“Beat Each Other Up” – John Cena Once Shed Light on How His Childhood Wrestling Matches With His Family Were Inspired by the Iconic Hulk Hogan

Putting aside every drama that Hulk Hogan has been involved with in the past, the man has left his mark on the wrestling industry. Being the poster child for the business for nearly two decades, it is undeniable that Hogan is anything less than one of the biggest names in the industry. Even WWE’s ultimate babyface John Cena was inspired by the Hulkster in his teenage years.

Revealing in an interview, Cena opened up about how Hogan’s charisma led to wrestling matches in his basement, long before he would start his wrestling career.

John Cena reveals how Hulk Hogan inspired wrestling matches in his basement

When sitting down with Mike Bullard, on his show, Open Mike in 2003, Cena elaborated on his then-rising wrestling career. As it was the beginning of his career, everyone wanted to know how he got started on this path. He responded with a relatable story about wrestling with his brothers in the basement after watching Hogan compete in front of large audiences on TV.

He recalled, “I got four brothers, none of them had a Ken doll. But we always used to wrestle in our basement. Used to wrestle on bare concrete. We would watch the Hulkster on TV and go down in the basement and beat each other up.”

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This comes off as not surprising as Cena was in his early teenage years when Hogan was at his peak in WWE. Also, Cena’s character at the start of the 2010s was also very similar to Hogan’s pre-WCW character as well.

The similarity between Hulk Hogan’s and John Cena’s personas in WWE

Hulk Hogan became a sensation in the ’80s because of the mass appeal of his character. Strong, optimistic, underdog, and nice with children, Hogan was the perfect bankable star that Vince McMahon was looking for. All of those characteristics ring true for Cena’s character as well.

One similarity between them is also that Cena and pre-WCW Hogan never went heel during their time in the spotlight. This was even mocked in Cena’s Firefly FunHouse Match with Bray Wyatt where Cena dressed up as the nWo leader, something that fans desperately wanted out of Cena.

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Tell us what you think about Hogan’s influence on Cena in the comments below.