WWE owns John Cena’s real name and gets a cut from all his movies

Nowadays WWE is caught up in a storm after effectively banning talent from having their own presence on 3rd party platforms or using services such as Twitch or Cameo. The move which the company argues is to protect their own intellectual property, including the stage names which has caused some controversy across the industry.

In a clip from 2006, in which wrestler turned Hollywood star John Cena appeared on The Howard Stern Show and confirmed that WWE boss Vince McMahon owns his name and gets a percentage of all his movies.

“Absolutely, I have no problem with the arrangement,” the former world champion said, “Before all this, I was just a kid in a small Massachusetts town mowing lawns for a golf course. I don’t mind kicking a percentage of my earnings to the person who gave me a chance and an opportunity.” Cena added “Absolutely… That’s my government name. It’s a weird concept, but in a way, yeah (he owns it)”.

Well, it’s worth noting because Cena made these comments in 2006 when he was WWE Champion and only had WWE Films project The Marine, with the interview coming before his film career truly took off.

Former US presidential candidate Andrew Yang took aim at Vince McMahon this week after reports surfaced on Friday. In a lengthy Twitter post, he wrote:

Well know WWE legend and Hollywood actor Dave Bautista spotted the post and retweeted it:

WWE Hall of Famers Mick Foley and Kevin Nash have both been outspoken on Twitter after the news broke:

After this WWE has put out a statement clarifying its own view on the situation and argued its policy will be beneficial to everyone. You can read a statement from the company on the matter by clicking here.