John Cena and Triple H kicked off The Greatest Royal Rumble, with John winning. He even referenced his Nikki Bella split after the match!
In front of a sold out King Abdullah International Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, two icons of the WWE squared off: Triple H, 48, and John Cena, 41. For the first time in eight years, the two squared off in a match that saw the two titans clash in a classic-style match. It was a heated back-and-forth until John pulled out the stops at the end. After planting Triple H in the middle of the mat with an Attitude Adjustment, he slung “The Game” into the turnbuckle, caught Triple H and nailed him with another AA. That was enough to give him the win!
Following his win, John grabbed a mic and thanked the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for allowing the WWE to hold its event there. He even seemed to hint at his split from his former fiancée, Nikki Bella, 34. “Regardless of what’s going on in my universe,” Cena said, “I was not going to miss this event for anything in the world.”
This was the first time the WWE Universe saw John since both his devastating loss to The Undertaker, 53, at WrestleMania 34 and his breakup with Nikki Bella, 34. The WWE power couple called off their wedding on April 15, weeks before they were supposedly to wed in Mexico. When speaking for the first time since the split, John told Entertainment Tonight that the breakup — frankly — sucked. “There’s no other way to say [it.] I love Nicole with all my heart, and that’s that.”
“The one take away – and it sucks – but the one take away I can have for me is that because I feel so heartbroken, I know I was in love and I will never be able to take that away,” he also said in the wake of the breakup. Nikki has remained quiet following the end of her six-year relationship with John. She made her first public appearance alongside her sister, Brie Bella, 34, while enjoying herself at Food & Wine’s Rosé Parté on Saturday, April 21. Nikki remained mum on the split, but Brie said that her sister was “good” and that she “always puts on that brave face. My sister has more strength than any other woman I know, especially Wonder Woman. She’s bigger than that.”
Sadly, fans in Saudi Arabia won’t see Nikki compete, even though a source close to her EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife.com that she’s itching to get back in the ring for one more run. Women’s wrestling really wasn’t going to be apart of the WWE’s big event in Saudi Arabia, considering the country’s attitudes towards women (and its history of human rights violations.) Triple H spoke about the controversy, as the WWE Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative told The Independent, “You can’t dictate to a country or a religion about how they handle things but, having said that, WWE is at the forefront of a women’s evolution in the world and what you can’t do is affect change anywhere by staying away from it.”
