It was poised to be a normal promo between John Cena and Roman Reigns leading up to “No Mercy” on Monday Night Raw. Instead we got something else entirely, and wrestling fans still aren’t sure whether it was scripted or not.
John Cena tore apart Roman Reigns’ work ethic and people are wondering if it was real
Was this a shoot?
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
In setting up the match, Cena got personal — something we rarely see from the WWE superstar. It was so un-Cena like that people are wondering if it was a shoot, which is wrestling parlance for someone who goes off script and talks or fights for real:
“When it comes to this yard, you probably haven’t learned it yet. There’s only one rule: Step up or step aside. And over the years there’s been a few to step up, but nobody to ever keep up. And then I finally hear about this one guy. The guy. The Roman Reigns. The one that can keep up — and now I look at you, and I listen to you. You should be ashamed I’m a part-timer, because I can do this part time better that you could ever do it full time.”
Why is this significant?
It’s a rare case of Cena breaking from his “Hustle, loyalty, respect” character he’s cultivated for the better part of a decade. Cena rarely talks about other superstars’ work ethics or ability on the microphone when it comes to them being employees of WWE.
Cena helped keep WWE afloat at a time when there was a dearth of talent in wrestling. For years people have been touted as the “next Cena,” with Reigns seeming like he had the most potential. Since getting a huge push in 2015, Reigns’ career has been largely middling — with critics slamming his lack of development in the ring or on the microphone.
Was this a shoot?
That’s where this gets tricky. On the one hand, Cena doesn’t do promos like this. It really is quite different from his previous work — however, he’s also lauded as a consummate professional who has toed the company line at the most difficult of times.
This means fans are trying to reconcile whether Cena did his own thing on Monday night, whether he just asked to have freedom on the microphone, or if this was a contrived piece by WWE — and there isn’t a clear answer:
One element that is fueling the conspiracy fire is that WWE is scrubbing one part of the segment from all of its social media channels. It can’t be found on its Twitter account and was notably omitted from the version WWE uploaded to YouTube. It was here, when Cena directly slammed Reigns’ inability to cut a promo:
Reigns, noticeably annoyed that Cena was calling him out, said “Shut up, John” while being lambasted for his inability to remember his lines at a key moment. The crowd, half stunned, cheered at Cena tearing apart Reigns.
Where does this leave us?
Neither Cena, nor Reigns has said anything about the promo on social media. We know they will face off at “No Mercy,” and that’s it. Time will tell whether this back-and-forth was part of a bigger, scripted plan — or if for one moment on Monday night wrestling got a little too real.
