Original subtitles

If you can, well, I can't hold it. Yeah, hold it right there.

This is a metaphor for my existence professionally.

Do you want me to spray this back a little bit?

Is it falling down? Just a little bit. Yeah.

I call them my grandpa monsters.

That's where I'm at in life. I don't think so. Come on.

Untold. We're just going to do one continuous take.

Here we go.

Edge is the tough son of a gun, a great challenge.

And look at this great blue!

And that's all of it. Edge will win his first match.

It's all... And the captain has won it.

Kirk doesn't look impressed.

Who in the hell are you?

Ruthless aggression.

My goal was to have 0 % of the audience liking anything that Edge does.

What I thought John needed was somebody that was willing to do that.

The WWE Championship is on the line here tonight.

This night is not

over. Edge is testing in.

and casting it in big time when John Cena is at his weakest.

Edge will spear John Cena over and over again if he has to.

Oh, and again.

He did it. I can't believe it. Edge had

sucked.

I think the reason that Edge or I think the reason that Adam and I fit so well

is we're both from the same mold.

Adam's a wrestling man.

Oh, my God, what's going to happen?

Oh, my God!

Oh, my God!

Oh, my God!

First time I met John, John was still in his wearing a different color to match

every local team face.

Honestly,

he got brought to SmackDown and they kind of put him under my wing a little

along with Ray. And the three of us were the ruthless aggression guys.

What kind of ruthless aggression do you have, Junior?

Huh? Oh!

What the hell?

I mean, clearly you could tell there's a look and there's something there.

When I came into WWE, I failed.

and then was given a chance to succeed at a very low level and worked my way up

through every level. Hey, tons of fun.

I know you listen, so I'm about to drop a heavyweight dose of drugonomics on

you.

And that's what I taught my sons all along. Hard work pays off. Stay with it,

and you will succeed.

I guess I'm the crackpot that's going, come on, get in my booty, man. Look, he

just pulled his hair. Come on, John. Don't take that. What's going to affect

John Cena's wrestling ability?

That will as well.

You name it, it happened to me.

But what also happened to me was a chance to walk down that ramp every

I've always said you can do all the wrestling moves in the world, but if

character is not over, if your character is not established, and your character

isn't fleshed out, it doesn't matter how many wrestling moves you do.

John understood that.

Here is a gentleman who was introduced with Christian as a pair, as lackeys

in the brood, and then they managed to get themselves in a tag team, which they

were really good at.

Oh, look at that!

Oh, my God!

And it's for the 25 -meter with a spear on Jeff Hardy!

He broke in in a certain way, defined himself in a certain way, and then was

to redefining himself. But he was so good as a tag team competitor or a tag

performer that when it was like, no, I think he should be on his own, that idea

came up.

Everybody's like, of course not. He's not going to make it. He's a tag team

For a while, I didn't know who Edge was.

It wasn't until a certain point where I feel like everything kind of clicked in.

You know, there was...

There was treading water for a while. There was barely keeping my head above

water for a while. But when I really felt like I started to swim and in deep

waters, it would have been around like 06.

That's when it felt like everything clicked.

I understand that some people are calling me a cheap champion.

But the fact is, I won this title fair and square.

And then you factor in that while John and Adam have some similar mindsets on a

lot of things,

John Cena and Edge are polar opposites on everything.

And, you know, Edge is a rock and roll guy. He doesn't care if he's got to get

his hands dirty, get in the gutter, and do whatever it takes to win. John Cena,

by this point, had become this kind of bastion of never give up.

I'm sure a lot of kids, just like I did with Hulk Hogan with the train, say your

prayers and eat your vitamins, that that's what this was.

So when I started to look at it in terms of the historical aspect, which is what

I always do growing up as a fan of this, Hulk Hogan had Roddy Piper.

And I wanted to be Roddy Piper to John's Hulk Hogan.

The fact that we're doing this, I guess, means it worked.

I think that essentially Edge and John Cena needed one another.

And it was an opportunity at the time to show the work that, A, Edge

had done up until this point to get to the position and company that Edge had

gotten to. And John Cena needed a foe to overcome that had been along that

similar course.

