John Cena Breaks Silence on Vince McMahon's WWE Return

The past calendar year has been a rollercoaster for Vince McMahon. March 2022 saw the first signs of alleged misconduct from the then-WWE Chairman, as anonymous emails reached the WWE Board of Directors with information on what would lead to a full-blown internal investigation. Things continued to snowball over the subsequent months, eventually culminating in Vince stepping down from his corporate positions that June and completely retiring from the company the next month. That retirement would last just over six months, as Vince returned to the board this past January, resuming his chairman duties after then-WWE Chairwoman and co-CEO Stephanie McMahon resigned.

Speaking to AP News, John Cena broke his silence on the complicated situation surrounding his longtime boss, emphasizing that he still has love for Vince despite his mistakes.

"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," Cena said. "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."

Vince's WWE return has come alongside the intention to sell the company, which has been an ongoing process since he came back to the board. Aside from rumblings of suitors like Amazon or the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, there has been no clear frontrunner on what industry giant will pay Vince's high asking price for the global leader in sports-entertainment.

"That's way above my paygrade. I just don't know what's going on with that," Cena said when asked about the potential WWE sale. "I love Vince McMahon. He's everything you could want in a great friend, business partner, father, mentor. I love the man. But his business dealings are his business and what he shares with me, that's between us. I don't know what's going on with the corporate structure in the WWE or the creative direction of the WWE, but when I'm there as a performer, it's Roman Reigns's show. In my mind, he needs to be in the conversation, and in my mind, he's the greatest of all time."

As he alludes to, Cena is currently in WWE as a performer, as he will be challenging Austin Theory for the WWE United States Title at WWE WrestleMania 39 this April.