During John Cena and Cody Rhodes’ latest face-to-face on WWE Raw, the 16-time WWE Champion took a shot at AEW owner Tony Khan.
Rhodes, the current Undisputed WWE Champion and Cena are facing off at this year’s WrestleMania 41 as the main event program. Cena is on a quest to obtain his 17th World Championship in his WWE career to surpass Ric Flair’s record. According to Cena, he wants to erase Flair from the history books. Rhodes and Cena haven’t faced off one-on-one since 2015, but fans might not recall it happening. During that chapter of Rhodes’ career, he was far from “The American Nightmare” he’s known as today.
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Back then, he went by Stardust and was on his way out of WWE by that point. He reinvented himself on the independent wrestling circuit and eventually helped form All Elite Wrestling, WWE’s rival promotion. When he left in 2023 to re-sign with WWE, he returned a different animal. This week, he hits a year as Undisputed WWE Champion, having beaten Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40.
John Cena Mentions AEW Owner Tony Khan on WWE Raw
During the latest encounter to hype their main event caliber match, Cena took a shot at Rhodes’ former employer. Rhodes explained there’s so much Cena could attack him for, but he won’t bite. “There’s so much you could make fun of me for. I have a little bit of a lisp … Stardust. That’s who you’re wrestling at your last WrestleMania in the headline match, Stardust,” Rhodes joked. “Here’s another one – I have an arm tattoo, but it’s on my neck. I got booed in a company I created. There’s so much stuff, I knew you weren’t gonna bite on any of this stuff though.”
The veteran didn’t take any of the bait, choosing not to go after low-hanging fruit. Cena points out that not only is Rhodes a “paint-by-numbers, sociopathic nepo baby,” but his neck tattoo proves he’s a common fan like “them,” referencing the audience. He concludes his point with a scathing reference to AEW. “I make empires for billionaires. All you’ve ever done is steal money from their kids.”