Vince McMahon has long had a history of courting periodic controversy during his time building WWE into a global powerhouse, but none as serious as the sexual misconduct allegations and monetary coverups that have come to light against him over the last year. Not surprisingly, some past and current WWE talent has backed off supporting him in public.
John Cena is not among them.
During an interview with the AP to promote the release of WWE 2K23 — for which Cena is the cover athlete and subject of its Showcase mode celebrating his 20-year career — he declared his “love” for McMahon as “a great friend, business partner, father, mentor” when asked about the possibility that WWE could be sold this year.
The follow-up question was whether he could square those feelings with the accusations claiming McMahon paid millions to silence alleged affairs and sexual harassment incidents.
No. I mean, everyone has the right to have their perspective. I have the right to have mine. When you love somebody, you take them as imperfectly perfect as they are. We all make mistakes, we all have poor decisions. Lord knows I’ve made my collection of poor choices. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to love somebody. There’s no way I can go on record and say I don’t love Vince McMahon.
Maybe this, too, should come as no surprise. Cena is one of the greatest stars in WWE history, and owes much of his success to McMahon’s belief in him over the last two decades. He’s always had a company-first attitude, and considering he’s still an active performer when his Hollywood schedule allows — he’s got a match coming up at WrestleMania 39 against Austin Theory — he was never going to put McMahon on blast in a big interview.
At the very least, Cena’s answer was honest. That allows his own fans to decide how they feel about his support for McMahon for themselves.