WWE referee Charles Robinson shared his firsthand account of the intense moment he was tackled by John Cena during the Night of Champions 2025 Premium Live Event.
Speaking on WWE’s RAW Recap show, Robinson detailed what happened during the chaos of the event’s closing moments, which featured a dramatic attempted Money in the Bank cash-in by Seth Rollins.
“It was a very wild scene. I was up in Gorilla position. I just wanted to watch the last match, you know, before I got changed, tore down the ring,” Robinson explained. “All of a sudden, Seth Rollins comes up. He goes, ‘Hey, when I call you, come down.’ He had the briefcase in his hand. So I figured we’re going to have a historic cash-in.”
Robinson said he began running down the ramp at about “80% speed” when things took a dramatic—and painful—turn.
“I’m running as hard as I can. Well, this is a cash-in. So I’m running about 80%. I’m not giving it my all. If you look at the video, I’m trying to hold back a little bit. Thank God. Because if I’d been going 100%, the collision would have been much worse.”
“All of a sudden, bam. I’m airborne. They tell me that John Cena hit me. Is that who hit me?”
Robinson, clearly still surprised by the sudden impact, added:
“I thought I’m dead. I had no idea what happened… That was a long runway, too. I mean, if you look at where I landed, I was inches from the stairs. When you’re up in the air like that, there’s no way that you’re calculating exactly where you’re going to land. It was zero me. It had nothing to do with me. I just ran in a straight line, and he hit me. I mean… I went where he put me.”
The incident has since gone viral on social media, with fans praising Robinson for taking the unexpected bump like a pro.
Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more backstage reactions from Night of Champions.