So much emotion, so much athleticism, so much hatred between John Cena and Edge.

To me, Edge is John Cena's greatest rival of all time. And to

see these two fight, you're not only watching two guys who are fighting to be

the top person going forward in WWE, you're seeing two guys fighting to

represent what the next era in WWE is going to be about.

So I loved the idea of trying to make things more personal. People always want

an answer to the question, why are these guys fighting?

So when someone was like, hey, we're going to bring Edge to West Newbury and

he's going to film with your dad, I was like, okay, now I have motive.

You mess with my family, that's the line.

So I was like, okay, this is going to be great.

Then they went to West Newbury.

Welcome to West Newbury, Massachusetts, the home of the former WWE champion John

Cena. You see, me and my lovely lady Lita, we came up here to see what makes

John Cena tick.

And we know exactly where we have to go to do it.

Ha!

So, we went to John's house, his boyhood home, and we met John Cena

Sr.

What are you doing here? Mr. Cena!

John Cena's father.

Right. In the flesh. I finally get to see the loins that inspired so many

millions of posers around the world.

Nice. I get a call from WWE.

As a matter of fact, it was Bruce Prichard. Bruce said, hello, Mr. Cena,

Bruce Prichard from WWE.

Your son's in a program with Edge. We'd like to come down and do some filming at

your home.

I said, of course. Anything to help WWE and my son, I'll do it. I'll do it. Did

I invite you?

Well, it's just that... I don't know. Did you invite me?

Hey, pops.

Have a nice day, both of you.

Don't think so.

Sometimes you have ideas in your head.

And you think about them and go, wouldn't it be cool if... And you could

this story from a different perspective.

And you could go do things.

And in your head, you have it working out one way.

But when you're dealing with real people, children, and animals...

Anything can happen.

Oh, look what we have here.

Larry Bird, babe. What you got?

What the hell is his bed?

I think we're in it.

Get the hell out of my house!

And we had a rough plan that, you know.

Lita and Edge would go throughout the house and kind of make fun of John's

bedroom where there's a mattress on the floor and there's jerseys everywhere.

And surely John didn't get any action on this mattress, you know, things like

that. And then finally we get down to the bottom room and John's dad was

involved in this part of the package.

John's dad has a very interesting delivery.

I don't remember inviting you here.

Spit it out. Shut up.

The best way I can put this, and I hope my father takes this with endearing

respect, so this is the with all due respect, and then I say something.

With all due respect, my dad's segment with Edge, he pretty much,

I think he channeled his inner vaudevillian greatest showman sort of

Take your ass and get out of my house!

Both of you, now. I don't remember biting either one of you. I'm calling

police. Leave now.

Now, I said. Hey, you can't go up there. Stop.

John Cena Sr.

kind of looked at things in a different light. He was always going to perform.

So when you would give him lines and you would give him, here's how we'd like

you to act, it would turn in from something being genuine and something

heartfelt to, let me tell you something, chicky -do.

It was just, all right, buddy, I'm going to take you. It was

brutal. What's up with this wall? Talk about the proud papa putting up all the

Cena mementos. And, I mean, let's face it, that replica title, that's the

closest that John's going to get to this thing ever again. You don't come into

my house and talk that way about my son.

You know what? My son is going to kick your ass at SummerSlam.

You know, it's freewheeling here. So what do I do? How do I do this? I go to

living room. There he is making fun of the belts on the wall.

You know what? I've had enough of both of you. I'm calling the police. I'm

of both of you. Hold on a second. Hold on.

Listen, just know that after SummerSlam, you and John are going to have a lot of

time together because after I beat him, he's going to have to come back here and

be a nobody in this one -horse town once again.

And next thing I know, I said, slap me.

Bam! He slapped me.

Ah!

And so we filmed that portion of it, which ended with me, you

know, flapping John's dad.

And then, of course, the finishing line was, you really think that's it? Well,

just wait. Just wait. I'll see you at SummerSlam. And it's going to be one,

three. You're out!

SummerSlam! One, two, three!

Is that right?

I remember Edge calling me and being like, man, I'd like

to think we did all right, but you're dead.

