While John Cena goes by a lot of different names as a member of the WWE Universe, from “The Face That Runs the Place,” to the “Doctor of Thuganomics” and even the “Champ,” the moniker utilized most as of late is simply “The GOAT,” aka the greatest of all time.

On paper, it makes sense, right? Cena is tied for the most world championship reigns in the company's history alongside Ric Flair, and even if he's slowly winding down his career, there's still plenty of time to add a few more accolades to one of the most impressive resumes of any homegrown talent in WWE history.

And yet, who does Cena think is the “GOAT?” Does he buy his own hype, or is there another performer he would tip his cap for? Well, Corey Graves and Kevin Patrick asked him that very question on After The Bell and gave fans a very interesting answer indeed.

“He's a sponge, and he's athletic, super intelligent, and a fan of this, and I mean all of this. Most importantly, a fan of psychology. I say the WWE Universe is the biggest superstar we have. Roman navigated those waters without them. Here's the thing with Roman, I don't think Roman is Roman if he doesn't have a time to work in front of no crowd. The crowd is so against the fact that the company believed in Roman Reigns…I set the precedent of ‘Company guy, see ya.' Everyone has a tough hill to climb once they become pushed. There is a giant ray behind the curtain, we all know that too. ‘We have to be careful how this happens because we don't want this to happen.' That absolutely happened with Roman. It was when the crowd wasn't there that you're able to take more chances, that Roman could be himself. There wasn't anyone to be like, ‘That sucked, that didn't work,' because you don't have the instant feedback. Night after night, it becomes this extremely nuanced soft-spoken character that is not the ‘welcome to SmackDown!' that they're used to. As soon as they bring people back in, he had done such a riveting program, that it was, ‘Man, I want to see this guy.' He has done it better than anybody I have ever seen. He's the Greatest of All Time, in my opinion,” Cena said on WWE After The Bell via Fightful.

“Me watching it, it was very difficult for some performers to work to that crowd, I definitely would have been that person. Roman leaned into everything they gave him and really made it cinematic and so nuanced, and so incredible. He got the viewer to (pay attention), without the energy of the audience. I don't have that tool. I don't know how I would be able to do that because I've never done it. The Firefly Fun House was it. It's a very interesting environment when you don't have an audience.”

Is Roman Reigns really a contender for the GOAT? Well, considering he's the longest-reigning champion in modern WWE history during the most financially successful period in the promotion's history, it's safe to say Reigns has Superman Punched his way into that conversation, which is a pretty incredible accomplishment indeed.

John Cena reveals he got SAG permission to appear in WWE.

Elsewhere in his appearance on After The Bell, John Cena discussed his return to the WWE Universe and how the current actor's strike played a part in his availability.

While Cena has admitted in the past that he will return to acting when a deal has been reached, on ATB, he revealed that his return actually got the blessing of his union, as he wanted to make sure he was on the up-and-up before making a deal with WWE.

“Well, that’s certainly a happening that’s beyond my control. So, I’m fortunate enough to have a lot of things on the movie and television side lined up – none of which I can talk about because we’re in the middle of a labor dispute,” John Cena said on After The Bell via F4W. “Then the labor dispute happens and the Screen Actors Guild decides as an entirety to go on strike, which either leaves me idle or asking questions of, ‘Well, what can I do? What is within my control?' And I wanted to see if it was okay to come back to tour. So we called the proper people at SAG, we got written, legal okay that it would be okay to come back to WWE. And once I had that, then I could ask the question of, ‘Hey, WWE, do you guys want me to come back and hang out for a little bit?’ So – here we are.”

Whoa, while some fans questioned Cena's decision to return to WWE during an actor's strike, as his position could be viewed as weakening SAG's negotiation position, if he got the permission of his union, then this run really is nothing but desserts for fans of wrestling and proper labor standards alike.