Logan Paul found himself at the center of a hostile reception during WWE’s recent tour stop in Mexico City, though the thunderous boos had little to do with his in-ring persona. The controversy erupted the moment Paul stepped into the arena wearing a Chivas de Guadalajara soccer jersey—a calculated provocation in a city where Club América commands a massive, passionate following.
Rivalry Colors Ignite the Crowd
Chivas and América share one of the fiercest rivalries in Mexican football, known as El Súper Clásico. By donning the red-and-white stripes of Guadalajara, Paul instantly transformed himself into a prime target for the Mexico City faithful. The decision turned a standard wrestling appearance into a cultural flashpoint, drawing visceral reactions that most heels spend years cultivating.
Mastering the Art of Heat
Generating genuine hostility—known in the industry as “heat”—is among the most valuable skills a performer can possess. Paul demonstrated an instinctive understanding of how to weaponize local culture for maximum effect. The jersey was not a random wardrobe choice; it was a precision instrument designed to command the exact response it received.
While WWE superstars often rely on promos or in-ring tactics to draw boos, Paul bypassed the traditional playbook entirely. He leveraged a deeply ingrained sporting rivalry to manufacture organic, deafening opposition in a matter of seconds. The tactic underscores why he has become one of the company’s most effective antagonists since crossing over from digital entertainment.
For years, Pharaoh was more than just a pet to Cody Rhodes; he was a beloved member of the Rhodes family and a familiar face in the professional wrestling world. On Tuesday, the WWE star announced the passing of his faithful companion, sharing that the husky had gone to “forever sleep.”
Pharaoh’s Public Life Alongside “The American Nightmare”
Pharaoh, a furry white husky, made several notable public appearances during Rhodes’ career. Fans first saw him during Rhodes’ match entrance at AEW All Out in 2019. Following Rhodes’ return to WWE in 2022, the dog appeared again in a backstage segment on Monday Night Raw. His popularity even led to an official Mattel action figure, and he once served as an unofficial opponent to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
A Heartfelt Tribute on Instagram
Rhodes penned a moving tribute on Instagram, detailing Pharaoh’s unique personality and the deep bond they shared. He preserved the full text of his post:
“Huskies need a job,” Rhodes wrote on Instagram. “P howled at the moon. When we thought he would be afraid of the older dogs we had, but instead ran into the living room and belly flopd’ on them. He patrolled the pool. He always tore up a plant when a stranger came into the backyard to let them know – ‘I’m crazy’ – and don’t come closer. He got the best training and retained most of it-I’d call him a crisis dog. Whenever there was a crisis, there he was. He put his nose under my arm in the truck…everytime. He was always with us, and when my world got turned upside down…he sat outside with me looking at the Texas stars until the sky started to shift and he pressed his head against me firmly in a way that let me know he understood. It goes without saying, he was a good boy. My best man.”
Memories from Starrcast and Family Life
Rhodes also recalled a cherished memory from the 2018 Starrcast convention, where fans respectfully stepped aside and cheered as Pharaoh walked through the venue. However, the former Undisputed WWE Champion emphasized that Pharaoh’s most important role was at home. According to Rhodes, the dog’s true job was being present for—and perhaps protecting—his first daughter, Liberty.
The tribute concluded with a simple, powerful message: “We love you,” Rhodes added.
Cherished Final Moments
The Instagram post included a series of cherished family photos. The final image, filtered in black-and-white, shows Rhodes petting a happy Pharaoh while the Undisputed WWE Championship sits nearby—a poignant snapshot of the wrestler’s two worlds colliding.
This story was originally published by Men’s Journal on Sep 8, 2026.
Conan O’Brien and John Cena shared a candid, feel-good conversation about bullying, bodybuilding, comedy and wrestling on the latest episode of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.
The comedy legend and podcast host spoke with the WWE icon and Hollywood star about their early experiences in Los Angeles after growing up in Massachusetts. They also discussed the similarities between wrestling storylines and comedy writing, as well as how they responded to being bullied at school.
Conan O’Brien and John Cena reflect on bullying
“When you were 13 years old, you were bullied, and your response was to go and build up your body by lifting weights,” says Conan in the video above. “When I was 13, I was bullied. My response was to comb my hair up into a pompadour.”
“Essentially, we kind of did the same thing though,” responds Cena. “We both appeared larger to stave off harassment.”
