Cena battles cold during title match

[Guest notJames]

Cena battles cold during title match

by Phil Speer

 

WORCESTER, Mass. – April 27, 2003 – There was a group of 20 people, family and friends, here tonight to see John Cena. He was in one of the main events, competing for the WWE Championship against Brock Lesnar. He just celebrated a birthday.

 

The only thing that was lacking for Cena tonight was his health.

 

“My head is killing me (and) my voice is gone,” Cena said after his match with Brock Lesnar tonight. Cena has been fighting a cold since Tuesday.

 

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Happy belated birthday, C-Note.

He said he was having trouble breathing during the match. “And unfortunately, oxygen equals life,” he said. “I just got real tired.”

 

But he said that his illness just made him more intense out there, and he was pleased with his performance in what he called “definitely the biggest match of my life.”

 

He was certainly feeling great when he went out to the ring. He did a rap and his entrance music played. When he got to the ring, he spotted his cousin, Trademarc, sitting in the fourth row. Trademarc (TrademarcMusic.com) helped him put together his entrance theme, and got him into freestyle rapping in the first place. Cena said that when he saw his cousin staring right at him, it was such an emotional moment that he almost started crying.

 

“It was good to be back here,” said Cena, a West Newbury, Mass., native who went to school 30 minutes from here, at Springfield College. “It’s good for people to see, ‘This kid’s making a run at it.’”

 

College buddies that watched Cena tonight now know that he’s come a long way since his freshman year, when he once walked around school wearing nothing but a football helmet.

 

Cena said he wasn’t feeling any pressure tonight even though it was such a big match.

 

“You can’t think like that,” he said. “You can’t think, ‘I don’t want to mess up.’ You can’t think in the defensive. You’ve got to go for the brass ring. You may fall on your face a few times, but if you stop going, you’re done.”

 

The match tonight made Cena appreciate and respect Brock Lesnar even more. Cena said he remembers seeing Lesnar for the first time in the developmental ranks and thinking that he was big and nasty, and had a good look. But wrestling him tonight, as well as in February on SmackDown!, has changed his perspective.

 

“It went from, ‘he’s big and nasty,’ to ‘he’s good,’” Cena said, adding that Lesnar has outstanding ring presence to go along with his physical gifts. “He doesn’t know how much of a privilege it was for me to be in there with him.”

[Mecha Mummy 0]

Well, if that's legit, then Cena has an excuse for his (apparently) lacking performance last night. Total bummer that his big match had to come at such a bad time, but he tried.

[Guest notJames]

Yeah. Decent effort despite being under the weather. Kinda explains all those extended rest periods (I hope).