Rob Conway recently recalled working with John Cena during Cena’s tenure in OVW, including being present for Cena’s WWE debut. Prior to joining WWE, Conway had faced Cena, who was then known as The Prototype. Cena’s WWE debut took place when he confronted Kurt Angle.
Conway shared his recollections of working with Cena during an appearance on ‘Insight With Chris Van Vliet.’ Key moments from the interview are featured below.
Early Matches With John Cena
“Yeah, another guy that, oddly enough, he was the first one at practice and the last one to leave. Not the most talented athlete. By far, the most talented promo guy I’ve ever seen. I still feel like what you’ve seen on television, he’s got way more to give from a promo standpoint, because he was a babyface all those years. In OVW, he was a heel the whole time. I was driving with him on his debut in the WWE. It was the two of us; we stayed in the hotel, went up, got to the building, and Michael Hayes sat down with us and said, ‘John, you know what you’re doing tonight? He was like, ‘Nope.’ He goes, ‘You’re going against Kurt Angle.’ He was like, ‘Okay.’ He had like Zack Morris type of hair, was like shaved on the side and long on top, it’s blonde, and they said we want you to get a haircut, and it was before we had the people backstage to do it, so I had to give him the rental car keys so he’d get his hair cut. He was a babyface that night. I don’t think he’d ever been a babyface. He was always a heel as The Prototype.”
Cena Didn’t Know He Was Facing Kurt Angle
“Yeah, and then he did like three or four moves that he’d never done; I think he did a victory roll. I mean, heels don’t do those moves. As Prototype, he wrestled a lot bigger than he did as John Cena, because he, as John Cena, he has to sell. So as a heel, you’re pretty indestructible when you look like him.”