Want more film and TV news and reviews delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for Mashable’s Top Stories newsletter or get Mashable push alerts.
John Cena is likely one of the most recognisable names in wrestling, however he’ll seem in his last WWE match subsequent month.
The 48-year-old has gone on to determine himself as a well-regarded actor, showing within the likes of The Suicide Squad, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Barbie lately.
Most of all, the American has confirmed himself to be a reasonably stand-up man, whether or not it is by way of his unbelievable charity work, which noticed him set the document for granting probably the most needs for the Make-A-Want Basis, or from his time rescuing stray cats.
Cena’s performing profession hasn’t at all times been plain crusing, given he had an ungainly second with Amy Schumer after showing alongside her in Trainwreck, which noticed the comic recommend that Cena was ‘really inside her’.
In all probability an intimacy coordinator’s worst nightmare…
Cena’s last opponent remains to be but to be determined (Wealthy Freeda/WWE by way of Getty Pictures)
However, he is clearly a reasonably well-liked man in Hollywood and continues to safe himself performing work, which is probably another excuse why he’ll formally step again from WWE in December, following 23 years within the enterprise.
WWE superstars are presently battling in The Final Time is Now Event, which can see the winner turn out to be Cena’s last opponent in his final hurrah in Washington, D.C on 13 December.
No matter occurs to him after WWE, whether or not it is performing or one thing else fully, the wrestler has received sufficient within the financial institution to make sure that he won’t ever need to work once more.
In accordance with current stories, Cena has amassed a internet value of round $80 million throughout his profession, and that is solely prone to enhance, particularly as he is nonetheless set to reprise his anti-hero position of Peacemaker in a brand new sequence of the James Gunn TV present.
Fortunately for these of you who’re nonetheless questioning about Cena’s iconic catchphrase greater than 20 years on from his WWE debut, he lately revealed the key that means behind his ‘you’ll be able to’t see me’ motto.
John Cena will go down as a WWE legend (Wealthy Freeda/WWE by way of Getty Pictures)
He stated: “The rationale I did [his iconic taunt] is as a result of, whereas we had been making the album to which my theme music is on, my youthful brother Sean was at all times our litmus check.
“He form of appreciated the identical music, and he would by no means go to the studio with us, so we would come house with our tracks and we would play it for him and he was ruthless man.
“He would by no means be glad with any tune. And he heard [Cena’s theme music] The Time is Now, and simply did this dance that Tony Yayo did in one of many G Unit movies.”
After copying the dance, which sees him shimmy a hand over his face, he was dared to do it on TV by his brother, and the remainder, as they are saying, is historical past.
John Cena has been praised on-line after a clip resurfaced wherein a podcast host requested him a few hearsay that he had died.
The previous few weeks have been extremely busy for Cena, together with his profession as a WWE celebrity coming to an finish with only some publicised dates to go till his final match ever.
On prime of this, the second season of Peacemaker, his R-Rated TV present, which just lately went viral for an insane twist, is coming to a hotly anticipated shut, so there’s as a lot give attention to the wrestler-turned-actor as there was in years.
All through his time as a star, although, Cena has turn into well-known for being probably the most PR-friendly actors round relating to interviews.
Cena has the file for probably the most appearances for Make-a-Want, is continuously proven giving succinct and considerate solutions to extremely arduous questions, and was infamous inside the WWE for taking extra time than anybody to talk to followers.
John Cena is the file look maker for Make-A-Want (WWE by way of Getty Pictures)
All of that is to say, to cross the road with Cena and get a response out of him, you need to say some significantly wild sh*t.
A number of years in the past, when selling the primary season of Peacemaker, Cena appeared on the Pardon My Take podcast.
The podcast, run by Barstool Sports activities, noticed the hosts ask Cena a few social media hearsay that he had died of COVID-19.
In response to this, Cena talked in regards to the significance of fact-checking on-line and was nice in his response.
Following this, although, the hosts took issues one step additional, asking him whether or not there was a small a part of him that ‘needed to simply kinda associate with it for a day?’
This weird line of questioning brought on Cena to cease them, responding to say: “I do know you guys try to have some enjoyable. I simply misplaced a extremely shut pal two days in the past. So once I say one thing like that, and you’re taking the smile off your face.
“Loss is a extremely powerful factor, I don’t assume, particularly at this level… the delicate nature of human life is a headline to seize.
