John Cena Talks 'Ricky Stanicky' Britney Spears Costume & WWE Retirement

(audience applauding) - That is a whole lot of energy for this hour. - [Kelly] I know! - I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. - [Kelly] I know. I need a tad bit more coffee for that. I love your pink socks. - [John] Thank you so much. - [Kelly] It's my favorite part of the whole thing. - Thank you so much! - [Kelly] I love a suit. My, I'm jumping ahead of this, just because when I see you- - There's no- It's just a conversation. - I see my son grown up. No, I'm saying my son, he wears suit

s, three piece suits to school. - [John] I think that's fantastic. - It's not a school uniform. (audience laughing) - It's- - I like that. - Yeah. I just, I wanna show you like, people saw him at the Grammys with me, and I, I think of you when I see my son, because if you see this picture, that's him. - That's fantastic. (audience coos) - But you, and so we wore this on the Grammys on an actual red carpet, and he was like, "but I can wear this to school, right?". And I was like, absolutely. You

can. - [John] Yeah. (audience laughing) - [Kelly] Absolutely. - [John] Wow, look at that! - [Kelly] Yes. I'm just saying he, it's like a, - I'm taking a page out of his- - A grown up up version of my son every time I see you. I'm like, that's what he will look like. - I always say I'm a big kid who never grew up. So I, I dig that comparison. Thank you. - I am that way as well. Growing up is boring. So, so I have, I have to say it's a big change that happened since the last time I saw you. You're

married now. - [John] I am. Thank you so much. - [Kelly] Yeah, congratulations! (audience clapping and cheering) - My goodness. Thank you all so much. - [Kelly] That's so awesome. - I appreciate that. Thank you. - I hear that you had two weddings. One wasn't enough. - You're right. One wasn't enough. - [Kelly] Yeah. - We chose to get married during the pandemic. - [Kelly] Yeah. - [John] And that was because we wanted to share with each other our promise to spend our life together. - [Kelly] Yea

h. - And then we wanted to surround ourselves with those we love when the world opened up and gave us an opportunity to do that. - [Kelly] Yeah. - So, yes, we were grateful enough to have two weddings, which means two anniversaries, which means another two days in the calendar where we can look in each other's eyes and realize that we, we both made the right choice going forward for the rest of our lives. - Oh my gosh. (audience clapping) I feel like such a jerk, because I had a problem remember

ing one anniversary. You gotta remember two! - I'm not, I'm not saying, sometimes they don't slip my mind. - [Kelly] Oh my gosh. I'm the worst. Luckily my ex was too, so we were both horrible. (audience laughing) We were like, "you forgot too?". I was like, yeah, I was bad at it. You got two. Good luck. - [John] Thank you. - Well, I, I have to say, speaking of when John was here last time though, there was a popular song that the singer Sho Madjozi had named in his honor. I love, this is one of

my favorite things that's ever happened on this show. - This is awesome. - [Kelly] She had never met you and was huge fan. And this was her first encounter. (upbeat music) ♪ Some man act rough like John Cena ♪ ♪ Some man get buff like John Cena ♪ ♪ We used to be cool ♪ ♪ When I used to come through ♪ ♪ Now you want to act tough like John Cena ♪ ♪ Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi ♪ ♪ Chi! Chi! Chi! ♪ ♪ Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi ♪ ♪ Chi! Chi! Chi! ♪ (audience cheering) ♪ Some man act rough like John Cena ♪ (Sho scream

s) (audience clapping) I have, I have genuinely never seen someone so excited even after like, when the cameras were like not on. She was so excited. Did you, have you seen her since? - I wanna give a second to say that shows how awesome a person you are, because you flew an individual across the world to make that happen. And you made somebody's day. Her reaction is so genuine. - It is! - I just showed up, and you allowed me to show up. But that is, you, you took care of that. So I wanna say th

ank you for making somebody's day. - [Kelly] I know, but you didn't- That is my team, as well! (audience applauding) But like, it goes to show you how powerful you can be and you don't even, you know, you know what I'm saying? Your footprints can be, and people are watching and people are listening and it shows you how powerful like your spotlight can be because she freaked out. - That was a genuine reaction. - [Kelly] Yes. Yes. - That was, it was, that was fun. - Did you hear from her afterward

s at all after the show? - Well, you know, we got to talk after the show. - [Kelly] Yeah. - And she is, she was just then starting her touring career. - [Kelly] Yeah. - And man, life on the road is hard. - Brand new. Yeah. - And it, it sometimes just time melts away. So I just wished her luck. I, you know, I told her to be safe out there. And what an awesome page to be able to turn, to going from wanting to make music, to making a song that catches everyone's eye and, and ear and then- - [Kelly]

Yeah. - [John] Having a moment like this. And you were a great catalyst for her to- - [Kelly] Oh my god! (audience laughing) - [Kelly] You even got a moment like this in and just now just casually. I like that. (John laughing) No one's done it so casually. That's amazing. - It is really cool to, to hear from a young artist, like, man, these things are happening. And I'm so excited about it. And it, it makes, it made me think of, you know, my early road of like, wow, these things are happening.

