John Cena’s Ex-WWE Partner Reveals Why He Never Joined AEW
John Cena has worked in WWE throughout his pro-wrestling career. He has been one of the names in the company that never wavered.
However, John Cena isn’t the only one to have done so. The Undertaker is a strong example of someone sticking with WWE throughout their pro-wrestling career.
Now, some chose not to sign with AEW despite being released from WWE.
John Cena’s ex-partner reveals his story
While speaking on his YouTube channel, David Otunga revealed that he never signed with AEW despite being released from WWE owing to budget cuts is because the company stuck by him during an extremely difficult phase in his life. In fact, Vince McMahon did not ever reveal if he saw evidence of Otunga’s innocence or not, but chose to stick by him.
WWE stuck by me during that time because there were false stories in the news accusing me of things I did not do, which seriously harmed my reputation. I’m precluded from suing for defamation because it’s protected speech, and I’ll discuss that in a later video in depth when I’m allowed to.
For me to be accused of something that was patently false, while being a Black man at that time and with the Me Too movement going on, made it a very touchy situation. Companies would rather be safe than sorry and just fire somebody. I personally spoke with Vince, and Vince stuck by me during that time. He may or may not have seen evidence that directly proved my innocence. I’m just speaking from my experience and my relationship at that time. It meant a lot to me that he stood by me—not just him, but the company as well.
Michael Cole also told me he felt bad about having to release me, and I have no doubt about that. He said the moment he could bring me back, he would. So even if I had entertained the idea of going to AEW, I was afraid of what that might have looked like to WWE, to Michael Cole, or to the wrestling community, which is very small. That’s why I never really considered it.
David Otunga had made headlines during John Cena’s final week, when he called out The Champ for his backstage behaviour. Otunga faced some backlash due to that!
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