“So, I do know what you’re making an attempt to do. I can’t fault you for making an attempt, however in taking a second to replicate on the passing of a superb, shut pal of mine…I simply don’t assume that’s the suitable avenue for me to go down.”
John Cena appeared on the podcast however was requested some fairly weird questions (Pardon My Take / YouTube)
Cena’s response to the query has resurfaced after somebody went viral for posting it on X, noting how he ‘units boundaries in an trustworthy and mature means’.
One response mentioned: “What an incredible, respectful communicator he’s. A grasp of language.”
Others, nonetheless, have been extra essential of the hosts of the podcast.
A fan posted a tweet responding to the clip, saying: “Glad Cena checked them as a result of that is terrible. Bunch of douchebags.”
One other merely mentioned: “What a god terrible query.”
LADbible group have contacted Barstool Sports activities for remark.
John Cena has spoken out about being blacklisted from Hollywood for a number of years, saying he was ‘run out’ of the enterprise.
Cena was initially finest recognized for his record-breaking profession as a WWE wrestler, a profession that’s coming to an finish later this yr.
For a lot of, nevertheless, John Cena is now arguably about as well-known as an actor as he was previous to this as a wrestler.
While selling his new season of the TV present Peacemaker although he revealed some residence truths about his performing profession.
In addition to talking about his now notorious graphic intercourse scene with Amy Schumer in Trainwreck he opened up about being run out of Hollywood and why, in his eyes, they had been proper to take action.
His position in Trainwreck revitalised his movie profession (Common Studios)
As John Cena attests himself within the interview with Vanity Fair the place he seems to be again at his personal profession, the opening to his performing profession was pretty cr*p.
His first large performing position was The Marine in 2006, a bland motion movie which sits at 4.8/10 on IMDb and 17 % on Rotten Tomatoes.
Regardless of spawning 5 sequels all starring completely different WWE stars, the film is broadly agreed to be garbage.
He adopted this up with roles in movies resembling Fred: The Film and various one off episodes of TV exhibits.
Talking about filming The Marine within the Vainness Honest interview Cena mentioned that it got here off the again of his ‘fiery begin’ to the WWE wherein he was World Champion and wrestling in numerous cities 320 days a yr.
John Cena in The Marine (twentieth Century Studios)
Cena spoke about how, because of his sizzling begin and the fast-paced nature of the WWE, it was a tradition shock to be flown out to attend in silence and movie ‘one explosion a day’.
The actor admitted he ‘hated it’, saying: “I simply wasn’t prepared for it, I didn’t respect the persistence of it.
“I didn’t respect these alternatives… I did lots of s**tty films and that’s why I didn’t do films for some time.
“I ought to have gotten run out of city. I didn’t respect it, I used to be doing films to promote extra tickets for wrestling.”
The actor additionally spoke at a Fan Expo in Denver earlier this yr the place he mentioned: “I received run out of the film enterprise as soon as for making too many unhealthy films, after which I received one other probability, and I’m very grateful for that.”
Cena went 5 years the place his solely movie roles had been films centred round early web megastar Fred and taking part in himself in a Scooby Doo WWE crossover.
This dry spell was ended with Trainwreck the place he mentioned Amy Schumer and Judd Apatow ‘took an opportunity on him’.
Now, he is without doubt one of the most recognisable and well-known actors round forward of his upcoming retirement from wrestling.
Joey Swoll says he’s ‘carried out’ after being criticised over sharing a video of himself dressed as Hulk Hogan within the fitness center.
The health influencer, recognized on-line as ‘CEO of Gymnasium Positivity’, was slammed for posting an previous clip of himself understanding in a elaborate costume costume of Hogan, who handed away on the age of 71 final week (24 July).
Swoll, 42, has since deleted the video through which he wearing a Halloween costume at Gold’s Gymnasium in California.
A lot of the criticism comes after Hogan, born Terry Bollea, used racial slurs to explain his daughter Brooke’s black ex-boyfriend in 2007.
Hogan apologised when the audio recording was made public in 2015 and mentioned his behaviour was ‘unacceptable’.
He was briefly fired from the WWE earlier than being reinstated into the Corridor of Fame in 2018.
Hulk Hogan handed away on the age of 71 final week (24 July) (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Pictures)
His endorsement of Donald Trump, in line with his opposition, was thought-about to be ‘controversial’, and Hogan was booed on the premiere of Netflix’s WWE present in January 2025.
