John Cena Discovered Mason Rook On His Hotel TV While Filming ‘Matchbox: The Movie’ In Budapest
John Cena learned about Mason Rook while filming a movie.
Cena was one of the first names to celebrate Rook when he debuted for NXT back in April. Cena recently told Metro discovered the former Will Kroos on his hotel TV while he was filming ‘Matchbox: The Movie’ in Hungary,
‘I didn’t have access to a lot of sports entertainment live, especially with the time change, and the only stuff I would watch is, they ran a UK wrestling program on broadcast television, on my hotel TV. I think it was every Wednesday night, and I would consistently see Will Kroos do his thing, and the promotion he was working with. I was floored. And here’s the thing: he’s known for the moves. I was floored by his storytelling.”
Cena even raved about Rook to his wife, Shay Shariatzadeh.
“I would tell my wife, like, “I gotta watch this kid” She’s like, ‘What are you doing watching this English UK indie broadcast?’ I’m like, ‘This kid is good. He can tell stories, and he moves great!'”
A year before he signed with the company, Mason Rook was an extra for a March episode Raw in Glasgow. Cena marked out when this happened..
“We [WWE] did Glasgow, I think it was, and I was hoping, ‘Man, I know we have UK extras here. What if we walk into the room and Will Kroos is there? I will like lose my mind’ and that’s exactly what happened. All the additional talent was kind of being shepherded into taking their physicals and stuff, and Will Kroos is one of them and I stopped dead.”
Cena recalled what he told Rook during that moment.
“Yo, dude, I’m a huge fan of yours. The way you tell stories, the way you carry yourself, what you’re doing is appropriate. Anyone can learn to do the physical stuff with enough practice. You have the nuance that very few performers have.”
After admitting that he was surprised by Rook’s NXT debut, Cena took a moment to point out specific things that Mason Rook does well.
“I watched him get himself counted out in a match against a Rey Mysterio-like opponent, and everything he did made sense. I watched him in a further match; it was like a championship match, and he somehow made himself this big unstoppable force, but also somehow was able to get defeated with dignity. He’s a very intelligent performer, and a lot of times you see at a younger age aspirational performers who want to do crazy stuff, but their in-ring intelligence, they just don’t have enough time or attention. I was floored by his storytelling.”
Cena rounded out the conversation by saying that the sky is the limit for Rook.
Check out the current lineup for the September 22 episode of WWE NXT by clicking here. Fightful will have full coverage of the show as it airs.
Special thanks to Metro for providing the quote(s) featured in this article.
