John Cena didn’t just perform hosting duties at WWE Payback. The Cenation Leader was made the special guest referee of the match between LA Knight and The Miz. Fans may wonder why WWE decided to take that route.
It is possible WWE could’ve made John Cena the special guest referee of LA Knight versus The Miz at Payback because they wanted their Franchise Player to endorse The Megastar. Knight is arguably one of the hottest stars in the company, and him getting endorsed by Cena will only make him bigger.
The announcement that John Cena will guest referee the match between LA Knight and The Miz came at the last minute. Cena was announced as the host of Payback this past Friday on SmackDown, but WWE hadn’t revealed his additional gig at the time.
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The Megastar and the A-lister had also come face-to-face for the final time on SmackDown before Payback. The superstars had an intense promo battle against each other that resulted in The Miz giving the Skull Crushing Finale to LA Knight.
The Slim Jim Battle Royal winner recovered and attacked the former WWE Champion while he was making his way back to the ramp.
John Cena put over LA Knight on SmackDown before Payback
Cena was on the final SmackDown before Payback. The 16-time world champion kicked off the show with a promo but was interrupted by Jimmy Uso. The two had a back-and-forth on the mic that ended with Cena taking out Jimmy with an Attitude Adjustment.
John Cena was interviewed by Cathy Kelley after the show. The former WWE Champion put over LA Knight in his interview.
Cena said he had great respect for The Megastar over what he’s done in WWE in such a short amount of time.
“I also have a tremendous amount of respect for LA Knight because his trajectory is that of persistence. You want to talk about somebody never given up. I have [it] on a shirt, and I try to live it every day. He walks that talk. He does it with his own style, and he’s not afraid to be who he is in here,” John Cena said.
It remains to be seen if the two superstars will cross paths again after Payback.
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