John Cena says his performance at WrestleMania 34 should serve as a message to the WWE locker room: “be happy with any sort of role, even if it is getting your tail kicked in.”

“That is a message to any performer who is complaining about their spot or that, creatively, they have nothing going for them,” Cena said in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “I’ve been first, I’ve been in the middle, I’ve been last. I just want to go out there and do something.”

Cena admitted he didn’t do well in the match — but called what happened at Wrestlemania 34 the ideal build-up to befit an iconic character in The Undertaker.

“My ‘WrestleMania Moment’ was to spend the time in the crowd and not do well in a very short performance, but I loved it because it got the job done. The focus was not me, the focus was someone else,” Cena told SI. “Often times, we look at things so selfishly, asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’ Well, what was in it for me was the chance to reintroduce a WWE icon.”

John said he pushed WWE management to allow him to sit in the crowd for longer than 10 minutes. The 16-time champ wanted to be fully committed. That’s why he spent five hours in the crowd chatting it up and snapping selfies with fans.

“I had to stretch the suspension of disbelief to its breaking point to do it, but it was awesome.”