CM Punk Praises John Cena’s Acting: WWE Gets You Accustomed To Improv, It’s Live Theater

CM Punk is not surprised at John Cena’s success.

Along with Dave Bautista (Batista), The Rock, John Cena, and other wrestlers; CM Punk has transitioned over to Hollywood, starring in select horror films and “Heels.” Batista, The Rock, and Cena have all had success and shown off their various acting chops in different roles and Punk can’t help but be impressed.

“100 percent, but I’m also not surprised,” Punk told Shakiel Mahjouri of ET Canada when asked if he was impressed with Cena’s acting. “I think a lot of people conflate the two. You see a guy like Dave Bautista killing it with this myriad of different roles. Dave can do comedy, Dave can do drama, he can do it all. Cena has always been that funny guy. I always thought behind the scenes, and I think anybody who has worked with him always thought. A lot of the guys at that top-level in WWE may not want to admit it, but alls we are are theatre actors. We’re doing live theatre every Monday, every Friday, Thursday, Tuesday, whatever the hell the schedule is now. All that is, is theatre. It gets you accustomed to improv and working on the fly. I read James Gunn said that John Cena was the best improv actor he’s ever worked with. That does not surprise me in the least. We do it every week for decades. When we transition to film, I think people are pleasantly surprised like, ‘Oh wow, I thought you were just going to be this muscled up stiff guy.’ I’m not surprised that John is killing it.”

Cena is set to star in the upcoming Peacemaker series, which premieres on HBO MAX in January 2022.

Punk is currently signed to AEW and picked up a victory over Powerhouse Hobbs at AEW Rampage Grand Slam.