And he was trying to like, because it's my dad.

We flew basically straight from there, straight to Raw.

We got there, and Vince saw the footage, and he goes, this is the worst thing

we've ever filmed.

And as he said to Bruce Prichard, this is the worst I've ever seen.

That's worse.

The hell am I going to do with this?

Can you talk about that call?

Oh, that was in person.

Shut up.

What? Are you going to put up a picture of me pinning your son?

You people want to see what happened?

Let's roll it. Let's see for yourselves up on the Titan Shrine.

Ah, there it is, the humble abode of the Cenas.

So I had to ad -lib, VO, live, this

footage. And then I find out that, wow, they really did get a lot of mileage out

of this thing that wasn't so good.

Come on, down goes Cena! Down goes Cena!

Down goes Cena!

It's a reprehensible game.

Always there.

Always on.

So all I got to tell you is, mileage?

I don't know what kind of truck you were driving, but you get a lot out of it.

Tick. His.

You pull into the Boston Garden and hear all these fans.

How you doing, Mr. Cena?

What do you think John's chances are?

You know, it's like, I really don't know. I certainly hope he wins.

Here's Massachusetts' own John Cena!

Every time you see me come out, it's like I'm shot out of a cannon.

Because I'm ready. I'm ready to go. And that's whether you're telling me I suck.

or whether you're telling me that I'm great, it's why I orchestrate you to

continue to make noise, because as a performer, this makes me feel 10 feet

Just audible reaction.

Here's the WWE champion, Ed!

Again, my goal was always to get John cheered.

And we thought maybe Boston would be an easy sell, and it turns out it wasn't.

I'm going to tell you a little story. I'm in Boston Garden. Here's John.

He's up front. He's in the ring.

Well, there's these five guys behind me, all chanting, Cena sucks.

So me, being the big mouth I am, I guess, I turned around to them. I said,

guys, it's okay to say Cena sucks.

They said, thanks, Mr. Cena. I said, but you've got to do me a favor. What's

that? Please take off his T -shirt. These five guys were in a Cena T -shirt

going, Cena sucks.

Make up your mind.

I love it when a group of people have so much energy that it's viscerally

negative towards me.

I also love it when the energy is so overwhelmingly positive, it does lift

up.

Like it's all so wonderful.

We had this match where if I get DQ'd, I lose the championship.

And just that little stipulation adds so many different layers.

The brass

knuckles just felt.

Felt old school.

I believe that was an Arne Anderson call.

It was just trying to come up with a creative way to use something that

been used in a long time.

Was I disappointed?

I guess I was for the fans that were there hoping that this would be it. But

was really happy to see that this feud wasn't done. It would go one step

further, and that would be in Canada.

Let's move on to the spinner belt. How the hell did that come around? Because

was cool.

So you're the guy who thought it was cool.

How I was about the spinner championship belt.

I was much more involved and meticulous about the design, where the diamonds

should be, the size of the diamonds, the shape of the spinner, the size of the

diamonds on the inside of the spinner, where the colored gems should be, the

difference in metal, what the leather should feel like. Like, I was so much

into that.

I hated the spinner belts.

Despised them. When they came to me and said, we're going to do a rate at our

championship, I was like, right, let me get to work.

I went home, I drew up a beautiful championship.

I mean, this thing was badass.

And then I show up and they're like, well, no, we're just going to put your

in. It's like, that's it?

Because Edge wouldn't want a spinner belt.

That, to me, is the one championship that needs to look like a championship,

like somebody's hubcaps.

Why, look, it's my WWE title.

But truth be told, it's really more like John Cena's title.

I think we should remove the last remnants of John Cena.

So, Lita, babe, will you please do the honors for me?

Babe, it would be my pleasure.

Take burial at sea?

Wait a minute, what? Oh, my God.

Oh, there it goes.

Goodbye, sayonara.

Lita throwing the championship into the Long Island Sound, what a great...

vehicle for our story.

Man, I loved it when they did that.

So what? It's the end of a chapter and we'll start a new one.

What the hell is going on?

Oh my.

Isn't it beautiful?

Isn't it gorgeous?

But the cool thing is, it kept us going.

