Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel‘s longstanding “Fast & Furious” feud came to an official end last year when Johnson shocked fans by popping up as the beloved Luke Hobbs in a “Fast X” mid-credits scene. Diesel had extended an invitation to Johnson in November 2021 to join “Fast X,” but Johnson said the following month that “I would not be returning to the franchise.” That turned out to be a bluff.
The duo’s “Fast & Furious” co-star John Cena recently appeared on the “Armchair Expert” podcast (via People) and was asked by host Dax Shepard about the rumors concerning Johnson and Diesel’s on-set tussle. The host said “that was a rough pairing.”
“There’s certainly rumors about that. I can’t deny that,” Cena said. “You have two very alpha, driven people. You get two, there can only be one.”
Cena joined the “Fast” family in 2021’s “F9: The Fast Saga” as Jakob Toretto, the estranged brother of Diesel’s Dom. What was it like joining a franchise with so many established alphas? Cena said his days in the world of WWE prepared him for keeping his head down and being a team player.
“Man, you gotta remember I got dropped into a locker room where [we have] generational vets,” Cena said. “‘What’d your dad do?’ ‘Wrestle.’ ‘What’d your granddad do?’ ‘Wrestle.’ I’ve been in that environment; know the room and just kind of adapt to what’s going on.”
“I’m being invited into someone’s home, into someone’s family. And regardless of how they look physically in comparison to another human being, this is one IP that has had nine installments and it’s an action movie — that’s rarefied air,” Cena added. “At the very least, there has to be respect for that.”
Cena concluded by saying he knows “I am a guest” in the “Fast” family, saying: “I’m not trying to get the sandbox. That’s not my thing. I’m grateful for what you’ve given me, I just want to be be the best firetruck I can.”
The Diesel-Johnson “Fast” feud went viral in August 2016 after Johnson called out a “chicken shit” and “candy ass” co-star on Instagram. Word soon got out that Johnson was referring to Diesel, who later told Men’s Health in 2021 that the “tough love” he gave The Rock in trying to get a great performance out of him is what led to tension on set.
“It was a tough character to embody, the Hobbs character,” Diesel said at the time. “My approach at the time was a lot of tough love to assist in getting that performance where it needed to be. As a producer to say, ‘Okay, we’re going to take Dwayne Johnson, who’s associated with wrestling, and we’re going to force this cinematic world, audience members, to regard his character as someone that they don’t know.’”
Diesel stressed that he needed to step in to get the Hobbs performance he wanted out of The Rock, adding: “Hobbs hits you like a ton of bricks. That’s something that I’m proud of, that aesthetic. That took a lot of work. We had to get there and sometimes, at that time, I could give a lot of tough love. Not Felliniesque, but I would do anything I’d have to do in order to get performances in anything I’m producing.”
Johnson made his “Fast” debut in 2011’s “Fast Five” and continued with the franchise for three sequels before getting his own “Hobbs and Shaw” spinoff with Jason Statham in 2019. He sat out 2021’s “F9” amid the feud, with Diesel publicly asking Johnson to return for “Fast X” in November 2021.
“The world awaits the finale of ‘Fast 10,’” Diesel wrote on social media at the time. “As you know, my children refer to you as Uncle Dwayne in my house. There is not a holiday that goes by that they and you don’t send well wishes… but the time has come. Legacy awaits. I told you years ago that I was going to fulfill my promise to Pablo. I swore that we would reach and manifest the best Fast in the finale that is 10!”
Johnson responded to the request a month later in a CNN interview where he criticized Diesel for voicing an invite on social media after the two had already reached an agreement in private.
“I told [Diesel] directly that I would not be returning to the franchise. I was firm yet cordial with my words and said that I would always be supportive of the cast and always root for the franchise to be successful, but that there was no chance I would return,” Johnson explained. “Vin’s recent public post was an example of his manipulation. I didn’t like that he brought up his children in the post, as well as Paul Walker’s death. Leave them out of it. We had spoken months ago about this and came to a clear understanding.”
The two squashed whatever beef existed so that Johnson could return as Hobbs in “Fast X,” setting up the character to be a more full-fledged lead in the upcoming 11th “Fast & Furious” movie.
“Last summer Vin and I put all the past behind us,” Johnson tweeted last summer after “Fast X” opened in theaters “We’ll lead with brotherhood and resolve — and always take care of the franchise, characters & FANS that we love.”
Cena is no stranger to having beef with Johnson, as the two had their own feud during their WWE days. Cena said last year that his feud with Johnson was fueled by his anger over Johnson abandoning WWE in order to become an A-list Hollywood actor, which is exactly the career move Cena would later take himself. Cena admitted that he was “short-sighted and selfish” in feuding with Johnson.
The 11th “Fast” movie is currently set for release on April 4, 2025 from Universal Pictures.
