Paul Heyman has an immense amount of respect for John Cena.
Speaking with Rick Rubin on his Tetragrammaton podcast, Paul Heyman discussed a number of topics, including Roman Reigns' Leukemia recurrence, which took him away from WWE from October 2018 until the end of February 2019.
"Nobody knew how sick he [Reigns] was. I mean, they the thought was he had a handle on this. They thought this is treatable. They thought he'll be back, but you're talking about a very unpredictable affliction that can take a wrong turn real fast and next thing you know, the world and his family are suffering without him. So I mean, nobody knew," Heyman said.
As for how Reigns' battle changed him, Heyman believes that it gave the WWE Universal Champion a greater appreciation of life.
"It gave him a greater appreciation of life. I'm sure it gave him a greater appreciation of one's own mortality. I'm sure it gave him a greater appreciation of the blessings that he has," he said.
Roman's Special Council would then praise John Cena, calling him a real life superhero.
"John Cena to me is a real life hero. He's a superhero. When I become a grandparent one day, if I'm asked what my grandchildren should watch, or read comic books or whatever, it will not be watch Superman, or Batman, or Spider-Man, or the Incredible Hulk. You want to see a superhero? Go see what John Cena did with his life outside of the ring. That man's a superhero. I don't have the words to convey the admiration I have for John Cena as a human being," Heyman said.
He then shared that Vince McMahon had to urge Cena to go public with his Make-A-Wish appearances, arguing that it was hindering the organization by keeping it a secret.
"There had to come a point in time where Vince [McMahon] had to sit down with John and say, 'You need to let me go public with these Make A Wish visits. You have to. You know you're hurting Make A Wish by not allowing me to do that. Because if people understood how much of your time you give to Make A Wish and to these kids, they'll be inclined to contribute. They'll be inclined to get involved. You will help them if you allow this.' Because Cena never wanted to exploit it. He never wanted publicity for it. He never wanted recognition for it. He wanted to just do it. That's a hero. People who go through life and say, 'I'm going to do this because God will smile on me and it's my ticket into heaven.' Well, then your motivation isn't really pure, is it? Your motivation is I want something back for this. I want my VIP pass to heaven. I want God to like me because of this. That's not why John Cena did it. John Cena did it because it was the right thing to do," Heyman explained.
As for how Heyman is doing himself, he says he always tells everyone the same thing.
"I run into people and they say, 'How are you doing?' My answer is pretty much always the same now nowadays. 'I'm a blessed man. I believe that I believe I'm an extraordinarily blessed man. What it boils down to is when I woke up this morning, I called both my kids and guess what? They're healthy. I'm a blessed man. Everything else is relative.
Roman Reigns had an affliction. His children, thank God, as of now, don't share that affliction. His children are healthy, he's a blessed man. His mom's still alive, and what a character she is, he's a blessed man. His father's still alive, and a legend. What a blessed man. He has suffered loss in his family. His older brother Matty passed away. So he knows what that's like.
So I think what he went through, having lived, and he was on the road 250 days a year at the time. It was on a full schedule, working every show, and then it stopped. Boom. Now you're home. Complete shock to the system in every conceivable way. You know, I'm not on TV and the business went on without me. Hey, you know something? I'm not in St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit. Milwaukee, Los Angeles, New York, Buffalo, Syracuse, Tampa, Miami, Oklahoma City, Saudi Arabia. I'm not in Saudi Arabia. This happened going into a Saudi show. His recurrence happened heading into a Saudi show and went on without him. The world goes on without me and I'm still here and I'm getting better every day. My children are healthy, and my wife is with me, and my dad's alive, my mom's alive, I'm alive. I'm capable of coming back. What a blast, man. I think he really felt that this time. I think it gave him a chance to really appreciate life," Heyman concluded.
Elsewhere during the conversation, Heyman compared Roman Reigns to George Michael's Freedom! '90. Click here to learn more.
He also spoke about his time managing CM Punk and why he was not able to end The Undertaker's WrestleMania streak. Click here to read more.
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