WWE's John Cena Says Special AJ Styles Introduction Was A Surprise He Now Regrets

When looking back on John Cena's farewell tour this year, one of the best matches of his final run came against AJ Styles at Crown Jewel, where both competitors not only renewed their iconic feud from the 2010s, but paid homage to some of their greatest rivals. However, as much as the match was about John Cena getting one final opportunity to face Styles, the 17-time World Champion went out of his way to honor his opponent by secretly creating a surprise written introduction for "The Phenomenal One," which was read by ring announcer Alicia Taylor. Ahead of his retirement match, Cena reflected on crafting the introduction, but admitted he felt guilty about not informing others backstage about his idea.

"I just wanted to do something special. And again, a nice exercise in like I went about it the wrong way. I went into business for myself. I should have gotten permission to do that ... the people running the show felt surprised and that's not a position I ever want to put them in because they award me such creative liberty ... we're all on the same team and it shouldn't be me doing something outside of that realm." 

Cena continued to explain that if he had told the creative team about his plans, then the pre-match announcement could've looked even better, and revealed that he apologized backstage following his final battle with Styles.

"The first thing I did was thank AJ. The second thing I did was pull a few creative individuals aside and say, 'I'm sorry. That will never happen again. I know where I f***ed up ... That's not me. I hope you look at my body of work and all the times I've asked for permission, and this is the one time I ask for forgiveness.'"

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