win-win...win.