The Fast and the Curious

Pro wrestling, raunchy comedy, children’s books, action flicks.... There’s not much that John Cena won’t try. And at age 43, he’s just getting started.

- By Mickey Rapkin

IT IS NOT CLEAR HOW WE GOT ON THIS topic, but John Cena and I are discussing the joys of sipping red wine. “I enjoy red wine for the same reason I enjoy a cup of coffee or an occasional cigar,” he says. “They’re vehicles for connection. You cannot chug red wine. It’s easy to chug a cold beer, it’s easy to do a shot. But strong coffee is to be sipped. Red wine is the same. Especially, like the bolder cab—it’s a vehicle for conversation.”

If this isn’t the kind of trash talk you were expecting from the square jawed actor and global face of the WWE, Cena knows that and, well, that’s on you.

We’re standing inside a fancy photo studio in Hollywood, a cavernous space with vaulted ceilings, the afternoon sun streaming in through massive skylights. Loud club bangers scream from some unseen speakers. Cena is currently promoting F9—the latest installment in The Fast & The Furious franchise (due out in April 2021) and also his first. So here he is, posing with one of the film’s gorgeous co-stars: a 1968 matte black Dodge Charger (driven by Vin Diesel’s character in the film). The 800-horsepower custom roadster, constructed of carbon fiber, may be the most beautiful thing in the movie (after Charlize Theron), and it comes with a chaperone, who tells me the car’s tank is designed to hold less than a gallon of gas to prevent explosions when filming stunt crashes.