WWE SmackDown: 10 Things You Might Have Missed (Dec 27)
9. John Cena Shutting Down The CM Punk Chants
On Monday Night Raw, Stephanie McMahon directly addressed the fact that fans were chanting for CM Punk. WWE must have expected this in Punk's backyard of Chicago; it was a given that people would chant for a personal favourite in the Allstate Arena.
Unlike McMahon, John Cena chose to deal with the chants without actually saying Punk's name. On Raw, Steph had poked fun at Punk's rapid loss in his MMA debut this past September. Cena didn't do that, he just pretended he couldn't understand what the audience were saying instead. Incredibly, this proved just as effective as McMahon's method.
Opening the show, Cena stood mid-ring and smiled as people chanted for CM Punk. Encouraging the crowd to be even louder, the veteran then claimed that the noise was deafening, so much so that he couldn't really make out what was being said.
Asking the crowd if they were chanting a familiar cry of 'Cena Sucks', John instantly shut down any talk of CM Punk without even having to mention him. That was clever.