Nearly a year ago, John Cena sat down on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast and dropped a moment that flew under some radars — but for queer listeners (and their emotionally fluent straight allies), it landed like a steel chair of pure allyship.
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The episode wasn’t trending. There were no viral TikToks or PR stunts. Just Cena, talking about growing up with his gay older brother, Steve, in 1980s small-town Massachusetts — and the quiet, unflinching way he decided to stand up for him.
“I took on the role of, ‘Hey, if you say something to the younger brothers, I will do my best to throw myself in harm’s way. It’s going to stop here.’”
That sentence alone is a whole queer sibling fantasy. A younger brother — future WWE megastar, no less — deciding before puberty that bullying his brother for being different wasn’t going to fly on his watch.
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At the time, Cena was recalling life as one of five boys — enough, he joked, to field a basketball team — in a town not exactly known for embracing nerds or queers. Steve, the eldest, ticked a few unpopular boxes: gay, introverted, computer-obsessed.
“Life was tough for my brother in high school,” Cena said. “Not only was he an introvert and interested in computers. He’s also gay. And being gay in the 1980s in a small town in Massachusetts… man, that’s an uphill climb.”
Cena was just 10 when he started picking up on the playground politics and social minefields his brother had to navigate. “I really feel for what it must have been like for him growing up,” he said. “But I also inherited that chapter of his social constructs. And, man, it got me to learn how to lose a few fights [laughs].”
Let’s be clear: Cena wasn’t out here giving TED Talks on allyship. He was just a kid who noticed things were unfair and decided to do something about it — quietly, consistently, sometimes with his fists.
And yet, it’s that very quietness that still resonates 11 months later.
Sure, Cena has publicly supported the LGBTQ+ community throughout his career — and yes, there was that standout 2013 moment when he coolly shut down TMZ’s locker-room homophobia by saying, “My brother is gay.” But it’s the image of a ten-year-old Cena standing up for Steve in the lunchroom or schoolyard that hits the hardest now.
Because let’s face it: allyship isn’t always a grand gesture. Sometimes it’s a protective instinct. Sometimes it’s a kid saying, This ends with me.
Looking back on that interview today, what lingers is not just the story itself, but the reminder that real support isn’t about optics. It’s about showing up — again and again — for someone, even when no one’s watching. Even when it’s risky. Even when you’re 10 and don’t totally understand the stakes.
So no, this moment didn’t break the internet. But maybe it should have.
Because for every queer person who’s ever felt alone in a hostile place, Cena’s story isn’t just heartwarming — it’s proof that sometimes the biggest guy in the room is the safe space.
And for those of us who didn’t have a John Cena growing up, it’s still powerful to know he exists — and that someone like Steve got the brother we all deserved.
Cena is just all round the GOAT of WWE
Sorry Rock fans, the Brama Bull is not quite the man that The Leader Of The Cenation is.
And as a bi man……. I would hell suck John Cena’s dong right after he’s pulled it out of whichever Bella he was married to. In saying all that – whilst I presume Cena has a 7.5” cut and thick schlong – I do think the Rock’s packing bigger than Cena and is uncut. Whilst I am sure that both holes of both Bella’s taste great……..i am convinced that both of Stef’s are next level delicious.
And if the people i’ve made these presumptions about want to let me find out first hand; I’d even blow Shane who i reckon has a tiny and limp dick; but make him believe that I’m astonished by how big it is until he gives me a protein shake which I think his jizz would rival how tasty Stef’s holes are…. And huge serving size of nut juice
I feel for zoomies and people whose lives revolve around getting their news, opinions and even their feelings from folks yelling at them on You Tube or on TikToks, between companies trying to sell them fast fashions and endless amounts of mostly plastic crap.
I mean, if it didn’t go viral, it certainly didn’t happen, amirite?
People wouldn’t hear about Cena without those clicks and influencers seeking clout.
Dax Shepard is also actually interesting, for different reasons, but none of them are specifically queer focuses so let’s leave it at that.