John Cena Drops Pipebomb, References Claudio Castagnoli, Matt Cardona & Nic Nemeth On SmackDown

Fourteen years ago, CM Punk delivered the infamous and iconic “pipebomb” promo, as John Cena lay motionless through a broken table. This speech helped to propel Punk to new heights as a star in WWE. On the horizon of Punk and Cena wrestling one final time in 2025 at Night Of Champions, WWE re-enacted this moment. 

Following a match between John Cena and R-Truth (which coincidentally was the exact same match that preceded the original “pipebomb”), a brawl broke out between Cena and Punk that led to Punk getting sent through WWE’s Slim Jim table. Cena grabbed a mic, hopped onto the turnbuckle, and delivered his very own version of the “pipebomb”. It made several callbacks to Punk’s original, repeating several lines and putting together his own twist on several of the sentences.

Among the highlights were Cena dropping the big “B.S.” swear word on WWE programming, Cena calling Punk “Mr. TKO”, declaring his jealousy of Punk’s connection with the fans, and perhaps most notably, referencing several wrestlers who are not currently in WWE - even one in AEW! As Cena decided to break the fourth wall, he said hello to his friends outside WWE; Claudio Castagnoli (the former Cesaro), Nic Nemeth (the former Dolph Ziggler), and Matt Cardona (the former Zack Ryder). It isn’t often that WWE references active wrestlers who are not in the company, particularly by their non-WWE names. 

In the last week, it was reported that WWE were unhappy with The Miz working on American Gladiators alongside AEW wrestlers in Wardlow and Kamille, and also requested a Happy Gilmore trailer that didn’t feature AEW’s MJF to show during RAW. No word yet on how and why AEW’s Castagnoli was allowed to be mentioned on SmackDown, unless Cena was in fact given the creative freedom to do so.

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