WWE: Unreal Producer Michael Flynn: John Cena Sat With Us For 90 Minutes For Season 3, I Think We Were Originally Given A 45 Minute Window

WWE: Unreal producer Michael Flynn speaks about John Cena featuring as part of the third season of the show.

The third season of WWE: Unreal would feature coverage on the back end of Cena’s retirement tour, including his matches with Brock Lesnar, Dominik Mysterio and finally, Gunther at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event.

While speaking to Hard Rock Bet in a new interview, WWE: Unreal producer Michael Flynn spoke about Cena’s story in the third season of the show, noting that they were originally allocated 45 minutes with the Hollywood star, with Cena sitting with them for double that time.

“He is amazing. Again, sorry to go back to the beginning of the series, but everybody was sort of hesitant because this is something that’s never been told before. He agreed to do an interview with us for season one. He was great in season one, but I think there was still some hesitancy as to how it would come across and how we would tell their story. Between seasons one and three, he came out publicly and said that we did an amazing job telling his story. He gave credit to Omaha Productions and our partners at NFL Films for the way they told his story. I’ve interviewed him, and to let that come across on screen meant a lot because he’s one of the biggest superstars in the world. We weren’t sure that, with him retiring, he was going to sit down with us for season three and give us another interview. He did. He went out of his way to make sure he sat down with us. I think we were originally given a 45-minute window. He sat for 90 minutes. If you’ve watched the episodes, you should hear it in the way he talks. He is so genuine. He was so thorough in speaking through every single part of his retirement tour, beat by beat, and admitting that some things, maybe, like you said, didn’t go to plan. Triple H approached him in the middle of it and said, “I think we need to pivot a little bit here. He was completely accepting of that and went on with it. I think it made for a great story. He is incredible. At Omaha Productions, our founder is Peyton Manning, who knows a thing or two about being a champion as well. Peyton recorded a video for John for his final Saturday Night’s Main Event in Washington, D.C., along with many other retired superstars and celebrities. John sent him an incredibly gracious thank-you text afterwards. Then, right before this season came out, John—again, we didn’t ask him to promote anything—but he tweeted our trailer, which is something we never expected in a million years that he would do. Peyton sent him a text thanking him, and John sent back another incredibly gracious message. He’s the best.”

Elsewhere in the same interview, Flynn spoke about the possibility of Cody Rhodes featuring more in season 4. You can read more about that here.