No random force blew up or destroyed or sunk the championship. It was directly

involved in the narrative.

We're fighting to see who's the best.

Bad boys.

You took my property and you threw it away.

A place where I couldn't get it. Something that I really, really covet.

stole from me and then you threw it away.

Ed's just trying to run away from Cena.

Get the camera back there.

Ed's just trying to run out the back of the building.

Ed's out running out the back door.

We need more help out there.

After last night at Summer Slam and after the history of these two men, the

things that Ed has done to John Cena.

Interesting story about Long Island Sound.

I didn't realize that it's the most polluted body of water in the United

I started to get an inkling of that when the divers that were there

to help pull me into the boat were fully, fully covered.

And that's when I went, hmm, I'm in tights.

And then I went home and was sick for a week.

I remember driving to Rochester, New York, because I went to my son Stephen's

house, and Steve and I got into his little old putt -putt car, and we drove

Toronto, Canada, to watch his brother Russell.

I tell you, I thought it was a short ride from Rochester to Toronto.

It was a day filled with...

Question marks.

Questions like, how are the fans going to react when this John Cena kid comes

out? Obviously, they're going to boo him. What are they going to do when Edge

comes out? What if Edge loses?

What's going to happen? What will be the response?

And so all those things are going through your mind. And the closer we got

Toronto, as I spoke to my son Steve, he said, Dad, just relax.

Take it easy. It's going to be all right.

16 ,000 fans have subbed out the Air Canada Center. There have been four

Canadian WWE champions in the history of this company.

Will you listen to this ovation?

Indeed, a huge home field advantage for Edge, who grew up in the shadow of

Toronto, who dreamed quite frankly unsure of this moment as a young man.

Honestly, I think when I first came out, I knew it was going to be special.

And I prided myself on always being the bad guy.

But that reacted with me.

To be main eventing your hometown for the WWE Championship in such a high

-profile match against that generation's Hulk Hogan.

That... Just very, very special.

Well, maybe the first time I've ever heard anyone cheer this guy.

But you're right.

Almost everyone in this arena are on their feet for their hometown favorite.

I'm telling you.

Me not being able to control my pride, my

little kid happiness, that's the one thing that I wish I could go, oh, what

could have turned that crowd?

Maybe I could have turned that crowd.

Because if I could have turned that crowd, now,

Now you're talking.

And that's one thing that if I could have a take back, I'd try for that.

So many times the daunting task as a performer is to

decide like, okay, what do we paint today?

When you walk into a TLC match with Edge, it's a

day off.

Like he invented it.

The match can only end when one man. to climb the ladder and retrieve the WWE

championship belt that is currently around the waist of the champion, Edge.

Plus, Edge has never lost a tables, ladders, and chairs match. Again, he's a

solid guy.

He's a guy that if you're going to go to battle, you want to go to battle with

him, you know, shoulder to shoulder.

That's really what a TLC match is.

You're going into the trenches together.

And hopefully...

you come out relatively unscathed.

We're off and running here again. No pitfalls, no submissions, no

disqualifications, no count -outs.

Only one way to win.

Find the ladder, retreat the title belt, which is hanging high above the ring.

My philosophy on the contact nature of sports entertainment is we're in control

of this.

If you don't feel you can do something, you shouldn't do it.

Oh, boy.

It's not the first time you put on skates and pads or pads

and a helmet for football, or it's not the first time you put two feet in the

paint in basketball.

The joy is being able to play the game. The game comes with its contact.

John's a very physical performer.

It was a hard match, but you know that going in, you know what you're in for.

It was great.

It was great.

The Canadian fans are going crazy, and right behind me is Edge's mother. She

said, I hope they're going to be all right. I said, yes, it's a good match.

work well together.

Very good chemistry between these two.

Furniture.

Now what John Cena got in mind, JR? Cena thinking here.

At one point, John put me in the STF while I was trapped in a ladder.

Because the ladder added an extra distance from his arms, he actually

out. And you can watch me pass out.

I mean, he's going to have to tap out, but it's not going to mean anything.

He's just tapping out.

