Even John Cena, the consummate company man, found himself in hot water with WWE management during the final weeks of his legendary career. While fans often viewed Cena as “untouchable” during his 2025 retirement tour, a new revelation from AJ Styles suggests that the “Greatest of All Time” still had to answer to his bosses when he strayed too far from the script.
During an appearance on the “Six Feet Under with The Undertaker” podcast, Styles opened up about a specific moment from their match at “Crown Jewel” in Perth, Australia. Before the bell rang, Cena took the microphone to deliver a personalized ring introduction for his opponent.
The tribute included direct references to Styles’ past, specifically mentioning “Total Nonstop Action” (TNA) and the “Bullet Club”—terms that are generally avoided on WWE programming due to their association with rival promotions.
Styles admitted he was completely caught off guard by the gesture, realizing in real-time that Cena was going off-script to honor him.
“I get into the ring, John comes in, does his entrance. I’m stretching getting ready to rock, and he gives this paper to the announcer and I was like ‘I wonder what that is’,” Styles recalled. “I’m stretching and I hear ‘the definition of Total Nonstop Action’, I was like ‘is he talking about me?’. You’ll see me look over like ‘you son of a gun, you got me’.”
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While the moment was a hit with fans who appreciated the acknowledgment of Styles’ global legacy, it reportedly did not sit well with WWE officials. Styles noted that despite Cena’s status, the 17-time World Champion faced backlash for bypassing the approved script to include the “forbidden” references.
“That was really cool, and he got in trouble a little bit for that whole thing. I didn’t know that Bullet Club was gonna be in there, if you watch my reaction I was like ‘uh oh’. Really cool of him to make me feel like as big a superstar as he was in that moment,” Styles said.
The “Phenomenal One” found the situation ironic, questioning what punishment the company could possibly levy against their biggest star just weeks before his permanent retirement.
“He said ‘I got in a little trouble for that’. I was like, you’re John Cena, what are they gonna do? John got in trouble, what does that mean? I don’t know,” Styles laughed.
Following Cena’s retirement match against Gunther in December, Styles has seemingly taken it upon himself to defend his former rival’s honor. On this past week’s episode of “Raw,” Styles slapped Gunther across the face after the “Ring General” mocked Cena’s submission loss.
The altercation has set the stage for a high-profile singles match between Styles and Gunther on next week’s show. Additionally, Styles recently dropped a bombshell of his own, announcing that 2026 will mark his final year as an active in-ring competitor, mirroring the farewell tour of the man he shared the ring with at “Crown Jewel.”