WWE legend John Cena branded Roman Reigns “overhyped” and an “a******” during his return to “Raw” on Monday night.
The wrestler turned Hollywood star made his shock comeback on Sunday at “Money In The Bank” and he appeared on “Raw” the following night to set up his first match in well over a year.
Addressing the “who, what, when, when and why” of his return, John told the fans: “It was Roman Reigns.
“That brings me to the ‘what’. What am I here for? The WWE Universal Championship. When? About five weeks from now, a little event called ‘SummerSlam’. Where? Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, that’s a pretty safe place to bet.
“Why? Here’s where it gets interesting. I can stand here excited and tell you about the pageantry of ‘SummerSlam’, about being a main event in a packed stadium. I could tell you about a history-making, record-breaking, 17th championship win.
“It’s not because of any of that. It’s ’cause Roman Reigns is an a******. And I believe he needs to be knocked down a peg.”
THIS FRIDAY@JohnCena returns for a historic #SmackDown live in Cleveland, and @BiancaBelairWWE defends the SmackDown #WomensTitle at @RollingLoud Festival! pic.twitter.com/dxwoNm0ZkX
— WWE (@WWE) July 20, 2021
Cena – whose most recent WWE appearance had been a cinematic match against “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt at “WrestleMania 36” in April 2020 – confirmed he will be on “SmackDown“ this Friday to confront Reigns as the two stars build towards their epic match on August 21.
He added: “Roman Reigns is an arrogant, self-absorbed, overhyped, overprotected, overexposed gimmick who’s not as over as he says he is. And that – that is coming from me.
“You know, there is a saying, ‘If you’re good, you’ll tell everybody. If you’re good, you will demand everyone acknowledge you’. If you’re good… The rest of that saying is, ‘If you’re great, they’ll tell you.’
“And I’m telling you right now, I’ma be at SmackDown on Friday and I can’t wait to see you there.”
Before the 44-year-old actor made his comeback, Reigns had responded to rumours about the match, and hit out at both Cena and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
He said: “I get this a lot with Dwayne and then John Cena as well, these guys are doing very well for themselves.
“There’s no question about it. I don’t know. If I were these guys, I don’t know if I’d wanna come back and deal with me.
“I’m a problem right now for everybody. If I were them, I’d stay on set. I’d keep pumping out these streaming service movies.”
