John Cena recently recounted an instance where he broke the trust of Vince McMahon by engaging with a social network startup without prior disclosure.

Speaking in a new interview, Cena explained that he attempted to get involved with an entrepreneurial social network venture without telling McMahon. He acknowledged that this was a significant oversight, as he typically discussed all matters with his boss and felt he was potentially leveraging intellectual property connected to his name, John Cena, which should have been a team decision.

“One time, I tried to get involved with an entrepreneurial social network startup and I didn’t tell my boss and we talk about everything. This wasn’t like, man, we’re going to do this together. In potentially being a part of the startup, my name’s John Cena, so I would essentially be leveraging intellectual property. That’s a team decision. I love and trust my boss, he’s far more than my boss.”

Cena stated that his motivation was simply to earn more money. He admitted that after McMahon found out and they had a conversation, he realized his mistake. McMahon reportedly walked him through the potential ramifications of his decision, and Cena quickly recognized it as a direct violation of trust with someone he had worked with for years.

“I was just trying to get more money, simply. I have my own philosophy on social networks, some very limited in my use by design. So it’s not something I’m interested in. Not too fond of limited access stuff. This was a curated idea that seemed nice but I looked at the projections. My boss found out and to be honest, he was great. He walked me through it, like okay, this is the choice you’ve made, let’s walk through all the tentacles of what might happen. In a moment, it was a direct violation of trust to somebody I had worked for years. He invested years in trusting me too. It was a moment where he could’ve just got nuclear, because trust takes years to build and moments to destroy. He didn’t. He had patience, tolerance, and I think possibly as an entrepreneur himself, he tried to put himself in my shoes and walked through it. It took five minutes or less to realize, ‘I’m such an idiot.’ I immediately called the company back and said, ‘I’m out, this isn’t for me.’”

Cena ultimately withdrew from the startup deal, appreciating McMahon's patient and understanding reaction rather than his potential anger.