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John Cena was interviewed by Craveonline. Here are a few excerpts from the interview:

Crave Online: Since you did The Marine, do you have an extra special connection with the troops over there?

John Cena: Of course, although The Marine was just a movie and very little of it was about actually service in the Marine Corps. One of the added bonuses that I got was actually touring a bunch of military bases. We premiered the movie at Camp Pendleton in front of the Marine Corps. I got trained for two days at Parris Island which is my description of hell on earth. They whipped me up pretty good over there. Those two days showed me just such a newfound respect for what these men and women go through just to get in. Then when they’re in, the sacrifice they make for their country, that really put me on par as to what it takes to wear that uniform.

Crave Online: Have there been any close calls while you’ve been over there?

John Cena: Yeah, nothing with IED’s which is a big problem over there right now, which is like a landmine device. We’ve been shelled a few times with mortar fire. That was very early on, 2003 to 2005. The conflict down there really is calming down. I talked to Major General Hammond for a bit. He’s in charge of the 4th Infantry Division. He was explaining that casualties are down about 75% for his deployment which that speaks volumes to the progress that everybody is making over there, that they’re not only acting as police they’re acting as administrators and setting up a network where the Iraqis can take that over themselves. They’re really doing a heck of a job over there.

Crave Online: What’s going on for your movie career? I know you finished 12 Rounds with Renny Harlin.

John Cena: Well, 12 Rounds is wrapped. The release date will be March 27, so it’ll be available in theaters March 27. Hopefully, if everything goes on schedule, maybe I’ll start filming another movie hopefully sometime in May. I don’t know. That’s still kind of in the works.

Crave Online: Did the military aspects of your ring persona, the salute, the dog tags, etc., did that come before you got involved with Tribute to the Troops?

John Cena: No, that was just a gradual development of my character. Certainly those overseas trips helped me in really displaying that because, like the salute certainly is a personal thing for me to everybody defending this country. The dog tags, they have the names of all my family members and I wear them around my neck because I don’t have any tattoos. The shirts, like I said, are just any slogan that I really want to put on front street. I really want to make sure that it’s a positive motivational message. A lot of that ideology I take from the military. So it was a general slow development of my character, but those trips certainly did help in molding that. To REAd the COMPLETE INTERVIEW GO HERE>>>>>>