Bizarre Reason Vince McMahon Wanted John Cena’s Entrance Toned Down

Former WWE Ring Announcer Justin Roberts has recalled the strange reason Vince McMahon asked him to tone down John Cena and other top stars’ introductions.

Before joining AEW in 2019, Justin Roberts spent over a decade introducing the stars of WWE to audiences all over the world. For most of that time, John Cena was the face of the company and Roberts gave him an introduction like no other to match his position.

When it came to the then-biggest Royal Rumble of all time, featuring 40 men instead of the usual 30, in Cena’s home city of Boston, MA, it might have been expected that the 16-time World Champion would also get his biggest intro of all time. However, Vince McMahon had other ideas on the night.

During a recent appearance on Talk Is Jericho, Justin Roberts recalled McMahon asking him to “tone down” his ring introduction for Cena and other top stars.

The reason behind this edict was that the then-WWE Chairman had taken a dislike to the over-the-top stylings of UFC Announcer Bruce Buffer.

“You go back to how Vince thinks vs. how I think. I got called literally out of the ring before we did the biggest Royal Rumble in history in Boston. I think he had just seen UFC, this is what I was told, that he had just seen UFC and he did not like Bruce Buffer and thought he was too over the top.”

“So he talked to me about toning everything down. Which, once in a while I would have that conversation with him, ‘Tone it down, don’t give Sabu that big introduction, don’t give John Cena that big introduction, don’t give The Undertaker the big–’ And it’s like, I didn’t do it for everybody, but I did it where I needed to make something feel special. And it was always something that was built organically.”

“The John Cena didn’t happen overnight, it was from doing it at house shows, doing it at TVs. And over time it’s just something that built up. It was a big introduction, right? It was special to John, and John was the top guy.”

Roberts went on to explain Vince McMahon wanted John Cena and others announced just like every other star.

“And he called me into his office right before this Royal Rumble. And I go, ‘So you want me to introduce John, Undertaker, and everyone the same way that I introduce everyone else?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘Okay.’ And you know, his company, it’s what he wanted.”

H/T to 411Mania for the above transcription.