Vince McMahon Nixed Cheeky Idea For WWE Merch

Merchandise in professional wrestling is extremely important. If a performer is popular enough for someone to buy a t-shirt with their name on it, it usually means they are doing something right, and the more merchandise that gets sold, the better someone's chance is of getting a push. However, former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon shot down an idea from one Superstar for reasons that are only known to McMahon himself. During a recent appearance on the "Insight" podcast, former WWE Champion AJ Styles revealed that he wanted to have a t-shirt that read "Beat Up John Cena" for his feud with Cena in 2016. However, McMahon was not a fan.

"We tried to get a shirt made and Vince was like 'Absolutely not.' I was like 'Why?' But yeah we tried to get the shirt out there, he said absolutely not. I thought it was going to be good." While the t-shirts were never made, Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson would use the catchphrase repeatedly throughout 2016, with Styles putting his money where his mouth was by beating Cena at both Money in the Bank and SummerSlam of that year.

However, Cena would get the last laugh in his feud with Styles as he would take the WWE Championship from "The Phenomenal One" at the 2017 Royal Rumble event, which took Cena level with Ric Flair for number of World Championships won with 16. Styles and Cena would briefly cross paths at the beginning of 2018, but have largely remained distant since their days on "WWE SmackDown" together, something that Styles would like to change in 2025 given that Cena will be retiring from wrestling at the end of the year.

Please credit "Insight" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.