Dijak Reflects On Only Match With WWE's John Cena, Hopes To Share Film Sets With Him

Former WWE star Donovan Dijak has recalled the one time that he shared the ring with John Cena and what he learned from the WWE legend. 

Dijak, whose WWE contract expired recently, discussed how Cena asked to face him and his former tag team partner Mace, in a dark match. In his conversation on "Wrestling With Things," Dijak had nothing but praise for the veteran star.

"I got to wrestle John Cena — and a lot of people don't know this but it was a tag team match between me and Mace, my tag partner, and John and Matt Riddle as a post-show dark match," revealed the former WWE star. " Once I heard that he was retiring and I'm obviously no longer with the company, so [I thought] there goes any chance of me working him ever again. I was just kind of happy that I got the chance to work with him the one time. That was his choice; I was told that he went to Vince [McMahon] and he asked to work with me and Mace. So we were honored to hear that, we were thrilled to hear that."

The match that Dijak referred to happened after the 26 July edition of "WWE Raw," when he was portraying the T-Bar gimmick as part of the RETRIBUTION faction. Cena and his tag team partner, Matt Riddle, got the win in that dark match in Kansas City, Missouri. 

John Cena, who is set to call time on his legendary career, also had some words of wisdom for Dijak and Mace. Dijak delved into the conversation he had with John Cena regarding the match, and his philosophy in pro wrestling, which he has incorporated into his in-ring repertoire.

"We were able to talk with him about the about the match and his philosophy and risk-taking and taking calculated risks and things like that. A lot of that stuck and resonated and I've been trying to apply that, and I've been working on some of the cadence stuff that he works with and some of the communication stuff that he works with, listening to the crowd ... all those sorts of things," said Dijak. 

Dijak revealed that he and Cena bonded over them being from Massachusetts, and the former WWE star disclosed that Cena's father was even his manager in the indies.

"Just on a personal level he was just a super nice guy," he said. "It was just nice to be around him and to talk about life and stuff like that and, you know, I hope one day that I can be on movie sets with him too because I know he's going to do that for a very, very long time," he said.

He praised Cena's acting ability while stating that he, like Cena, would like to have a career in Hollywood after he calls time on his pro wrestling career.