John Cena and WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns had taken this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown by storm with their heated war of words. None of them held back from taking back and forth shots at each other and it has become more personal than ever.
John Cena brings up the departure of Dean Ambrose from WWE during the segment
The opening segment saw John Cena coming out to hype the crowd at Tulsa, Oklahoma ahead of his historical match against Roman Reigns, where Cena could become a record-17-time World Champion.
WWE never allows the stars to mention the names of the stars who are no longer associated with the company. But, given the creative authority which has been provided to Cena and Reigns, they have been taking some below-the-belt jabs at each other. The former WWE Champion had first stated that Roman Reigns was responsible for Dean Ambrose’s (now Jon Moxley) exit from WWE.
Cena said: “You’ve been protected, Roman. You’ve been protected by The Shield. Hell, you almost ruined Seth Rollins; you ran Dean Ambrose out of WWE.”
"You almost ruined @WWERollins. You ran Dean Ambrose out of @WWE." – @JohnCena to @WWERomanReigns w/ @HeymanHustle #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/m4ZUUNQ11U
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) August 14, 2021
Ambrose was not the only one to be mentioned as he referenced CM Punk, who had parted ways with the company in 2014 and is currently AEW-bound. John Cena had revealed that he possibly planned on taking the Universal Championship and running out of Allegiant Stadium through the crowd at SummerSlam.
He may even “blow a kiss” on his way out, referencing to Punk’s gesture to Vince McMahon from Money In The Bank in 2011.
ALSO READ: CM Punk possibly responds to John Cena-Roman Reigns epic promo battle on SmackDown
WWE veteran claims Vince McMahon allowed the segment to compete with AEW
Dutch Mantell, during Sportskeeda’s Smack Talk, reviewed SmackDown alongside Rick Ucchino and Sid Pullar III. He said that the reference was scripted as Vince wants to compete with AEW and it was Cena who had convinced him.
He said: “I really do, because now Vince, he knows he has some competition with AEW and we saw that tonight, but I think Vince let that through. I think if anybody convinced him [to allow references to Dean Ambrose and CM Punk], Cena convinced him and it worked.”
John Cena and Roman Reigns are set to clash at the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view on August 21.