John Cena admitted he feels "shortsighted and selfish" for having started a feud with Dwayne Johnson a decade ago, when they faced off against one another as major WWE stars.
On Thursday's episode of the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast, Cena said he "would like to think" the pair -- who both have gone on to become huge Hollywood stars, sharing screen credits in this year's "Fast X" -- "always have been good, except for one little patch where I really messed up."
Cena was referring to the time in 2011 when Johnson -- already a bankable movie star at the time -- returned to WWE after leaving almost a decade earlier. At the time, Cena took it as a provocation and opportunity to "call him out" for coming back, and challenge him to fight.
The "Trainwreck" actor explained he "got selfish, and me living WWE at the point and not having any concept of growth or someone else's perspective" caused him to start the feud.
"My view was, if you love something, be there every day. What a hypocrite I am, because I still love WWE and I can't go all the time. And I just didn't see that, I was so selfish."
The muscled pair's feud culminated in two buzzy WrestleMania matches -- including "WrestleMania 29" in April 2013 -- both of which drew in high viewership numbers.
"I wanted a main event marquee match because it would (be) better (for) what I thought was the business. And that's so shortsighted and selfish," Cena reflected.
"It worked," he added, "but it worked at the cost of two people who communicated and almost put it in jeopardy."
In the time since, he and Johnson have put their past beef firmly in the past. Cena cameoed as himself in Johnson's 2019 film "Fighting with My Family," while Johnson appears in an uncredited cameo as Hobbs in this summers "Fast X," which co-stars Cena.
Of their feud, Cena said Thursday "it was almost at the cost of our friendship, which I would like to say now is in a really good place."
