Unseen footage: John Cena welcomes Stephanie McMahon back to WWE
Stephanie McMahon's unexpected appearance at WrestleMania Sunday was greeted warmly by the WWE fans in attendance at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. She kicked off the proceedings on Night Two by calling it the dawn of the Paul Levesque Era.
The 40th WrestleMania was notable for being the first edition of the spectacular to be hosted without any member of the McMahon family in power. Stephanie had left the company in early 2023 after her father, Vince McMahon, rejoined.
A new video has been making the rounds on social media which features John Cena embracing Stephanie McMahon at ringside following Cody Rhodes' triumph in the main event against Roman Reigns. Several of the company's top babyface stars from the past and present had joined The American Nightmare in the ring to celebrate. Cena got out of the ring and rushed towards Stephanie.
Check out the clip below:
John Cena interfered during the main event in favor of Cody Rhodes. He hit Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa with Attitude Adjustments before standing toe-to-toe with The Rock, who hit him with a Rock Bottom.
Post-show, the 16-time WWE World Champion assured fans that he is not calling it a career just yet. On RAW this past Monday night, he joined Awesome Truth to defeat The Judgment Day.
Stephanie McMahon was instrumental in John Cena's WWE push early on
John Cena disclosed in the past that he was almost cut from WWE in his early days until Stephanie McMahon saw something in him. Furthermore, she helped him get some big bookings after Cena's Vanilla Ice gimmick caught her eye.
In a 2017 interview, Stephanie revealed that she wanted the Doctor of Thuganomics to turn heel at one point, but Vince McMahon was against the idea. She admitted that everything happened for the best:
"At one point in his career, I really wanted to see him turn heel," she said. "I wanted it as a fan and I also thought it was the right thing to do, but it turns out I was wrong. And Vince and John…oh yeah, oh yeah, totally, I did. Yeah, but I’m glad that we didn’t go that way, and I think, now, it would be odd for John to turn heel."
It remains to be seen if Stephanie McMahon will get involved in WWE down the line. As of this writing, she has not re-signed with the company and her WrestleMania XL appearance was a one-off.
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