John Cena reveals that he apologized to people in WWE after “going into business for himself” at Crown Jewel

As seen during the 2025 WWE Crown Jewel PLE, John Cena defeated AJ Styles in a competitive match. Cena had a special ring introduction written for Styles: “Ladies & Gentleman, the definition of Total Nonstop Action. The ace and undisputed boss of The Bullet Club, it’s our honor as fans and my honor as an opponent to see if he can beat up John Cena one final time. He is the face that runs the place, The Phenomenal, AJ Styles!”

During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, John Cena commented on the introduction…

“I just wanted to do something nice for my guy. I didn’t even show Alicia until I handed her the paper. You don’t get those moments unless you get the sh*t beat up. I wanted to do something special. I went about it the wrong way. I went into business for myself. I should have gotten permission to do that, and I would have gotten permission to do that, but I told no one about it, because I wanted to do something special, and in doing so, the people running the show felt surprised, and that’s not a position I ever want to put them in because they award me such creative liberty.”

“We’re all trying to make these moments special, and we’re all on the same team, and it shouldn’t be me doing something outside that realm. If I tell my teammates, hey, let’s do it. I can keep it from AJ, I can keep it from Alicia, but if I tell my teammates who are crafting this show, maybe they make it look better. The first thing I did was thank AJ, the second thing I did was pull a few creative individuals aside and say, ‘I’m sorry. That will never happen again. I know where I f*cked up. I’m so sorry, and I went into business for myself. That’s not me. I hope you look at my body of work, and all the times I’ve asked for permission, and this is the one time I ask for forgiveness.’ It got the best of me, but I wanted to do something nice for AJ.” (quotes courtesy of ChrisVanVliet.com)