Nick Patrick Recalls Vince McMahon Giving John Cena ‘Green Light’ In Unprecedented Move

Nick Patrick had never seen Vince McMahon deem a wrestler ‘the guy‘ until John Cena’s rise to superstardom.

At WrestleMania 21 in 2005, Cena captured his first of 16 WWE World Championships, ending the nearly ten-month-long reign of John ‘Bradshaw’ Layfield.

Speaking on the Monday Mailbag podcast, Patrick, who spent years as a WWE referee, recalled seeing McMahon give Cena’s push to the top the ‘green light.‘ He said,

“I was there at the [meeting] where Vince informed that John had been given the green light. I’d honestly never heard him make that kind of announcement about anyone else.”

“They had a big series of matches and that was [JBL’s] job to groom Cena and perfect guy for it, man. [JBL] is one of my favorite big guys to work with.”

After the feud with JBL, Cena would be moved to RAW as part of the 2005 draft, taking the WWE Championship with him.

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