When John Cena gave Alicia Taylor a special introduction to read for AJ Styles ahead of their match at WWE Crown Jewel: Perth earlier this year, he went into business for himself.
And for that, he is sorry.
“The Greatest of All-Time” was asked about the memorable moment from the WWE PLE in Australia during his extended sit-down interview on the latest installment of INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet.
Featured below is an excerpt from the interview where he touches on this topic and offers an apology for his actions.
“Dude, I just wanted to do something nice for my guy. I didn’t even show Alicia until I handed her the paper.”
“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.
“Wonderful moment, but like, 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 of 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. And 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 asked for forgiveness.’ It got the best of me, but I wanted to do something nice for AJ.”
Make sure to join us here on 12/13 for live WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event results coverage from Washington DC., featuring John Cena’s WWE retirement match.
- RECENT RELATED NEWS: Backstage Update On Changes To Annual Royal Rumble Format WWE Will Be Implementing In 2026