Why Dave Meltzer Feels John Cena Promo Was A Spoof On Absent WWE Star
A recent promo from John Cena on WWE SmackDown has left Dave Meltzer wondering if it was intended to mock someone in the company.
The main event of WWE SmackDown in San Antonio was a contract signing segment between the WWE Champion John Cena and his SummerSlam opponent, Cody Rhodes.
While Rhodes signed the contract quickly, the heel champion Cena backed away like a coward. Cena said he was emotionally exhausted, and they can do the (WrestleMania) rematch in Paris or Perth, but he couldn’t sign the contract. The fans booed. Cena claimed emotionally he’s out of it, but this is what’s best for business right now. The fans booed.
After Cena left, Rhodes went after him, beat him up, and signed the contract for Cena. Rhodes also informed Cena that their SummerSlam match is a Street Fight.
Pat McAfee has missed the last six episodes of WWE Monday Night Raw, with his last appearance on commentary coming on June 2nd. McAfee recently claimed he was mentally exhausted due to leading a busy life, hosting his popular sports talk show Monday to Friday, while also having a young daughter at home. Wade Barrett filled in for McAfee the first week that McAfee missed, but Corey Graves has been there beside Michael Cole for the past five weeks.
Did John Cena’s Promo On SmackDown Spoof Pat McAfee?
The John Cena promo on SmackDown featured the word exhaustion. That led Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer to go on his radio show and make the claim that Cena’s promo backing down from Rhodes was WWE’s way of spoofing the exhausted Pat McAfee, who may not return to WWE anytime soon.
“The whole thing was a spoof on Pat McAfee,” Meltzer said. “It was. So are they, knowing them, are they like mad at him because he was supposed to work for them all until football season?”
I know when he missed the first two shows he was supposed to be back earlier than that. I remember being told, ‘it’s imminent. It might be this week’ and I think that was after week three. And now it’s pretty clear he’s not coming back. So maybe. Or maybe Cena just — it’s topical. I’ll just spoof it, you know. But it was clearly a spoof on Pat McAfee.”
Whether it was “clearly a spoof on Pat McAfee” is up for debate, but if you listen to Cena’s words carefully, there were some similarities to what McAfee said.
It’s unknown when McAfee will return to WWE programming.