Vince McMahon, the former owner of WWE, has been accused of some seriously heinous behavior. None of it has been proven in a court of law, but the accusations made in a lawsuit filed by former WWE employee Janel Grant were one of the main catalysts for McMahon selling the company he built into an international, multi-billion dollar empire.
While most people in the wrestling industry have tried to distance themselves from Vince McMahon in the wake of those allegations, not everyone has. In 2024, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena caught some heat for allegedly continuing to associate with McMahon. The most vocal of the two, however, was John Cena, who was unapologetic about his affection for his former boss.
“I’ve openly said, I love the guy, I have a great relationship with the guy, and that’s that,” Cena told Howard Stern. “It’s largely my construct of operating with honesty and communication. Those are strong leads to handling any problem or achievement. The whole thing is super unfortunate and it sucks. It deals with an individual I love and an entity I love. I want everyone to have the experience that I have,” said Cena. “Not only do I tell a friend that I love them, but I switch to the entity and say, ‘How can I help?’”
John Cena doubles down on how much he loves Vince McMahon
On Sunday, John Cena, now retired from active wrestling, was once again asked about his relationship with Vince McMahon. And, once again, Cena expressed a lot of admiration and love for the man who has been accused of some seriously sick behavior.
“I have no guilt nor shame about my friendship and my relationship with Vince McMahon,” Cena said in an interview with The Guardian, before adding, “You’re obviously going to put this in the article. It’s okay to love somebody when they’re not perfect.”
John Cena’s statement, as he obviously expected based on his comments, drew a very mixed bag of reactions from WWE fans online. Reactions ranged from “he knows it’s a bad look” to “I admire how he’s standing firm and not letting others sway his opinion” to “it’s hard to understand Cena’s thought process here.”
And those were the more reasoned responses to Cena’s comments about Vince McMahon. Many others, who clearly believe Janel Grant’s accusations against McMahon, were much less sympathetic.