Following his fumble in China, Cena is eager to keep his Mandarin skills private, out of his acknowledged ignorance regarding Asian geopolitics. While Cena’s “Peacemaker” presence and other projects remained unaffected throughout the controversy, Cena remains cautious when doing global appearances.

“Any time I go anywhere globally now…I really shy away from speaking the language, because I don’t understand the cultural nuance,” Cena explained.

While Cena called himself fluent in Mandarin, he acknowledged that he was reading in pinyin, a romanized form of Mandarin. While Rogan and others, on air and online, attempted to shift the blame for the incident, Cena ultimately bore responsibility for the fumble.

“It was my fault, and I think that’s where I can start to work on: ‘Well, what can I learn from this?'” Cena said.

The response from Asia was hard, but the American response felt harsher. While Cena understood the possible American disappointment of their icon “[bowing] down to the demand” of Chinese politics, Cena’s main takeaway was unrelated to international affairs.

“Don’t be reactive,” Cena preached. “Take a breath, find out what’s going on. Find out the best path of action. Maybe give it a few days? Maybe give it a hot second? And then, move forward.”