Wrestle Pedia
John Cena carried the company on his back from 2006 to 2016 and was truly the face of WWE back then. Therefore, it comes as no surprise there are great stories about Cena and one such story reveals how he once paid an exorbitant 9-day bar tab before an iconic match.
One of John Cena’s best matches took place on an episode of WWE Raw in the United Kingdom against Shawn Michaels on April 23rd, 2007. The 56-minute match saw Michaels beat Cena clean as a whistle. This took place just a couple of weeks after WrestleMania 23, where Cena beat Michaels and retained his WWE Championship. The match received tons of praise from fans and pro wrestlers alike.
While speaking on The Angle podcast, former WWE personality Jonathan Coachman talked about John Cena’s potential winding down of his career and shared his perspective on wrestling records, particularly Ric Flair’s 16-time world championship reigns. Coachman emphasized that while he could technically have pursued more title reigns, the number itself holds little personal significance to him.
Coachman recalled an overseas trip where Flair encouraged Cena to take part in the stereotypical behavior of a world champion, including nightly drinking sessions. Despite these temptations, Coachman noted Cena’s commitment to his craft and recounted a memorable instance where Cena spent $70,000 on a nine-day bar tab and then was informed of the demanding 60-minute match with Shawn Michaels the next day. Despite his condition, Cena delivered an exceptional performance, earning Coachman’s admiration and respect.
“I don’t want this to come off as disrespectful, because at some point I’m going to run into Ric Flair again and he takes this stuff very personally. At the end of the day, I could be a seventeen-time world champion if they so chose to give it to me. So to me, that record means nothing. The kind of person he is, the way he went about it, the way he trained every single day in the gym. We had a trip overseas, it was ten shows in ten days. Ric Flair talked him into drinking alcohol, because that world champs have got to do. He literally drank every single night, closed the bar down, paid the bar tab. I asked him on day nine how much he spent, he said $35,000. I said, ‘Dollars?’ He said, ‘Pounds.’ It’s two to one, so it was $70,000 he spent on alcohol just because he’s the world champion.
Now, don’t feel sorry for him, he was making 50 to 100 grand every night in the main event. But the last night, Dean Malkeno walks up to him, beer in hand, whispers something in his ear. He puts the beer down, heads straight for the elevator, says nothing to nobody and disappears. Dean Malkeno had just told him, ‘Tomorrow night, you’re going sixty minutes with Shawn Michaels on Monday Night Raw.’ Out of respect for the effort of what he was doing, I stood at the gorilla position for him to walk back down. He walked towards me, you could smell the alcohol coming out his pours, but he gave sixty minutes absolute banger. So, I really don’t care if he gets to 17. If it means something to him, then I do care. If that’s a record or number he wants, awesome.”
Interestingly enough, Shawn Michaels previously stated that the match with John Cena was easy for him. As for John Cena, it remains to be seen where Cena will pop up next, as his pro wrestling career is nearing its end.
Do you have more respect for John Cena after hearing this story? Let us know in the comments section below!
