[ Cheers and applause ]

I love this guy so much.

Joining me right now is a 16-time WWE world champion,

a talented actor,

and a "New York Times" best-selling author,

who has a brand-new children's book out today called

"Elbow Grease: Fast Friends."

Please welcome our pal, the one, the only John Cena.

[ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪

-♪ I love your elbows ♪

♪ I love your elbows ♪

♪ I love your elbows ♪

♪ I love your elbows ♪

-That's what I'm talking about. -Thank you, guys.

-That is John Cena, our first in-studio guest, right there.

Yeah, as far back as you want, yeah.

-No, this is 6 feet. I was just doing the --

-Oh, the perfect -- -Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-You look fantastic.

-I mean, this is the first time

I have seen you in like eight months, man.

-It really is, yeah.

-It's very special. -You got all dressed up.

-And you didn't. [ Laughter ]

You repeatedly like, "I really value our friendship,"

and repeatedly on this show, you hurt my feelings.

-Yeah, I know, I do.

Yeah, but, no, the thing is, most of my guests

for the past six months have been in pajamas, so this is --

-These are my pajamas. -Oh, wow!

You really sleep in some fancy stuff, man.

Congrats on everything that's going with you.

I can't even tell you what it means to us, to me

that you would come on the show.

We've known each other for a long time.

We've done a lot of crazy things, a lot of firsts.

-We have.

And here's the problem for everybody watching at home.

This is just going to end up in, like, a bro hang.

You know, we're supposed to do the interview.

and, like, talk about the book and stuff,

but it's just gonna be a bro -- I miss you, man.

I love you. I miss you. You're the best.

It's an absolute honor to be here with you,

with you guys, with the 12 in the audience,

the most energetic "Tonight Show" audience

I've ever seen.

-Six to 12. I'd say probably seven.

-Estimated 7. Yeah. Seven sounding like 12.

-It just means a lot.

For everyone even watching at home,

you know, you're making a lot of people happy right now.

So thank you so much for doing it.

-And, man, I appreciate you having me here.

but also doing it the right way.

I mean, tested when we got in.

Everybody is social-distancing, covered in protective gear.

I've never felt more safe.

And even -- Man, as much as I want to give you a big old hug,

we're 6 feet and we're doing it the right way.

So it's a start.

-Yeah, I agree. Thanks.

The last time we hung, really, like, and bro'ed out --

-We crushed beers. -Yeah, we crushed beers.

-We crushed beers. -We crushed beers together.

We were in a Michelob ULTRA ad.

-Like I said, it's just gonna be a bro hang.

-Yeah. -Yeah. You guys were there.

-That's right. -Brooks Koepka was there.

-Yeah, it was insane. -What a weird dream.

-It was bizarre. -Yeah.

-Well, I had so much fun with you, though.

I got to spend three days with you.

And let me tell you what it's like to spend

three days with John Cena,

because it is just mayhem once we leave the hotel room.

It is -- Everyone recognize -- They don't care about me at all.

They just, like, push me out of the way, like,

"John Cena, John Cena, John Cena!"

But then you're so nice to everybody.

I will never forget this.

A kid came up to you -- A little boy came up to you,

and he just flipped out, like, couldn't control

his emotions and started, like, shaking and crying.

And you were so cool to him and nice to him.

It's, like, this -- It was just amazing to see,

and then he was like, "Hi, grandpa."

He pointed at me, and I go, "Yeah, I'm not that old.

I'm not that old. Please." Yeah.

>> Well, to be honest, dude, I'm that kid to you,

because you don't know, like, that commercial

meant a lot to me, because that commercial was for you.

And Michelob came to ask you to be like,

"Yeah, we need kind of like a mentor, coach,

get-you-in-shape, toughen-you-up type of guy,"

and you're like, "Yo, I want to hang with John Cena."

And we crushed beers and made a Super Bowl commercial.

Like, what a crazy life.

-We got to hang. We got to joke. We got to sing.

Thank you for singing "Reunited" with me.

Thank you, Roots, for playing that.

-Just add that to the list of crazy [bleep] we've done.

-But, I mean, what is your go-to music?

Is that --

-You know, if I'm going to sing, it's probably, like --

I've probably had one too many

and I'm probably singing, like, sad country.

-Really? -Yeah.

-Oh, I love good sad country. I think it's 'cause, like --

Like, "Friends in Low Places" or anything by Johnny Cash

or Merle or Waylon or Willie.

-Willie. Oh, The Outlaws. -Hank Sr. Yeah.

-Oh, yeah, yeah.

-'Cause that's like you don't really --

I don't have much skill, so...

-Oh, please. Yeah. -That's kind of where I live.

-We have -- For me, it's BTS Week,

so I have nothing but BTS love.

That's all we do here. That's all we do.

-I jam out to them. -How about this?

So, when we were with BTS last time, we were talking,

and I was like, "Who -- Is there anyone --

Just name someone you would like to meet,"

and they all said, "John Cena."

-Floored me. -I know you saw that.

-Like, stopped my heart. -It was so cool.

But then the BTS Army kind of embraced you

and, like, "Please be part of our --

-Well, see, that's what's -- When something becomes a thing,

it's open for criticism.

And I love what this band has done,

because they are this massively popular thing

and they have been so globally popular for so long.

Then I was like, "Okay, I should probably know about this."

And when I started to look at BTS

and listen to their music, I was originally drawn

because, like, there are rappers in that crew,

and they use -- On some of their intro tracks

and, like, bookend tracks, they use, like,

sick-ass boom-bap beats and they actually rap.

So, like, yeah, I kind of like this.

This is great. -Yeah.

So, I got interested in the music

and then I got interested in what the music stood for.

And they advocate self-love.

They advocate don't be afraid of failure.

They advocate that you are enough.

They kind of are trying to shatter all the

stereotypical difficulties and uncomfortable situations

that we go through and they are catering to an audience

that is living that -- young people.

So, like, that's why they are so popular around the world.

One, they're great performers,

but it's the message they send --

it resonates with the people.

And, on top of that, they've developed this a global army,

this BTS Army, that is not just, like, geeked-out fans.

Like, BTS donated a million bucks to

Black Lives Matter, and the army was like,

"Yo, if they can do it, we can do it."

And they came -- Like, fans, who are already

coming out of their pocket to support artists

came out of pocket more to support charity.

And this isn't the first time they have done this.

This BTS Army charity gives a bunch to philanthropic causes.

So, as an artist, as a performer,

hell, man, we have fun.

You know, we're doing good stuff.

But if we can resonate through the television

to you at home to come out of your pocket

to give to a cause, like, that's work.

Man, that's work and that's purpose and that's, like --

That's [bleep] changing the world.

You know, like, that's impressive.

That is impressive.

And I don't care how you feel about them.

I don't care if it's your bag or it's not.

I get it. It's music.

You have your opinion to like what you want.

How they conduct themselves as human beings

and the message they send to the world --

man, that's something special.

-I want to talk to you about everything,

because you have "Fast 9."

You have "Suicide Squad 2."

You have "Elbow Grease: Fast Friends."

-"Elbow Grease: Fast Friends."

-We have -- -It's moving so fast.

-I know!

I want this to go on for more and more.

Guys, more with John Cena. You can't leave.

We'll have more with John Cena when we come back.

You have to stay. -I'm gonna stay here, though.

6 feet. -Oh, you're 6 feet.