Now, in Swoll’s first apology, the content material creator used the phrase ‘colored’ as a substitute of the time period ‘individual of color’ throughout a livestream.
“It’s a very outdated, very offensive time period. Somebody educated me and informed me that it wasn’t okay to make use of that, which I instantly apologised to everybody and mentioned ‘I might by no means try this once more’,” he admitted in a follow-up video posted on 28 July.
He additionally claimed he was unaware of a number of the controversy round Hogan, including: “I did not know the extent of all of the horrible issues that he had carried out. Since final evening, I’ve carried out quite a lot of analysis and discovered the entire horrible issues that man has carried out, which is far more than simply making a mistake and being human.”
Joey Swoll has deleted the Hulk Hogan video from his socials (X/@JoeySwoll)
“I might be a hypocrite if I didn’t maintain myself to the identical requirements. I’m human, I’m nonetheless rising and studying and I promise to all of you I’ll do higher,” Swoll added.
“I’ve nothing however love and kindness in my coronary heart, I’ll proceed to attempt to make the world a greater place.”
Nonetheless, taking to X the subsequent day, he insisted that he’s ‘carried out’ with the criticism, showing to announce he was quitting social media.
“All the great I’ve carried out, all of the folks I’ve helped, all for nothing,” he informed his 1.1 million X followers.
Swoll additionally has 5.4 million followers on Instagram and eight.1 million on TikTok.
The ultimate video posted on Hulk Hogan’s account previous to his loss of life has resurfaced.
Hogan, actual title Terry Gene Bollea, was one of many pioneering stars of WWE and have become one of the recognisable figures in American sports activities.
The controversial star’s passing was confirmed by his household yesterday (24 July) in a heartfelt assertion.
It learn: “Our beloved Terry Bollea, identified worldwide as Hulk Hogan, handed away at present surrounded by his family members. At the moment of grief, we ask that everybody please respect the privateness of his household and pals.”
They cited the ‘great reminiscences’ he left for his tens of millions of followers over time, hours after they confirmed the wrestler’s passing, aged 71, to US Weekly.
Followers have now taken discover of the final video he posted on Instagram, leaving tribute messages within the feedback.
Hogan’s passing got here as a shock to the wrestling world (Paul Kane/Getty Photos)
Hogan first joined the WWF in 1979, previous to the delivery of WWE, and rapidly established his reputation within the enterprise.
Quickly sufficient, ‘Hulkamania’ was born and he would go on to grow to be one of the influential wrestlers ever, regardless of his controversies away from the ring.
His theme music would grow to be iconic, and his rivalries with characters similar to The Rock and Randy Savage would go down in historical past.
However simply weeks after his spouse Sky denied rumours that he was in a coma, Hogan’s passing was confirmed after reportedly struggling a cardiac arrest in his Florida residence.
Nevertheless, he appeared spritely in his final Instagram video, which was a promotional clip for his beer firm, Actual American Beer.
Hogan was selling Actual American Beer within the video (Instagram/hulkhogan)
Within the clip, which was posted on 18 July six days earlier than he died, he could be seen sipping on the beverage earlier than telling followers to get their arms on a can.
Chatting with the digital camera, he stated: “Actual American beer, made in America, by actual People,” he stated, earlier than dropping one in every of his iconic phrases in.
“Get some brother. That is America brother,” he concluded.
The WWE would launch a press release following his loss of life, studying: “WWE is saddened to study WWE Corridor of Famer Hulk Hogan has handed away.
“One of popular culture’s most recognizable figures, Hogan helped WWE obtain world recognition within the Nineteen Eighties. WWE extends its condolences to Hogan’s household, pals, and followers.”
Hogan has been criticised for his political opinions and offensive remarks prior to now (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Photos)
Hogan had made numerous appearances within the WWE over time, however on his newest return earlier this yr, within the debut of WWE’s Uncooked on Netflix, he was booed.
It got here to the shock of each him and supervisor Jimmy Hart, as they regarded to advertise their beer.
The boos got here because of Hogan’s previous misconduct, as a video resurfaced within the 2010s displaying Hogan repeatedly utilizing the N-word and ranting in regards to the thought of a Black particular person relationship his daughter.
He was omitted from the WWE Corridor of Fame in 2015, although Hogan would apologise for the usage of slurs and could be re-instated in 2018.
