(CNN) – John Cena has admitted he feels “short-sighted and selfish” for instigating a feud with Dwayne Johnson a decade ago when the two clashed as WWE Superstars.
On Thursday’s episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Cena said he “would like to remember” that the couple — who have both become big Hollywood stars and share starring roles in this year’s Fast X series — ” It’s always been that good, except for one small patch where I really messed up.
Cena was referring to the moment in 2011 when Johnson, already a movie star, returned to WWE after leaving WWE almost a decade earlier. Cena took it as a provocation at the time and as an opportunity to urge him to return and challenge him to a fight.
The “Trainwreck” actor explained it as “selfish”. “The fact that I was living in WWE at the time and had no concept of anyone else’s growth or perspective,” sparked the feud, he said.
“My opinion was, if you love something, you have to be there every day. What a hypocrite I am because I still love WWE and can’t go all the time. And I just didn’t see it, I was so selfish,” he added.
The muscular couple’s encounter culminated in two highly publicized WrestleMania matches – including WrestleMania 29 in April 2013 – both with huge audiences.
“I wanted an outstanding match because I think it would be better for business. And that’s so short-sighted and selfish,” Cena mused.
“It worked,” he added, “but it worked at the expense of two people who came forward and almost put him in danger.”
Since then, he and Johnson have finally put their feuds behind them. Cena had a cameo as himself in Johnson’s 2019 film Fighting with My Family, while Johnson appears in an uncredited cameo as Hobbs in Fast X with Cena this summer.
Regarding their argument, Cena said Thursday that “it was almost at the expense of our friendship, which I want to say is in a really good state now.”