WWE Closes SNME With John Cena Video Package Featuring Archived Vince McMahon Footage

By Angeline Phu
Vince McMahon speaks on the microphone. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

The sunset on John Cena's career was bright, and it was beautiful. Even the rosiest of lenses, however, cannot distract from the dark cloud that appeared in the horizon. During the final moments of "Saturday Night's Main Event," WWE graced Cena with an extensive video package cataloguing his colleagues' reactions to his career, and in the midst of familiar faces, Washington D.C. watched in uncomfortable silence as the image of ex-WWE CEO Vince McMahon appeared on their screens.

McMahon's appearance in Cena's goodbye video was brief, and merely consisted of McMahon giving Cena his flowers for an undeniably historic career. His cameo was over before it even began, but upon further investigation, it seems that McMahon's words to Cena were not just short — they were dated. In the background, the old WWE logo can be seen, and Fightful has confirmed that the footage used in Cena's goodbye video Saturday was archive footage. McMahon's words to Cena weren't the only ones to come from the archive, as astute netizens have also identified Levesque's appearance in Cena's video package as dated footage from WWE's archives.

Archive or not, McMahon's appearance is bound to leave a sour taste in the WWE Universe's mouths. McMahon is most known for his tenure as WWE's CEO and head of creative: a position he held since his 1980s purchase of the company up until the 2020s. McMahon and Cena are closely linked, with Cena citing McMahon as his biggest "mentor."

McMahon was ousted from WWE in 2024, after former WWE employee Janel Grant filed lawsuits against McMahon and several key WWE leaders. In her lawsuit, Grant accused McMahon and associates of sex trafficking, and as of June 2025, the case is still ongoing. Cena did not offer any reaction to McMahon's presence in his video, and McMahon himself has remained silent on social media.

Comments

Recommended