You can’t see John Cena, but he saw this coming.
On Wednesday, Warner Bros. Discovery announced it was renaming (or is it re-renaming?) its Max streaming service to HBO Max. If the “new” name sounds familiar, that’s because it’s been used before.
HBO and WBD’s streaming history is almost as confusing as WWE’s World Heavyweight Championship lineage. (And then there’s all of the logo changes, too.) HBO was the original service, then they introduced HBO Now, which was a subscription video-on-demand service, and HBO Go, which was a “stream everywhere” option for HBO paid TV subscribers. HBO Max was introduced in 2020, and the Now and Go names were phased out. WBD then made the decision to drop “HBO” and called its remaining streaming app “Max”, which has remained until now.
John Cena is calling it HBO Max again
John Cena was doing press for season two of the (now) HBO Max Original series Peacemaker. During the read-through, Cena actually informed the crew of the name change taking place, telling everyone why he was going to call it “HBO Max.”
Based on his remarks, it would appear that John Cena recorded the promo on Tuesday, the day before the rebrand announcement.
“Tomorrow, they’re naming the company HBO Max. So I should correct as say HBO Max instead of Max in all of these reads?”
“That’s what the Upfront’s about?” said someone off-screen.
“Tomorrow, we are HBO Max,” Cena confirmed.
HBO Max will officially return “this summer.” Peacemaker’s second season has a more concrete premiere date, as it will premiere on August 21.
POV: finding out about the rebrand from @JohnCena pic.twitter.com/eyQxhTcJrs
— Max (@StreamOnMax) May 14, 2025
John Cena appeared on the red carpet at the Amazon Upfronts on Monday. There, he was asked about the negative reaction to a past interview where he said he still loves Vince McMahon despite being involved in a sexual assault and trafficking scandal. Cena said he wasn’t surprised by the reaction and explained why he felt that way.
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