Backstage Notes On John Cena & Roman Reigns' WWE SmackDown Promo
Who wrote John Cena and Roman Reigns' pre-SummerSlam segment, how it came together & more.
John Cena and Roman Reigns engaged in a well-received promo battle on last week's episode of WWE SmackDown, locking verbal horns ahead of their Universal Title match at SummerSlam 2021 (21 August).
Fightful Select reported on Saturday that Jamie Noble was listed as the promo's producer internally. The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer has since followed up on this, confirming several new details that were originally reported by Ringside News.
Per the report, John Cena, Roman Reigns, and Paul Heyman were each responsible for their own lines. Michael Kirschenbaum was the "writer" but only in the sense that he was tasked with preventing it from "going off the rails" and letting Kevin Dunn know where the music cues could be.
The promos weren't rehearsed - and Heyman wanted to insert a level of shock value to get people buzzing about the segment. This may explain why the duo roasted each other so hard, with things peaking as Reigns referenced Cena's failed real-life relationship with Nikki Bella.
Despite all this, the situation isn't too out of the ordinary, as Reigns and Heyman typically work on their own promos and Cena always scripts his own work.