"WWE: The John Cena Experience" Review

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

I remember when "The John Cena Experience" was being plugged on Monday Night Raw constantly in late 2010, and it was during a time that John Cena was supposed to be "fired" from WWE! I mean, how asinine is that? I realize they didn't plan to release the DVD around the time of an angle where Cena was fired, but it was still terrible timing. Nevertheless, I never opted to check it out because I figured it was like every other Cena DVD that had been released. Seeing how he's the current face of the company, I assumed there had been countless other DVDs that covered Cena's career in the past. While I'm still not sure how many Cena documentaries were released before this one, I can admit that I misjudged this one in particular.

The Beyond the Ring section on the WWE Network is loaded with awesome documentaries and I made it a goal to watch every single one of them. The only two I hadn't watched were Big Show's and John Cena's and after completing Big Show's (which you can read my review of here), I started watching Cena's. Like most WWE released documentaries, it was two hours in length, but it was very different that any other WWE documentary I've ever seen. I usually really like WWE's style of documentaries but the way they went about Cena's was different from the norm by showing his day-to-day life and I really enjoyed it.

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John Cena gets a lot a flack from fans, sometimes understandably so. The "his character is so stale" and "he doesn't most of his opponents seriously" arguments are both accurate are both of them are at the fault of Cena and WWE's Creative Team. It isn't Cena's fault that he wins all the time, but you'd think he'd stop telling stupid, unfunny jokes after a while. However, that's beside the point. The point is that Cena, whether you like his on-air persona or not, is a pretty great person outside the ring. I, myself, might not be a fan of Cena as a Superstar (though he has proven in recent years he can in fact wrestle and hang with the best of them), but I am a fan of him as a fan.

It's a pretty well-known fact that Cena does a lot of a charity work, but I still think some people just don't get it. Cena does a lot for WWE in terms of promotion, charity and other stuff that goes unnoticed more often than not. This DVD gives fans a chance to understand what exactly Cena goes through in his daily life when he isn't competing within the confines of a squared circle. Yes, it does start out with some background information on Cena, but aside from that, it mostly covers all the events he attends, movies and shows he shoots (including one of my favorite shows "Psych"), charities he takes part in. Some of the material covered can range from a few minutes to several, but nothing drags on for the most part.

One of the first things he participates in is Tribute to the Troops, the annual event where WWE does a show overseas for those that fight for our country, the United States. It's one of the most respectable things WWE does as a company each year and it comes as no surprise that Cena always takes part in it. He doesn't show emotion much throughout the DVD, but one thing you never see him complain. If anything, he's happy to do whatever he's filmed doing, especially when meeting the troops. It's a heart-warming feature and a very nice way to kick off the documentary.

As you could probably tell, the documentary began filming in December 2009 and ended shortly after WrestleMania 26. It may not seem like a long time on paper, especially considering that documentaries for some Superstars are filmed for up to a year, but keep in mind that this is around WrestleMania season, WWE's busiest time of year. Thus, there are a lot of sporting and charity events that Cena attends during this time and takes part in. He was at the front of some parade and it was comical to see everyone in the crowd rush up to the car just to get a picture of him or shake his hand. Even the officials at the events said when interviewed they had never seen anything like that before. It just goes to show just how popular and how mainstream Cena is with kids and families in general.

There was a lot of content to cover in the span of two years and while they did a good job of going in-depth on some topics, the documentary did feel like it was dragging at times. That's merely nitpicking, however, as the rest of the documentary and the way it was done was simply excellent. It's really an eye opener for fans. Not just those that don't know of Cena's outside work but even people like me that are aware of what he does outside of the ring but never knew it was to this extent. Cena comes off as cold sometimes without showing any emotion, but no one is ecstatic all the time. As previously mentioned, he maintains a positive, hardworking attitude throughout and in a nutshell, it's inspiring.

Perhaps the funniest part of the entire documentary came toward the end at what appeared to be a Raw taping. I forget what portion of the DVD this was and what the topic at end was, but it showed Cena walking up and down a hallway signing Cody Rhodes' old "Smoke and Mirrors" entrance theme (when he was still "Dashing") in a high-pitched voice and it was absolutely hysterical. I've seen the clip on YouTube several times before and never knew where it was from but seeing on this DVD made me laugh.

Don't think that only Cena fans will be interested in watching this DVD. Actually, I'd probably recommended this documentary to more Cena haters than Cena fans because it can really change your perspective on the guy. There will always be people that will forever blindly hate Cena and nothing will ever change their mind, but it's a worth a shot, so I'd suggest they check this DVD out. While it's two hours long, it goes by pretty quickly and all the content and topics covered are pretty intriguing. As someone who already had admiration for Cena the person, this documentary made me respect him even more as a human being. Love him or hate him, Cena is an inspirational idol to many and it's easy to see why after watching this DVD.

Should you watch this movie? Yes.