John Cena Talks Relationship With Former WWE Head Vince McMahon: ' I Love The Guy'

Vince McMahon doesn't have many friends at the moment, following a lawsuit that accused him of sex trafficking and abuse, and a federal investigation looking into such claims. Through it all though, one person that's had his back is long-time WWE star John Cena, who controversially reaffirmed his friendship with McMahon after allegations of inappropriate payments came out against the former WWE Chairman in 2022. During an appearance on "Howard Stern," Cena was asked about the new allegations made against his former boss, and revealed, despite the new information that's come to light, that his opinion of McMahon hadn't changed much.

"I don't think it's complicated to talk about," Cena said of the situation. "I think it's complicated to listen to. That's kind of why I don't necessarily put a lot of time and equity into it...I can say this, I'm a big advocate of love and friendship and honesty, and communication. But in the same breath, I'm also a big advocate of accountability...If someone's behavior lies so far outside of your value system that the balance shifts of 'I can't operate in a world where this works.' That's the end result of being accountable.

"Right now, what I'm gonna do is love the person I love, be their friend...There's the saying...'You don't know who your friends are until s**t hits the fan or your back is against the wall.' That doesn't make any of what's going on any easier to swallow. But just telling somebody 'Hey, I love you. Man, this is going to be a hill to climb, we're going to see what happens.' It sounds so cliche, but it has to be one day at a time. At the same token, I've openly said I love the guy, I have a great relationship with the guy...so that's that.

Careful not to directly mention the allegations made against McMahon, Cena focused instead on the negative effect the last month had had, not just on McMahon, but on WWE as a whole, while making clear to express his love for the promotion in the process. Cena did admit that it was a sign that changes might be necessary to the promotion and pondered what he could do to help make the situation better.

"The whole thing is super, super unfortunate," Cena said. "That's really the thing that sucks, because not only does deal with an individual I love, it deals with an entity I love, and one I speak highly of. You want to make sure that everyone...I want everyone to have the experience that I had. If you're an employee at Disneyland, you want everyone to go to Disney and think that it's the greatest place on earth. 

"And when someone doesn't, or when you find out that there may or may not have been things going on there...you know, this place I was speaking so great about, well in some aspects needed a lot of work. That's more than just 'How do I feel about this person?' Now I shift to 'Okay, am I doing all I can to make it better?' From the advice of 'work as hard as you can, promote as hard as you can,' is there anything I can do? So not only do I tell my friend I love them, but I also switch to the entity and say 'How can I help?'"

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Howard Stern" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription