《Matchbox: The Movie》主演约翰·塞纳评价科迪·罗兹“Wild Guile” Street Fighter 宣传活动（独家）

WWE superstars are taking over the movie business this fall: You can catch John Cena leading Apple TV’s new spy-action buddy-comedy film, Matchbox: The Movie, while Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes will be bringing iconic fighters from the Street Fighter games to life in Paramount’s highly anticipated reboot film, which is now releasing in theaters.

Both Cena and Rhodes have been out in public doing press to promote their respective movies, and being professional wrestlers, they couldn’t help but end up cutting promos at one another. We’re kidding, mostly: when ComicBook’s Chris Killian got to talk to John Cena about Matchbox, he had to ask how Cena felt about Cody “borrowing” one of his most famous press tour stunts.

John Cena Praises Cody Rhodes As “Wild Guile”

If you don’t know: when The Suicide Squad (2021) and Peacemaker Season 1 were released, John Cena did the entire press tours for both projects in character (and costume) as Christopher Smith/Peacemaker. It was a natural extension of Cena’s WWE superstar persona, which requires a similar set of flamboyant costuming and braggadocio performance. It also got fans very used to Peacemaker as a character and endeared Cena to the fanbase before Peacemaker ever stepped onscreen.

“When we were doing The Suicide Squad, I learned from WWE how important it is to show the character, be in character, show the uniform. So The Suicide Squad was a movie with a bunch of superheroes. I chose to do all the media in character because nobody knew Peacemaker. And because of that, that might have been a small piece of allowing Peacemaker to exist in a universe beyond The Suicide Squad.”

Cody Rhodes is taking a similar approach with his Street Fighter promotional tour: the WWE superstar has been doing some press events in character as Guile, the USAF officer who sports a one-of-a-kind head of hair. Cena was openly supportive of Rhodes taking the method approach to doing Street Fighter press, saying, “I championed Cody for his ability to lean into his part, and people know Cody Rhodes, but maybe people don’t remember Guile from Street Fighter; or maybe it brings up nostalgia to see somebody dressed as Guile from Street Fighter.”

As a WWE veteran, Cena really seemed to appreciate Cody Rhodes being a pro, and doing the real job: promoting the movie. “Really, hats off to Cody for being brave enough to take a moment that could be focused on him as a person, and he realizes that it’s larger than that, and the goal is to make sure people enjoy the movie and know your character when you see it.”

Cody Rhodes Responds to John Cena Comments On His Street Fighter Press Tour

Chris Killian has been busy! ComicBook’s intrepid interviewer also did the press day for Street Fighter, so we had to ask Cody Rhodes what he thought about Cena’s words. In short: the love was mutual.

“It’s a little bit of… maybe it’s a lot of learning from John in terms of John was my model as a wrestler prior to me even leaving WWE,” Cody Rhodes explained. “I was driving John around when he was the top dog… So John’s always kind of loaded up back in my mind. It is a little bit of what he did with Peacemaker, but what I’ve noticed with Guile is I can’t split it. You are either Cody Rhodes, The American Nightmare, or you are Guile. So it makes it easy for me, and they’re calling it ‘Guile in the Wild.’

Makes it easier for me when I can just be Guile. And I get to learn about this… I am still learning about the character now… I love being Guile… You know, we’re following Van Damme here. Like there’s a different intensity that I wanted to bring to it. But yeah short answer: got a lot from John, for sure.”

Rhodes’ co-star Andrew Schultz confirmed, “The second the wig went on, he was Guile on set all day. It was like Daniel Day-Lewis type-s**t.”

Matchbox: The Movie is now streaming on Apple TV. Street Fighter will be released in theaters this week.