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“It’s Rigged. It’s Scripted”: John Cena Gave NBA and NFL Fans a Huge Shock With a Bizarre Take in 2016

Published February 03, 2023, 1:15 PM EST

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The NFL has been embroiled in controversy in this season due to the officiating decisions. Fans have accused the league of rigging games after the events of the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals. There was even more uproar when a still from the game between the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles went viral and further fuelled the “NFL is rigged” voices.

Amidst all this, a video of John Cena taking a dig at the NFL during the 2016 ESPYS is drawing all sorts of reactions from the fans, with many even wondering if Cena was right all along. During the 2016 ESPY Awards, John Cena who hosted the event, hilariously drew similarities between WWE and other sports like NBA and NFL. ‘The Doctor of Thuganomics’ mentioned NBA legend, LeBron James and NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. in his monologue drawing WWE analogies. Moreover, he even went after NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, taking a subtle dig.

John Cena took a subtle dig NFL commissioner Roger Goodell

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In a resurfaced video doing rounds on social media, John Cena roasted athletes from NBA and NFL as the host of the 2016 ESPYS Awards. He said, “Why did ESPN get a host from WWE? I mean it’s rigged. It’s scripted entertainment.” Cena then said other sports were more like WWE than they thought and said, and took a shot at the 2016 NBA Champions Cleveland Cavaliers. The Hollywood star said, “Cleveland won something. That’s actually impossible.”

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‘The Franchise Player’ then brought up LeBron James and said he started off as a good guy before turning into a bad guy and became a good guy again, referencing his move from Cleveland to Miami Heat and then coming back to the Cavaliers. Cena then mentioned LeBron left NBA without a bad guy and they did what WWE does and made a new bad guy, before showing a photo of Kevin Durant in a Golden State Warriors jersey.

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But Cena wasn’t done yet. Furthermore, he said NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. looked like a WWE superstar and said he was “one parrot away” from looking like wrestling legend Koko B. Ware. Cena then claimed that NBA and NFL don’t have one thing that WWE has and that was Vince McMahon. He referred to McMahon as a “maniacal billionaire” who pulled strings and tries to “manipulate things” to his advantage, something he said cannot happen in real sports, before showing up a photo of NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell on the big screen. The 16-time WWE World Champion ends the monologue by saying “maybe we have more in common than you think.

People who came across this video seemed to be in agreement with Cena over his comparison, often Vince McMahon and Goodell. Even though Cena’s dig at NFL seems light-hearted, fans are using it to further reaffirm their belief that the NFL is rigging games. Here are the top reactions to Cena’s old video talking about the NFL.

Fans wondered if Cena was right about the NFL.

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The NFL’s officiating issues are causing anguish among the fans. And this video of Cena comparing the NFL to WWE has given them even more ammunition against the league. Moreover, after former Houston, Texas, and Miami Dolphins running back Arian Foster mentioned the players receive scripts during training camps, this recent controversy isn’t going away anytime soon.

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Written by:

Sherjeel Malik

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One take at a time

Sherjeel Malik is a WWE writer at Essentially Sports. He has been a passionate Wrestling fan since childhood and his all-time favorites include 'The Hardy Boyz' and Randy Orton. Sherjeel also follows soccer religiously and is a Liverpool fan.
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Edited by:

Debmallya Chakraborty