I just remember hearing an alarm and thinking I was late for an Air Canada

flight and hearing this weird... When I came to, it was me making the noise,

and I was looking up at the Air Canada Center logo that had never been choked

out before.

And then it was just, you know, get to the next thing. I never knew that Adam

was in any sort of jeopardy. And that's also one of those things that, like...

to do a submission hold with a bulky ladder, those are two creative guys

like, we're in this match where these things are different than a normal

We get to use tables, ladders, and chairs. And I think that's all we were

to do. But in looking back on it, probably could have got the point across

without it. I know, I think he's passed out. Remember, submissions and pinfalls

mean zero.

Oh, good grief!

Right between the eyes.

Cena wants this WWE title. Wait, wait, wait, wait. And he'll do any damn thing

he can to get it.

So I have a fear of heights.

John's like his old man. I have a fear of heights myself.

When I climb a ladder, my kids laugh at me because I'm hugging the ladder like

it's my last day.

Yeah, sure, John Cena was afraid of heights. Okay.

Have a good match.

But once again, I only did what I knew I could do.

And I knew it was, you know, hopefully a new take on a maneuver they'd seen

tens of thousands of times before.

He had to get through a lot of nerves to do that.

But he did it. I think it's because it hurts every time you fall down. You kind

of get a gauge for, oh, this one's going to hurt.

Edge, trying to fight, climb back into it. There's Edge.

Edge. Oh, my God.

Ladder to ladder.

Oh, this one's going to more than hurt.

Leader.

Leader.

Leader. Leader.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Zena has passed.

He has burned.

John also was very trusting with me. I think he knew.

that if I were going to throw something at the wall as an idea, it wouldn't be

something I would do myself.

And

I

was probably going to do much stupider things within the match anyway.

There was another moment where I got pushed off the ladders through tables

overshot the tables a little bit.

It was a pretty bad landing.

You just kind of shake it off, and we're this close now.

Well, he knows he's in the driver's seat right now.

Edge and Cena both are the type competitor and the type performer that

it's almost the opposite. They're going to have more energy, and they're going

to have more ability at that time to do the hardest stuff.

You know, looking back at the...

The finish of this match needed to be that exclamation point, not just a

We needed an exclamation point to finish this.

That's what you came here for, John.

You came to win the WWE title.

Cena placing that ladder, well, this is the smartest thing that Cena can do.

I remember really asking him, Like, is this necessary?

It's pretty adamant. I figured that's the way it needs to go down.

Adam

is

comfortable knowing what falls he can withstand and what falls he can't. He is

much more of an iron man than me. I wouldn't do it.

That's what we try and do is create those moments that will live on after

do.

But it also speaks to the trust that I have with John.

I knew I could trust him with my body to help me survive that.

I knew by the time we performed, I wasn't going to do it if I couldn't hit

target. And here's John on top of the ladder. John, don't do this, John!

John turned him.

Edge posted.

He let Edge go.

The God Almighty!

Jesus Almighty!

All I can tell you is, my heart went in my throat.

Because this kid is going through these tables.

And when he hits the bottom, it doesn't move.

And I'm going, oh, man, get up, get up, get up.

I just remember a huge sense of relief because I felt like it was a job well

done. And I feel like Toronto got one hell of a main event.

This was the storyline that truly

made sure that Edge was going to be there.

John, to his credit, was already there.

He was able to help me get to a point where it was going to be sustainable

this.

What you hope for and what you strive for and what the goal should be out of

every storyline is that both characters come away from it stronger.

And I'd like to think that both characters made massive leaps and bounds

through that storyline.

I really hope everyone watching knows just how gifted and caring and

amazing Adam is.

He's a good human being.

He's a great human being.

He loves sports entertainment.

He's given so much to you guys.

And I also think he's aware of what you've given him.

I loved, loved that match.

And the only one I could celebrate with after was my dad because he's the only

swing in the whole building that was cheering for me.

He didn't know I was going to do that.

I just wanted to hug my dad.

For that moment, I can't hear anything. I can just, I can hear my father's

breath.

That's a way for me to tell my dad I love him and to mean him.

That's something that you can never take away.

He's my son.

I love you, John.

I'll always love you.

Love you, kid.