When John Cena came to Raw, he immediately got off on the wrong foot with Eric Bischoff. Eric Bischoff said that he thought John Cena was a would be Eminem, and Lord knows one Eminem is enough, but since that time, I have come to respect and really like this kid. This John Cena is a good guy. You can't say anything differently than that.
A lot of people say now, 'John Cena doesn't work.' Well, John Cena does the things that people go to see John Cena do, and he doesn't take a lot of risks.
I used to be around John Cena all the time in WWE, and I watched him and the way he worked. John is a guy who has been at the top longer than anyone else in history, and I'm lucky to have the opportunity to train at Cena's gym and go to him for advice.
Allow me to correct you on two things: number one, the reason John Cena isn't here tonight has nothing to do with you. John Cena isn't here because I destroyed him in our match, this past week, in Pennsylvania. And number two, you're not the leader of the Nexus, I am.
I learned from many people. I became a better wrestler thanks to my matches with Edge, with Christian, with Rey Mysterio, with John Cena - who, even though you, the fans, want to criticize him, John Cena is one of the best wrestlers of the universe.
You want to know why I am the perfect champion? Because you can take the strength of John Cena; the intelligence of Triple H; the desire of Cena; the athleticism of Triple H; the determination of Cena; the ruthlessness of Triple H... and if you combine these attributes into one person, you get Randy Orton. The only difference is that I have one thing that neither Cena nor Triple H has: the WWE Championship.
At the end of the day, all I can be is me. I'm not John Cena. In my 30 years, I've never been John Cena. I don't even think about becoming him. I just want to be - I want to be Roman Reigns. I want to do things my way. I think that's why I'm in the deep water with Vince McMahon and 'The Authority'.
John Cena is John Cena - it's really not a character he is playing.
I have nothing but respect for John Cena and his work rate. He's one of the hardest-working wrestlers there ever was. He's been a great champion, an inspiring role model. It's not easy being John Cena and carrying all the weight of the company on your back all the time.
I've made more with John Cena just by being John Cena that anyone else I've ever met. He works harder than anyone I've ever met, 30 hours a day, 500 days a year and will do anything and everything that is asked of him and couldn't possibly work harder. He is a mega draw.
John Cena is fantastic, seriously. I hate when people don't give Cena the credit he deserves.
Everybody either hates or loves John Cena; there's no medium. I feel like that I've accomplished something when I get people to cheer for John Cena. I feel like I've done something.
I had a conversation with John Cena, and I told him, 'If only I could be a giant with abs,' and he said, 'Maybe you could be a giant with abs.' That kind of got me thinking that maybe John was onto something, because when it comes to obviously being successful and marketable, John is one of the smartest people I've been around.
There's always a Cena fan that wants to talk to me about it, and it drives me absolutely nuts. They'll come up to me in Cena stuff saying 'Why didn't you wrestle Cena?' Bro, I don't know.
Someone had asked me who I thought was better, John Cena or Rock. I said Rock needs a teleprompter. Rock needs a writer to write all his stuff.
If I could wrestle somebody at a WrestleMania, I would have really loved to wrestle with John Cena. It would have been nice to have a great WrestleMania match with The Rock and Edge, but my history would have lined up perfectly with John.