Mega Ran Recalls Interaction With John Cena Before New Day's Rap Battle With The Usos
Recently on The New Day: Feel The Power, WWE Superstars Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods welcomed underground nerdcore rapper Mega Ran to the podcast. Notably, the foursome talked about the SmackDown Live rap battle between The New Day and The USOs from July 4, 2017.
Apparently, the idea for the rap battle came from ya boy, Woods.
"It's New Day versus The USOs in an epic rap battle," Woods said. "This was my idea. I did pitch the rap battle."
Big E confirmed that the rap battle was Woods's idea, but went on to say that he was reluctant to show off his rap game on live TV.
"Woods pitched the rap battle and I was like, 'okay, this is different and it's cool.'" Big E continued, "but in the back of my mind, I was thinking, 'don't get me to rap! I'm horrible! I love hip hop. I love the genre. I listen to a ton of hip hop, but not once in life did I ever, ever dream of rapping a single bar on TV, on wax, that's not what I'm trying to do."
Interestingly, Big E divulged that The Usos would not submit their lyrics before the rap battle even though The New Day gave their lines to the writing staff prior to rehearsals.
"What they did too, which I will always remember, during rehearsals, we actually had told the writer what our lines were going to be because we went over them [and] made sure we had them. We had them for rehearsals, USOs got to hear them. USOs were supposed to submit theirs to the writer too and do them for rehearsal, and they were like, 'no, no, no,' but hats off to them because that was smart. They took it like, 'we're going to come for their necks.'" Big E added, "that's how they approached it and they did it 100%."
Mega Ran was backstage at SmackDown helping The New Day prepare for the rap battle when WWE Legend John Cena stopped in. Cena, who is reportedly scheduled to wrestle at WrestleMania 36, had some words of encouragement for The New Day before declining to get in on the act.
"During the rap battle, while we were practicing lines, it's like Rocky hitting the meat, like, [imitating Mickey Goldmill] 'argh! Alright, uppercut! Come on!'" Mega Ran continues, "so there's a knock at the door. Everyone looks up, and, [sings John Cena theme] 'do-do-do-do'. No, John Cena walks in and this is the 4th or July, so this was his big return. He hadn't been on TV in a while. And he came in the room and I was like, 'oh snap! Like, word.'
"So Cena's like, 'hey guys, I just want to tell you that you're doing a great job. It has been a long time since we had a rap battle, and I know you guys are going to do great.' And he left and I was like, 'whoa, whoa, whoa, I thought you were coming in to drop some bars in the battle!'" Mega Ran noted, "and Cena's like, 'no, no, rap is a young man's game.'"
Click here to check out the podcast or listen to it via the embedded player below. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit The New Day: Feel The Power with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.