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“He’s Just a Bad Idea, Like the XFL” – When John Cena Dissed the Then Vince McMahon Owned XFL at WrestleMania

Archie Blade
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John Cena Vince McMahon XFL

A young John Cena once dissed the then Vince McMahon owned XFL at WWE’s biggest wrestling show of the year, WrestleMania.

Vince McMahon is a titan in the world of wrestling. He took what was once a territorial business and turned it into a global empire. The WWE patriarch however, hasn’t had a lot of success outside of it and his most popular failure is his ambitious football league called X-Treme Football League or XFL.

Also read: John Cena was considered to be made a part of legendary stable ‘Evolution’ before WWE went with Randy Orton instead

Their opening game took place on February 3, 2001and garnered more viewers than they had originally estimated. However, the numbers soon plummeted and the league was eventually deemed a failure with both WWE and their partners, NBC, losing $35 million on their $100 million investment.

When John Cena dissed the then Vince McMahon owned XFL at WrestleMania

John Cena is now known for Hustle Loyalty and Respect. However, his younger self made a name for himself doing the very opposite. Nicknamed the ‘Doctor of Thuganomics,’ Cena was brutal on the microphone and spared no one. Not even his boss!

John Cena was not included in the match card for WrestleMania 19. However, he walked out at the pre-show anyway to have a rap battle with rappers Jay-Z and Fabolous. There was a little issue of neither of the two being in attendance at the event. That however, didn’t stop Cena from having a go at their cardboard cutout.

A line in his rap however, saw Vince McMahon catching a stray bullet with Cena claiming that Fabolous was a bad idea just like the NFL was before he kicked the cutout.

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John Cena made his WrestleMania debut at the very next WrestleMania beating Big Show for the United States Championship. He eventually won the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21 which effectively ended his run as the rapping starlet and transformed him into the WWE Legend we know now.

As far as the XFL is concerned, Vince McMahon revived it in 2018 and was doing relatively well until it had to be shut down again due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Vince filed for bankruptcy and the league was eventually sold to none other than Dwayne ‘The Rock‘ Johnson, who alongside his ex-wife, Dany Garcia, purchased it for $15 million dollars.

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    About the author

    Archie Blade

    Archie Blade

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    Archie is a WWE and UFC Editor/Author at the SportsRush. Like most combat sports enthusiasts, his passion for watching people fight began with WWE when he witnessed a young Brock Lesnar massacre Hulk Hogan back in 2002. This very passion soon branched out to boxing and mixed martial arts. Over the years he fell in love with the theatrics that preceded the bell and the poetic carnage that followed after. Each bruise a story to tell, each wound a song of struggle, his greatest desire is to be there to witness it all. His favorite wrestler is Shawn Michaels and he believes that GSP is the greatest to ever step foot inside the octagon. Apart from wrestling, he is also fond of poetry and music.

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