Report: WWE Changed Plans For John Cena's Pipe Bomb To Make CM Punk's Long Lie Down 'Less Cringey'

14 years on from CM Punk's pipe bomb, John Cena cut his own pipe bomb on the June 20 episode of Friday Night SmackDown after putting Punk through the Slim Jim table.

Punk was lay down on the table for 12 minutes as Cena called back to the original pipe bomb - while also mentioning Nic Nemeth, Claudio Castagnoli, and Matt Cardona by name - for the build to the Undisputed WWE Title match at Night of Champions.

After eight minutes, a WWE referee slid into the ring to check on Punk and they remained alongside the 46-year-old for the remaining four minutes of the segment, with Cena even acknowledging the official's arrival by saying:

"No, no no no no. That's fine. I'm not gonna do any more damage. He's got to rest up. He's got a big championship match ahead of him. The Best in the World, get a good shot, versus the greatest of all time for the most coveted prize in sports entertainment, the WWE Undisputed Championship."

Even though it was a direct recreation of Cena lying on a table throughout CM Punk's original pipe bomb, there was some criticism aimed at Punk lying down for 12 minutes.

The sheer length of Punk's selling also prompted WWE to change plans, with WrestleVotes reporting on a Backstage Pass Q&A that WWE sent out the referee to make Punk's long lie down "seem less cringey."

"I heard on Saturday that if you go back and rewatch the segment, you'll see after about five minutes of him laying there a referee slide into the ring to check on him. I had heard they did that to make it seem less cringey that he was just laying there. That wasn't supposed to be the case, but I guess somebody in the back said, 'He can't just lay there for 10 minutes. Send somebody out,'" WrestleVotes stated.

The whole Night of Champions pay-per-view was up in the air this week due to Saudi Arabia's proximity to Israel and Iran, who have been firing missiles at each other. The show is expected to go ahead as planned, however.

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