John Cena On Vince McMahon Allegations: 'We All Make Mistakes'

It's WrestleMania season, which means John Cena is returning to the squared circle, with a United States Championship match against Austin Theory set for WrestleMania 39. And Cena's return just so happens to coincide with Vince McMahon becoming more visible following his own WWE return, with McMahon reportedly showing up backstage to visit Cena during last week's "WWE Raw." That sort of action, not to mention all the dinner dates Cena and McMahon have logged, would seem to suggest a close relationship. And during an interview with the Associated Press, Cena wasn't shy about discussing how much McMahon means to him.

"I love Vince McMahon," Cena said. "He's everything you could want in a great friend, business partner, father, mentor. I love the man..." While Cena has remained close with McMahon, many others haven't after the Chairman of the Board was forced to briefly retire from WWE following an investigation into hush money payments to cover up affairs and sexual misconduct allegations. As such, Cena was asked if it had become hard to reconcile his friendship with McMahon following those revelations.

"No," Cena said. "I mean, everyone has the right to have their perspective. I have the right to have mine. When you love somebody, you take them as imperfectly perfect as they are. We all make mistakes, we all have poor decisions. Lord knows I've made my collection of poor choices. That doesn't mean I'm not going to love somebody. There's no way I can go on record and say I don't love Vince McMahon." WWE's investigation into McMahon revealed he had spent, in total, over $19.6 million on hush money payments since 2006. Overall, McMahon has been accused of sexual misconduct, or worse, nine times since 1992.