John Cena has returned to WWE and delivered his first promo to his heartbroken fans since he turned on them earlier this month.
Cena, 47, has been a beloved figure in WWE for more than two decades. He has won 16 world championships, earned millions of fans around the world, and kicked off his rise in Hollywood.
However, he did the unthinkable at the Elimination Chamber event in Toronto (2 March) and became a heel (evil) character – aligning himself with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and brutally attacking WWE champion Cody Rhodes.
Fans have had to wait until now to hear Cena’s explanation for his actions and it turns out it was all their fault.
Cena opened WWE’s weekly Monday night show, Raw, which this week came from Brussels, by lambasting the fans and their apparent treatment of him.
“For 25 years, I’ve been the victim of an abusive relationship,” said Cena. “All you do is be hurtful, all you are is abusive, and all you’ve ever done is bully me into being your damn puppet, and expected me to do it with a smile on my face. No more!”
Cena even singled out a young boy in the audience who was wearing a John Cena t-shirt and appeared to be on the verge of tears. The star added: “Everybody, including that one kid, is in a toxic, dysfunctional relationship. You have made me the butt of a stupid invisible joke for 15 years and you still think it’s funny! It’s pathetic!”
He continued: “Not one of you sons of b****** ask me how I feel. It’s just, ‘What do we get? What do we get? What do we get?’ You get NOTHING. You get what you have earned and what you have earned is nothing.”
Cena’s unprecedented rant was met with thunderous boos by the Belgian audience and was eventually cut off by Rhodes, with the two set to square off for the WWE championship at Wrestlemania.
Fans watching at home on Netflix were full of praise for Cena and his convincing delivery. Many also enjoyed him uncharacteristically singling out the child in the audience.
“Imagine growing up a Cena fan just to get COOKED like this on live TV,” said one person.
“This kid is devastated at this John Cena promo,” said another.
“John Cena just destroyed this kid’s dreams during the promo,” added a third.
Cena is due to retire from wrestling at the end of the year and is currently chasing his 17th world championship, which would break a WWE record.
He will face Cody Rhodes for the championship at Wrestlemania 41, which takes place in Las Vegas from 19-20 April.