Paul London recalls various interactions with John Cena.
On the December 7, 2002 edition of WWE Velocity, John Cena faced off with Paul London in a singles bout. At the time, both Cena and London hadn't done much in WWE, as they were at the very early stages of their careers.
At the time of the match, Cena was a heel and was being accompanied to the ring by Bull Buchanan. As everyone knows, this phase of Cena's career wouldn't last long, as he eventually became a major babyface.
While speaking to Fightful for a new interview, London recalled facing Cena and said that he got in trouble for giving him too much offense.
"So that that was that was frustrating and anytime we would have people down, I was fortunate enough to work John Cena when he was ascending as a heel rapper with Bull Buchanan at his side. I think he had caught wind that I had gone through UPW's program post their developmental. But needless to say, we got along really well. So much in fact that he got in trouble after that match for giving me too much offense. It was on Velocity, yeah. I get that point because I wasn't under contract at the time, but I was coming in fairly regularly. To the point
where one time I remember Johnny Ace asked me who I wanted to team with and who I wanted to work with and I'm not even under contract. So needless to say I had these ties with Cena, but even when he came to OVW, he was like, ‘Why are you here? Like, you shouldn't. You don't need to be here.’ I’m like, ‘I'm just doing what I’m told.’"
London went on to talk about his experience of living in Kentucky during his stint with Ohio Valley Wrestling.
"I was, yeah. I experienced the cornfield maze, all that stuff. Louisville does Halloween well, I would think all of Kentucky does Halloween really well. So I I enjoyed this short time that I had there, but I didn't get an apartment. I didn't I was never thinking, ‘Be here long term.’ It was almost how can I skip over OVW and get right in there where I know I belong. But even then when I got up to the main roster it wasn't so much about people not being open to the ideas, match-wise, it was more so a matter of how do we make these make sense?"
Fans can check out Fightful's full interview with Paul London in the video linked at the top of this article.
London is set to face KENTA at MLW's upcoming TV tapings in Chicago on Saturday, November 9. Find tickets for the event here.
