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Dutch Mantel Thinks John Cena Got Vince’s Permission to Reference Jon Moxley & CM Punk on SmackDown

August 14, 2021 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris

– While speaking to Sportskeeda Wrestling’s Rick Ucchino and Sid Pullar III for Smack Talk, former WWE talent Dutch Mantel (aka Zeb Colter) discussed John Cena referencing Jon Moxley (formerly Dean Ambrose) and CM Punk during his promo on last night’s edition of SmackDown. According to Mantel, Cena likely convinced Vince McMahon to let him make those references during the show.

During his promo, Cena told Roman Reigns that he’s been protected by the WWE brass. He also stated, “You ran Dean Ambrose out of WWE!” Later on, Cena referenced CM Punk, noting he’d take the Universal title and run out of Allegiant stadium and blow a kiss on his way out, much like CM Punk did at WWE Money in the Bank 2011.

According to Mantel, he believes those lines were scripted and Cena got McMahon’s approval to say them. He stated the following:

“So you don’t think any of that second part of the next segment was scripted? I do [think it was scripted]. I really do, because now Vince, he knows he has some competition with AEW and we saw that tonight, but I think Vince let that through. I think if anybody convinced him [to allow references to Dean Ambrose and CM Punk], Cena convinced him and it worked.”

You can check out a clip of Mantel’s comments, plus a full video of the John Cena segment from SmackDown below: