How many surgeries did John Cena have? WWE star and actor claims he never opted for pain relief medications despite undergoing the procedures

Wrestler and actor John Cena made an appearance on the most recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, and opened up about the surgeries that he has received over time. His long and wide-ranging career with the WWE has meant that the wrestler has suffered a lot of injuries in the past, some of which necessitated surgical interventions.

During his appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Cena said that he has underwent around 10 physical surgeries. He told the host Joe Rogan,

“I’ve had fusion in my neck, right pec completely detached, reattached. Both triceps, reattached. Both triceps scoped. Nose relocated. Like, I got, I probably, I mean, 10 physical surgeries where they got to go and correct something.”

Back in 2008, Cena suffered from neck pain after his SummerSlam encounter with Batista and it was though that he would require surgery that would throw him out of commission for around a year, according to Bleacher Report. Dr. Joseph Maroon, the WWE Medical Program head, performed a 90-minute procedure that removed a portion of Cena’s spinal chord, to free up a blocked nerve.

As a testament to his endurance, Cena could be seen up and about a few hours after the surgery. In a conversation with WWE at the time, Cena said,

“I feel great. Dr. Maroon is fantastic. He explained every possible procedure he could and could not perform, and the potential risks of all of them. I explained to Dr. Maroon not only my immediate goals, but also my long-term goals. He took them all into consideration and recommended the most commonplace procedure with the least amount of side effects.”

Most recently, Cena has had a hair transplant procedure in 2024. He opened up about the procedure a few months ago and shared the impact it had on his scalp health.

John Cena explained that he has avoided taking pain medication after each of his 10 surgeries

The topic of surgeries came up while Joe Rogan and John Cena had been discussing the issue of pain management and the problem of addiction to strong pain medications during the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

Cena then candidly revealed that all through the recovery period after his surgeries, he did not take any pain medication. He said,

“Never taken one pain pill. I have all the prescriptions in the bottom drawer of my house, filled. And it's weird because at every facility, the first thing they, the first hill they climb is pain management. You wake up from anesthesia, you're like gray and murky. And I've been in a bunch of surgeries at a bunch of different facilities. The protocol is always the same, ‘do you want something for the pain? Here, we got to make sure you take this with you because you're not in any pain.’”

Even as Cena shared that he did not take pain pills after his surgeries, he did agree that the recovery process is always difficult. He added,

“Like, I understand because you, if you leave, if you're feeling okay, maybe you're high off adrenaline, I don't know. And then the operation sets in, of like, ‘holy f***, this is a 10 out of 10. I can’t, I need something.’ I get that. But I guess, from falling down and hurting my body a lot, like I know my pain threshold.”

All the same, Cena shared insights into his worst surgery. He told Rogan,

“The worst one was probably the, putting the whole pec back on and then attaching it, but when I woke up I was able to, like, mess around with the stress ball and I never took one pill…And I still have the the full bottles, like, some are labeled 2008, is when I had my first surgery and they're just all there.”

Cena also shared that his recovery was surprising for medical staff, who found it difficult to believe that he was opting out of taking pain medication to recover from his surgery.