John Cena used his WWE background for new action comedy Jackpot!, coaching co-star Awkwafina on how to throw punches in scene where she was supposed to break his nose.

“I’ve had my nose broken in real life and this was a prosthetic so that was fantastic. I really think the setup for it was fun and when she actually did it and we did the gag, it looked great and it plays well in the movie,” Cena told The Hollywood Reporter at the film’s premiere on Tuesday, adding that he told Awkwafina to “Swing for the fences, and she did.”

In the film, directed by Paul Feig, a Grand Lottery has been newly established in California, where lottery losers are allowed to kill the winner before sundown to legally claim their multi-billion dollar jackpot. Awkwafina is that lottery winner on the run, with Cena as her accomplice.

Of finding the chemistry in their unlikely pairing, Cena noted, “She was playing an anxious character who didn’t know what the hell was going on, and I get to be a peaceful, soothing voice of reason. And I think those are both really strong assets of our wheelhouse so we kind of just got to be ourselves and have jokes and funniness around that.”

Doing it all included cameo in season 3 of The Bear, with Cena appearing as Carmy’s (Jeremy Allen White) cousin Sammy Fak. Creator Christopher Storer asked him to come join the cast, and “I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ It was a dream.”

He continued, “I have the upmost respect for that cast and crew. I admire their work, they’ve entertained me — I got to tell them all how much they’ve entertained me and how much their work means to me. I think that’s important because a lot of times people say, ‘I love your stuff’ but they don’t say like, ‘Hey your work affected my life.’ My wife and I really enjoy that show a lot. Man, it was awesome, it was a great experience.”

Jackpot! hits theaters on Thursday.