I could possibly make a livelihood out of this. - [Kelly] Yeah. - This is really special. - [Kelly] Yeah. - So I haven't talked to her since then, but I, I'm glad we got to share that moment. - Yeah. Oh my gosh. My, my- Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi! Your dance moves were incredible. It was awesome, everything. - Thank you. - You feel a certain like, responsibility with the spotlight, right? - I think the responsibility is, I try really hard every day not to be entitled. - [Kelly] Yeah. - And to remain- -

Oh, those are the worst people. - [John] Remain curious. - [Kelly] Yeah. - And remain excited and grateful. You are our last stop on an incredibly ambitious press tour for Ricky Stanicky. - [Kelly] Yeah. - And everyone who sees me in the hallways, "oh man. You okay man? This press stuff". I, I love doing this- - [Kelly] But it's a whirlwind. - I'm speaking with you. I love speaking with you. And every single opportunity, I realize exactly how lucky I am and I never forget that. And if by my acti

ons, it kind of leaves an impression on people watching, listening or, or aspiring. - [Kelly] Yeah. - That's a, that's a plus. - [Kelly] Yeah. - But I just try to be accountable for myself and be grateful for the opportunities I've been given every day. - Yeah. I think you just not being entitled and being appreciative and living, living in a state of gratitude about it is such a great lesson to people watching as well. - And that's not just entertainment specific. - [Kelly] No, I think, yeah. -

That's in every professional avenue or you know, in every, every pursuit. I think people get to a point where they can become complacent and entitled and it's hard work to, to kind of shake those things. - You're even jaded by it. Yeah. Yeah. - [John] Sure. Sure. And I just think, man, I woke up today. So that's, that's, that's starting life with a win. And I- - [Kelly] Amen. - I go from there. - You know, you read reach a- We're similar in age. I'm 41. You know, you reach a certain age and you

're like, I woke up! (audience laughs) - Woke up. Feel good! Right on. - [Kelly] I made it! - [John] Let's go. Good. Yeah. - Well let's take a quick break everybody. We have someone in the audience to help us out. - Hi Kelly and John. I'm Romell. I skipped work today to see you on this show. - Yeah! Hooky! - [Romell] That's okay. Because guess what? You can't see me! (John laughing) - More with John and Kelly after the break! (band plays bright jazz music) (audience cheering) - [Kelly] That was

a look at his new movie, Ricky Stanicky. You can see it now on Prime Video. This movie is funny. Oh my gosh! - Yeah. It's funny. You know, comedies are fun and they're fun to film. - Yeah. - Now is the kind of nervous part. 'cause we hope you all get the jokes. - [Kelly] Yeah. - But it's available on Prime Video now and you watch it- - It's their fault that they don't get it. - Okay. Sure. That's a great perspective. - [Kelly] Yes, yes. (audience laughing) - It's not your fault if you don't get

it, - Filter it, it's- I'm awesome. - I'll work to be better. - They're the problem. Yeah. - But no, these are so fun to make. 'Cause you just spend all day laughing at each other. - [Kelly] Yeah. - And trying to outdo each other with jokes. So it was a really great movie to make, and we're really happy to share it with the world. And we hope everybody watches Ricky Stanicky now. - [Kelly] Yeah. Oh my God. So, so explain the movie, like what is the premise? 'Cause it's a very funny brand of- - S

o we just had one of your audience members say they skipped work to be here today. - [Kelly] Yeah. Playing hooky. - So the construct of Ricky Stanicky is these three friends use an imaginary friend as a patsy to get out of stuff. Like, I skipped work, but I had to go see my friend Ricky Stanicky. - [Kelly] Yes. - [John] So the movie really picks up speed when the, the Ricky Stanicky character has to become real. So it's what would happen if your patsy best friend actually became real, and how ch

aotic would your life be. - [Kelly] Yeah. - And a hilarity ensues and there's tons of jokes. And you see a movie after that. - [Kelly] Yeah. Well explain, explain this movie poster. 'Cause this is pretty special. Yeah. - [John] It is. - [Kelly] Look at her. (audience laughing) - [John] So, so they, they put a, they put a really small warning sign on the poster. - [Kelly] Yeah. (Kelly laughs) Which is no indication! (John laughs) - Yeah. So I, I actually, it's a, it's a fun role to play. I play R

ock Hard Rod. - [Kelly] Sure. - Atlantic City's premiere- - Rock Hard Rod. - Adult music impersonator. - Yeah. - And that is one of my impersonations. And then I get the opportunity to play Ricky Stanicky. So I'm John Cena playing Rod, playing Britney Spears, Billie Idol. Peter Frampton. - Exception. - [John] Yes. Yes. And then eventually Ricky Stanicky. - [Kelly] Oh my gosh. Okay. So wait, TikToks for the movie. Did you enjoy doing this? There's plenty of 'em. You like doing them? - Yeah. Yeah.

