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There was a fair amount of bad blood between the Chiefs and the Bengals heading into the AFC Championship Game thanks in no small part to the trash talk that was exchanged before the two teams faced off for the chance to punch their ticket to Super Bowl LVII.
The players taking part in that contest were far from the only people who did what they could to rustle some jimmies ahead of the showdown. On Friday, Cincinnati mayor Aftab Pureval got in on the action by posting a video where he fired plenty of shots at Kansas City—a clip that had some serious potential to come back to haunt him if the Bengals failed to repeat as conference champs.
A WHO DEY proclamation from the Mayor: @Bengals pic.twitter.com/W1tCqupdTw
— Aftab Pureval (@AftabPureval) January 27, 2023
As you likely know by now, the Chiefs ultimately walked away with the 23-20 victory to earn a spot in The Big Game. Based on what transpired after the final whistle blew, it’s safe to say plenty of players in Kansas City had spent the previous week collecting the receipts they were more than happy to pull out following the win.
That includes Travis Kelce, who channeled his inner Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson when he told Pureval to “Know your role and shut yo mouth, ya jabroni!” during the trophy presentation (to his credit, the mayor took the L with the utmost grace while acknowledging Kelce and Co. had bested him).
Travis Kelce: legend. pic.twitter.com/jWiGM1upMY
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 30, 2023
Now, Kelce has received the ultimate seal of approval for that troll job courtesy of the WWE legend who inspired it, as Johnson hopped on Twitter on Monday night to endorse the message while complimenting the tight end on his attention to detail.
My boy said what he said.
I appreciate the venomous “shut yo” over formal “shut your” 🤣👊🏾🏆@tkelce https://t.co/U2Ef4xoVWK— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) January 31, 2023
Praise doesn’t get much higher than that.