John Cena Mentions AEW Star & More In Controversial Promo On WWE SmackDown

WWE/AEW

John Cena namedropped an AEW star and more during a ‘pipebomb’ promo during tonight’s June 20 episode of WWE SmackDown.

The main event of tonight’s show was set to be Cena facing the new ‘Ron Killings’ version of R-Truth.

However, after only a few minutes, Cena got himself disqualified by hitting Truth with a title belt shot.

As Cena continued an attack on Truth after the match, CM Punk came out and made the save, brawling with Cena into the ring ahead of their match at Night of Champions on June 28.

Eventually, Cena got the better of the exchange and put Punk through a table with an Attitude Adjustment.

After that, Cena got on the mic and sat himself on top of the corner turnbuckle with Punk down and out in the ring.

Cena then proceeded with a rewording of Punk’s famous pipebomb promo back in 2011.

In Punk’s original ‘pipebomb’, one of the most memorable moments was when he “broke the fourth wall” by looking into the camera and giving a shoutout to his then-friend Colt Cabana.

In Cena’s version tonight, Cena looked into the camera and shouted out AEW star Claudio Castagnoli, as well as other former WWE stars Nic Nemeth and Matt Cardona – you can see the clip below.

Cena also made more allusions to Punk being a hypocrite since their match is taking place in Saudi Arabia, and Punk had made comments in previous years voicing that he was very much against WWE’s relationship with Saudi.

John Cena’s Pipebomb on CM Punk to close out SmackDownpic.twitter.com/ikHP9DjmRA

— WrestleTalk (@WrestleTalk_TV) June 21, 2025

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