By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

WWE star John Cena says people outside of the "sports entertainment" business who look down on wrestling and instantly write-off the WWE product are ignorant.

Cena says he's had to fight that attitude in Hollywood with his first two movie projects, including "12 Rounds."

"Vince McMahon has been fighting that battle since he took the company global. It's personal ignorance. People don't know how good we are as entertainers. They don't know how good we are as people in the media," Cena told the U.K. Sun to promote the U.K. release of 12 Rounds. "The only way we can silence those voices is by putting together a good product. We've done that with 12 Rounds."

Cena says he faces his own critics internally in WWE. Without naming names, Cena says there are people in the company who are just waiting for him to ditch wrestling for full-time acting, like "The Rock" Dwayne Johnson did. Cena maintains that he intends to wrestle and act full-time.

"In WWE, there's a lot of folks who like me and a lot who don't, and those that don't are just waiting for me to leave," Cena said. "What gets to me is people questioning my resolve. People who think I'm in WWE as a stepping stone and don't think I'm telling the truth. The only thing I can do is keep doing what I'm doing."

Link: U.K. Sun interview with Cena.

Caldwell's Analysis: Regarding Cena's first point on folks outside of WWE looking down on wrestling, I don't know how they could possibly get that idea when the company chairman spends five minutes doing sophomoric humor and vague penis jokes at the expense of someone else's name because he gets his kicks and giggles on the misfortune of others. I mean, how on earth could anyone possibly think poorly of wrestling after seeing that?

Bottom line is that WWE can do all the Make-a-wish appearances and great charity work in the world, but they will always carry the stigma of being "pro wrestling" dating back to the beginnings as carnival side shows, which is reinforced on WWE TV nowadays with midgets (Hornswoggle), giants (Big Show), cross-dressers (where do you start?), and mentally-challenged (Festus).

We suggest these recent related articles...

WWE NEWS: Superstars SPOILERS - Results from Chicago Raw

WWE NETWORK: Monday, Oct. 12 Schedule - Raw pre-show, Sting DVD preview

WWE NEWS: Lana & Rusev reportedly engaged - follow the interesting 2015 timeline