6 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Payback 2023 (Results & Review)

5. Cena Endorses Knight

John Cena LA Knight
WWE.com

LA Knight has been in this strange zone of being insanely over with fans but not getting a signature win or the true recognition from the company that they see something in him.

His feud with Miz has overall been a move in the right direction, letting him cut loose on the mic and spar with someone regarded as a WWE staple. Picking up the win itself at Payback was another positive (match quality being a separate issue).

But afterward, Knight picked up an endorsement that could also carry some serious weight: a handshake from John Cena.

Cena served as the special guest referee during the match and raised his hand in victory. Later, on the ramp, Big Match John offered up a handshake as a show of respect, which was a nice display of support from one of the biggest stars in company history.

Given that Cena is hanging around for a bit on SmackDown, there’s always a chance their paths will cross again, maybe even in the ring together. Getting that endorsement isn’t necessarily a golden ticket, but it doesn’t mean nothing either.

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Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.