Michael Tarver still isn’t sure why John Cena put a target on his back in WWE.
Tarver was a recent guest on the VOC Nation’s Talkin’ Sass podcast and spoke about his WWE career, including how he believed Cena was working behind the scenes to destroy his career.
“Backstage it was just relentless. There were times where he would take liberties in the ring so (I had to defend myself)…. It was Cena. I don’t have any heat with him now, I make jokes about it. There was a target on my back. I don’t know why he targeted me, but it is what it is. We ended up on good terms (but) I had to defend myself a lot. Everyone was high on me, and then all the sudden they all turned on me. People wouldn’t shake my hand – they wouldn’t even speak to me…”
Tarver also spoke about how this was reflective of the WWE system and that things could easily fall apart for top developmental talents.
“The irony of how WWE works, you could be the man or the woman in developmental, and (when you) get to the main roster, it doesn’t matter how good you are, if one of the main people there don’t like you they will do everything they can do to bury you…. I got to the main roster and just got buried.”
Tarver said he did have advocates backstage who advised him to “weather the storm” and spoke up for him.
“I thank God for people like Mark Henry and Teddy Long. Mark Henry would pull me aside a lot (and tell me to) weather the storm. ‘You got heat right now, just weather the storm.’ MVP would give me really good advice, Matt Hardy was always really cool. (They’d say) ‘you’re only getting this kind of heat because there’s something really there.”
Tarver had previously accused Cena of intentionally trying to break his arm in the ring. He worked for WWE from 2008 through 2011.
