John Cena Is The New Arnold Schwarzenegger For So Many Reasons
When Arnold Schwarzenegger first pivoted from the world of professional bodybuilding to Hollywood, everyone thought the notion was funny. However, it was Arnold who got the last laugh. His films have made $4 billion worldwide, and we can see a path where a similar thing happens for professional wrestler-turned-actor John Cena.
John Cena Can Understand Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger has broken many barriers in his lifetime. Anything anyone said he couldn’t do, he did it. Born in a small village in Austria, it was “The American Dream” he wanted and he got it.
Arnold started bodybuilding and won Mr. Olympia seven times. After conquering that world, he moved on to action films, but the real secret to Arnold’s success in that field is his ability to do action and comedy at the same time. This is something John Cena understands as well.
Arnold Moved To Comedy
There are so many examples of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s domination in the action comedy category: Kindergarten Cop (“It’s not a tumor”), True Lies (“You’re fired”) and Twins (“Thank you for the cookies, I look forward to tossing them”).
In fact, just last night, at the Oscars, the audience was delighted to see Twins stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito reunite on stage.
Winner Jennifer Lame actually started her acceptance speech by saying “I love the movie Twins.” Arnold’s comedy chops are nothing to turn your nose up at, and same goes for John Cena.
John Cena At The Oscars
Let’s return to last night, at The Oscars. Host Jimmy Kimmel spoke of the fact that it was the anniversary of the famous Oscars streaker, who, in 1974 ran across the stage flashing a peace sign … and that wasn’t all he flashed.
It was a setup for John Cena to come out and do something similar. Cut to John standing completely naked center stage, holding only a card over his Cena. It was one of the best moments of the show.
Understanding Comedy And Action
Like Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Cena understands action and comedy. Like Arnold, Cena started his film career with action flicks. One of Cena’s first big films was 2006’s The Marine, in which a group of diamond thieves kidnaps the wife of a recently discharged marine who goes on a chase to save her. However, Cena really started making a name for himself in films where he started showing off his comedic skills.
John Cena In Trainwreck
2015’s Trainwreck comes to mind, co-starring Amy Schumer. John and Amy sit in a movie theater and get into a fight with a man sitting behind them.
The man refers to Cena’s character as Mark Wahlberg to which Cena replies “Mark Wahlberg is like 150 pounds! I’m 250 lean – I look like Mark Wahlberg ate Mark Wahlberg!” His delivery is on point.
John Cena In Ricky Stanicky
John Cena certainly isn’t the only person following in the footsteps of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has gone on to crush the film world after starting in professional wrestling.
Johnson does have the comedic chops, too, but Cena seems to go the extra mile. For example, in his new comedy Ricky Stanicky on Amazon, Cena plays “Rock Hard Rod”, an x-rated rock and roll impersonator.
At one point in the film, he is dressed as Britney Spears from her “…Baby One More Time” music video. Director Peter Farrelly told Uproxx that Cena memorized not just his lines, but the entire script.
We think it’s safe to say John Cena is the new Arnold Schwarzenegger, although Arnold may not like to hear that considering he’s still working. Time will tell if Cena moves on to politics like Arnold did, although, in 2022, Cena did star as the titular candidate in the political movie The Independent.
