While much of John Cena‘s current media blitz to help promote his Amazon movie Ricky Stanicky has been about his wrestling future, asking when he plans to hang up his boots, what he thinks about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson's return, etc, the 16-time champion has had no issue talking about his past either, even his most recent pairing within the WWE Universe alongside LA Knight.

Discussing his short but sweet pairing with the “Megastar” in an Insight interview with Chris Van Vliet, Cena put the 41-year-old over, celebrating his gifts as a performer.

“There is a situation where, I want to say, he’s gifted. That’s not the right thing to say. What I should say is man, he has worked to get his talent,” John Cena told Chris Van Vliet via Fightful. “He is the embodiment of perseverance and hard work and believing in himself. He has earned every inch. It was really really fun to be in there with him.”

Asked if he knew Knight was going to reference his former gimmick, the Doctor of Thuganomics, in their program, Cena said no, but appreciated it all the same, as he's certainly no stranger to digging for treasure in another performer's past.

“Nope. I like performers who have ammo. I know he had more, and he didn’t spend some of the rounds. I like that preparation, I like that over preparation. I like that belief in self. He is authentically LA Knight,” John Cena noted. “I believe everything he does. His mannerisms. His story is awesome. He’s not afraid to tell it. I got to see him mature just in the short time I was there. I got to be the ref for his match. To see the way he worked them to his philosophy in the tag match, and then to watch his matches after that. I could see him gain confidence, even in that short period of time. That’s what gets me to the edge of my seat and gets me going.”

Though their pairing was short, that doesn't take away from its sweetness, as in another life, or at least something like 6-9 years ago, this duo could have gone on a legitimate run and maybe even hung tag team gold around their waists for their troubles. Still, what the duo committed to tape was still valuable, as even if Knight didn't perfectly execute his role in their program, it still did its job all the same.

LA Knight made one crucial mistake with John Cena at Payback.

What, you may ask, did “even if Knight didn't perfectly execute his role in their program” mean exactly? Well, as the “Megastar” noted in an appearance on Gorilla Position, he was given a hard time for the end of his match with The Miz at Payback, where he jaw-jacked with “The Champ” before accepting his hand being raised.

Still, in the end, Cena had no issue with the creative call, and the duo even called back to it in order to make their connection all the stronger.

“Had the match with The Miz, here is Cena as the guest referee. I win that match, there is the back and forth we had. We're at the entryway, it's me and John, he goes to shake my hand, and I kind of hesitate, and I come up and am jaw-jacking with him. I kind of acquiesced and he raises the hand. I get to the back and somebody says, ‘You can't do that to John. That's John Cena. You can't just shake his hand, you raise his hand.' I was like, ‘Thank you, I see your advice, I see why you would say that, but I have to trust myself in this process and trust who I am and what I'm doing.' When I talked to John, he was like, ‘You did the right thing. You did the right thing by you,'” Knight recalled on Gorilla Position via Fightful.

“At Fastlane, the match ends, he goes to raise my hand, and I pulled out. When I did that, he goes, ‘You son of a b**ch.' He knew then. He wanted to give me a hand raise, and at that point, I wanted to call back to the moment we had at The Miz match where we had the tension. He wanted to raise the hand, ‘No, we're not doing that,' boom, give him the respect.”

Did this “misunderstanding,” if you can even call it that, impact fan enjoyment of the segments? Nope, for the most part, the program went off without a hitch and was incredibly popular for everything it was. Still, it's interesting to learn the “inside baseball” of the segment, as it showcases just how much goes into relatively minor interactions within the WWE Universe.