The Chain Gang is alive and well in India
By Ed Williams III
February 14, 2006

At arenas all over the United States, John Cena’s Chain Gang soldiers show their support for The Champ. But the Chain Gang certainly isn’t exclusive to the United States. Cena recently found this out firsthand when he went on a promotional trip all the way to India. The support for the WWE Champion was unprecedented and definitely caught The Champ off guard. WWE.com recently caught up with Cena and got his thoughts on the trip.

WWE.com: How did the trip to India come about?
John Cena: The trip was for what we call “product awareness.” WWE has not been to India in a long time, but we have a great TV affiliate over there called Ten Sports. They’re really taking care of us on the TV side. They air the heck out of our programming. I could see it anytime I wanted to on the TV in my hotel room. There’s more than a billion people in the country, and a lot of them watch our programming, so we wanted to make a visit to basically say, “Thank you.”

WWE.com: Were you expecting such a huge turnout?
John Cena: We did two mall-style appearances. The first one we did was at a place called Crossroads Mall. There were about 2,000 people there, and they said there would only be about 300 people. It was packed. Then, the last stop we made, was at Normal Lifestyle Mall. You get this quote a lot when asked this type of question, but I have never been in front of a crowd that amazing before in my life. The stage actually collapsed at one point. It was a sea of excitement. There was well over 10,000 people there. I know it’s cliché, but people were literally hanging from the rafters. It was storybook. I felt like I was in the World Series. Not since WrestleMania have I seen a crowd that energetic.

WWE.com: Were you surprised to see how widespread the Chain Gang has become?
John Cena: Not in a million years. And they were right with me with everything I said. It’s a foreign country, but they understand a lot of our language. They knew my theme song and everything. At the Crossroads Mall a rapper opened up for me and we did an impromptu freestyle session and all the fans got with it. We couldn’t do anything at the other place because it was just mass chaos.

WWE.com: What was your favorite part of the trip?
John Cena: The people. The city itself, as far as being up to par with American civilization, it’s far behind. There’s about 10 percent high-class wealth and 90 percent poverty. So, when you’re just driving in the streets, you see some bad things. But everybody is just so nice over there. I didn’t meet anyone who didn’t have a smile on their face or who was rude. It was an experience I wouldn’t have gotten if it wasn’t for WWE. I’m definitely glad to have gone and it’s something I will remember for a lifetime. Just feeling the wave of excitement is something I may never get again, and it was really something special.