So we kind of went, you know, we're in the entertainment business. You travel to make projects and to promote projects. So we just brought this sign with us around the world pretty much in crazy locations. It says, "who is Ricky Stanicky"? There's me lying on a floor doing that. The reason- - [Kelly] Very cool floor. - [John] The reason we did this is because- - [Kelly] Look at those thighs! (audience laughing) - That uniform came out and the picture was taken with that like way back when we st

arted filming and it hit the Australian newspapers and mainstream media. Like, what the hell is John Cena doing? - [Kelly] Yeah. - 'Cause I didn't have the Britney wig on. It was just those thighs. - [Kelly] Yeah. (audience laughing) - Those shoes with that skirt. And- - That's what you're doing. That's what you say. - [John] That's what I was doing. - That's what I was doing. - [John] That's what I'm doing at that time. - What are you doing? Yeah. - So we came up with this campaign of, "who is

Ricky Stanicky?". And it was a way to, you know, Ricky Stanicky is a new character, so. - [Kelly] Yeah. - You have to get the audiences familiar with that. So we just did this sign around the world of, "who is Ricky Stanicky?" - [Kelly] That's very clever. - We've continued to do it. We got about 300 more videos to get out in one day. - Yeah. - But no, it was just, we just brought a sign with us, and you never know where life takes you. It also got me to stop and look around and realize, like, w

ow, I'm in some pretty cool spots. - Yeah. I, I found this amazing. You were bullied as a kid, which, you know, I don't think anyone would imagine. - Well- - Like what kind of idiot was like, I'm gonna mess with that guy. - So I'm, I'm like the typical comic book or like the, the, the advertisement in the back of a comic book where the kid gets sand kicked in his face, then he works out and then he is big, and then the bully goes away. I became- - [Kelly] A real life Captain America. - Oh, okay.

Right on. I'll take that. - I'm just saying- - I'm not offended. I'm not offended by that at all. (audience applauding) - Right. I see it. - I was a really scrawny kid. - Yeah. - And just my choice in style was a little bit different. My choice in behavior was a little bit different. And I got, I got picked on a lot for that. - Yeah. - So instead of, you know, throwing my hands up and, and, and just doing nothing, I said, well, what can I control? I control how I can't conduct myself. I'm gonna

start working harder to defend myself. And instead of physical self-defense, I built my physical appearance to be a little more intimidating. - [Kelly] Yeah. - And it worked. - [Kelly] Good. - And then I stopped getting picked on. - Yeah! - So I guess, I look back on those days fondly, because my life takeaway from that is, control what you can. - [Kelly] Yeah. - And better your situation to the best of your ability. And if you can't, if you can't better the situation, then distance yourself fr

om it. - [Kelly] Yeah. - But it doesn't matter that I was picked on, it made me stronger as a human being. It made me reinforce my values. It made me not change, and be more authentic. - [Kelly] Yeah. - And it gave me life. - [Kelly] Makes you really find out who you are. - The life lesson of, control what you can. - [Kelly] Yeah. So you're, you're 46, so you're, you still, I heard you might retire at 50. Are you gonna do that, or? - You know what? 50 is is my absolute like, line in the sand. I,

I would like to try to do it before that. - Yeah. - But at 50, I'm just gonna tweet out, tweet, "Peace out! See you." - [Kelly] Yeah. (audience laughing) - That's it. I'm good. - [Kelly] That's gotta be so hard on you. Yeah. That kind of, I mean, touring in general is hard, but like- - [John] It is. - That kind of, it is stuff on your body. Yeah. - And you know, I, I was very much driven where WWE was my passion 24/7. And- - [Kelly] We evolve, we grow. - And I'm very grateful, but I've grown an

d- - [Kelly] Yeah. - And there's a lot of other avenues I'm curious about in life. And certainly being a great husband and partner is one of those. - Yeah. - I just wanna try to, to, to do what I can in those. - [Kelly] You are an excellent dude. Yes. (audience cheering) Look at that. A great man! (audience continues cheering) Well, it's great to see you. - It's always great to see you. - We're huge fans of you. - Thank you. - You can see John's movie, Ricky Stanicky. You can find out who that g

uy is with the poster on Prime Video- - Or who that guy is in the tights. - [Kelly] Or who that guy is that looks like Britney Spears.