John Cena strangled Umaga and actually made him pass out during their Last man standing match for the WWE Championship back in Royal Rumble 2007.
John Cena is one of the biggest stars to have ever come out of the WWE. He was the face of the company for much of his full time tenure with the promotion. Cena was involved in some of the biggest stories and had to defend his WWE Championship against some of the toughest opponents.
Also read: John Cena says he wants to share the screen with The Rock
Speaking of tough, the Cenation leader is said to be quite strong and, much to his detriment, Umaga found this out first hand when he legitimately passed out during their match for the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble 2007.
Facing each other in a Last Man Standing match, the only rule was to lay your opponent out by any means for the 10 count. With no disqualifications, Cena wrapped the ring rope around the Samoan Bulldozer’s neck.
John Cena strangled Umaga and actually made him pass out during their match
Former WWE referee Mike Chioda recalled the match on this week’s edition of Monday Mailbag with Mike Chioda on AdFreeShows.com. He said:
“John Cena had a rope around his neck and he was actually choking Umaga out, and Umaga passed out. I’m sitting there going ‘Eckie, Eckie,’ at first I’m like ‘What do you say Umaga, what do you say? Do you want to give it up, do you want to quit?’
I remember Umaga passed out and I was like ‘Eckie, Eckie, can you hear me?’ And then I was like ‘John, let go, let go’ and yeah, he choked him out and Umaga passed out. Umaga passed out, he couldn’t answer anything, he was out like a light. That’s why I got so worried about Eckie man, my god.
I was thinking was he concussed? But no, the rope got him and choked him out, and he passed out. I didn’t even know Eckie was passed out, I was pissed. He was shoot passed out, shoot passed out. He was totally out of it.”
Chioda spoke with Umaga backstage after he woke up. The late wrestler told the referee that he was trying to let him know that he was being choked out but couldn’t because Cena’s had him gripped tight.
“He finally woke up and I was like ‘Eckie are you alright? He’s like ‘I passed out Uce,’ and I was like ‘Uce you alright, you alright Uce?’ It was the ring rope that choked him out and he was pulling and tugging too hard, John was,” Mike Chioda said. “I remember Eckie was passed out like a son of a gunman.
What a match too, the steps, the monitor, and all that stuff. But when he got him with the rope, Eckie just passed out. “I felt bad because as a referee you’ve got to know what’s going on in there. I was like ‘Eckie, I just thought you were selling so good,’ and he’s like ‘Oh Uce, I was trying to tell you but I couldn’t get it out.’ He was trying to tell me, he couldn’t talk, he was like its too tight, too tight and I couldn’t even hear him.”
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