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John Cena went on a retirement tour throughout 2025, and undoubtedly, it was one of the best years in his entire professional wrestling career. He achieved everything he was yet to achieve in his illustrious wrestling career. He started things off with winning the men's Elimination Chamber match at the Elimination Chamber event.
After winning the match, John Cena shocked the entire world by turning heel for the first time in 21 years. He won the Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania 41 by defeating Cody Rhodes. It was his first and only World Championship run as a heel. He dropped the Championship back to Cody Rhodes at the SummerSlam event.
How John Cena felt when he got to know he was retiring in 2025
Even after dropping the Undisputed WWE Championship, he kept on producing wonders like his once in a lifetime match with AJ Styles at the Crown Jewel event, and also became a Grand Slam champion by winning the WWE IC Championship. Recently, Cena spoke with Tom Rinaldi, where he revealed how he felt when he got to know he was retiring in 2025. He said the following about it;
John Cena went on a retirement tour throughout this year
“The fact that I thought I was going to have this year completely off. For the longest, I’ve been a part-time piece. Sometimes, I come back just to deliver the opening monologue. That is the toughest spot in what we do. To come out for 15-20 minutes, tell the audience what they’re going to get, and not deliver anything else. Not have a confrontational war of words, no physicality.
"Show up with the equity you’ve built, hope they enjoy, and go through 16 talking points, somehow weave the energy of the crowd, not killing house for the matches about to follow. It’s a very tough spot. I could kind of see the writing on the wall. ‘We need you to come back. We want you to open the show.’ ‘Of course you do. I will do it, but you’re right.’ The situations where I can come back is a lot more of a good back.
John Cena will wrestle his final match against Gunther
"I’ve been paired with new talent since 2013. Just looking at the calendar, I’m 48. I thought I would have this year with minimal commitments and I began to say, ‘Something is going to happen this year or I have to post on X that I’m going to retire.’ Either one is okay. When I was presented with, ‘We can do this or this.’ Finally, I just said, ‘It’s either this year or we don’t do it, and I’d like to do it.’”
John Cena will wrestle his final match this Saturday at the Saturday Night's Main Event show, and Gunther last ever opponent, who earned the right to face him in his farewell match by winning a 16 man tournament. No one knows what will happen in that match, but one thing that everyone can understand is, wrestling world will never be the same without the Greatest of All Time.
