Andrew Ravens
John Cena has opened up about a piece of advice from Booker T that shaped how he approached every WWE match throughout his career.
Speaking in an interview with The Collection, Cena revealed that he and Booker developed a single-word shorthand — “Shakespeare” — that served as a reminder to focus on story and meaning rather than simply executing physical spots. Cena explained the origin and application of the mantra in detail, tying it to the philosophy behind his upcoming film, Little Brother.
“Booker was a mentor and taught me how to find my way as I got a little bit of steam behind my character. We would trade the term ‘Shakespeare’ between each other, because those were the pauses and the ability for us to tell a story.
“The way this transfers to Little Brother is, in the world of physical performance for WWE, you can do physical things, but if you do them with no ‘why’ and no story, they’re essentially meaningless acts. Booker T would always be, ‘Shakespeare baby, Shakespeare.’ It would be a mantra to say before we go out to make sure your ‘why’ is in order, do not rush, let everybody absorb the story, and if we did it well, I would see him when we come back and be like, ‘Shakespeare baby.'”
The usage of that philosophy extended into how Cena broke down the structure of Little Brother, in which he stars alongside Eric Andre.” The comedy film hits Netflix next month.
“Now here we have Little Brother, a physical comedy about a tumultuous relationship between two personalities. Tons of gags, but if you don’t have the ‘why,’ everything is meaningless. I love this movie because not a gag is wasted, not a stunt is wasted. Booker, man. He was one of those. Tell stories,” said Cena.
“We are a storytelling business. If you can do physical great things, excellent. If you do them without meaning, it is worthless.”
