When John Cena made his retirement announcement in 2024, I never imagined we’d get a heel turn. I envisioned a cookie cutter 17th title win to complement an otherwise pedestrian victory lap for someone who is a quintessential WWE superstar. That’s certainly how it started at the Royal Rumble where he threatened to win the match but ultimately couldn’t clinch.
On the surface we had no reason to expect anything more than that at Elimination Chamber. The match was filled out by many of his classic foils and by the end we had Cena alongside Seth Rollins and CM Punk. The sequence of events that followed set up WrestleMania and beyond through SummerSlam.
Punk and Rollins’ vitriol toward each other gave a desperate Cena the window to punch his ticket to WrestleMania and a chance at history. The heel turn itself was everything it needed to be. It was impactful, it was shocking and it set the tone for what could have been a career-defining run. Suddenly where I expected a nostalgia run and fan service, there was a glimmer of something interesting again on WWE television. For a company that prides itself on creating moments, this was one.
That moment gave us something we’re going to remember. It provided us a solid build to a main event match at WrestleMania that paid off with Cena surpassing Ric Flair’s 16 recognized world title reigns. The Cena-Rock paradigm gave us something unique and special at a moment where WWE television could be predictable. Over the course of his title reign he re-engaged with Randy Orton and CM Punk. He defended the championship while threatening to leave WWE worse off than when he came into the company. His potential high-jacking and theft of the WWE title, with the prospect of retiring with it, had the potential to create compelling television. Further, at the end of that you could have catapulted someone off saving WWE from Cena’s identity crisis.
Stable Storytelling, Valuable Endings
There are a number of reasons why it sputtered and ultimately failed. The Rock’s detachment didn’t help, nor did the apparent void in long term planning. What we’ve been left with is Cody Rhodes regaining the WWE title on the back of saving Cena from the darkness of his own ego. As a result the back half of Cena’s retirement tour has veered toward the blandness I initially expected. That’s left me conflicted since I’m grateful for the moment of the turn and what came directly after that, however the extended period from his defeat of Punk onward has left me sour on Cena’s final months.
When you read a book, watch a movie or play a video game, you remember the ending more than anything else. Stories within those mediums can have strong beginnings and solid middles, but if the climax and ending don’t pay off the setup you feel like you’ve wasted your time. Ultimately you choose to spend your time how you like, and if you’ve invested money and part of your mental stack to something for entertainment, you deserve a justified payoff. A poor ending is a poor ending, and although Cena’s retirement run started hot, it’s fallen off the cliff, skipped down the side facing, rolled down and up an incline, and shot over a bay filled with hungry sharks.
Extreme? Ehhhhhhhhhhh…. maybe. However, I’m struggling to come up with compelling excuses to make for Cena’s run at this point. Obviously we weren’t going to cap his career at SummerSlam when he lost to Cody Rhodes, but that would have been the natural point to bow out. Instead, we were given an unnecessarily braindead match against Brock Lesnar that served no purpose and can be summed up with:
“You’re retiring bro, that’s cool. I’m going to come kick your ass for no reason. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL”
John Cena’s last run leading to his final bow is past due if we’re not even doing anything constructive with him. If the best we can do is let him get royally thrashed by Lesnar, then what is the point? Although I love AJ Styles, and their match at Crown Jewel this weekend was peaks and bounds better than any match Cena’s had this year, it still felt a like a tribute band pounding out the greatest hits of another band. Don’t get me wrong, their match was really good and lived up to their past matches from 2016-2017, but I again ask you: what’s the point? If we’re “doing stuff” for the sake of “doing stuff” are we not wasting our time investing into what Cena is doing on WWE television?
Right now my answer is yes. You’re certainly entitled to disagree, but for me I’m troubled to get too invested in what he’s doing at this point. For me it truly does feel like a tribute band playing the hits in a lounge. I’m willing to also concede that we still have time left, and if a recent report about John Cena taking on Dom Mysterio at Survivor Series is true, I think that’s the meatiest narrative we can dig into since the spring.
Cena and Mysterio: the retiring hero vs. the brash youngster
If this rumoured match materializes at Survivor Series, there are two built-in storylines for them. Firstly, Cena and Rey Mysterio have history, which I think you can spin into this. Secondly, the low-hanging carrot is that Dom holds the only major championship Cena has not held in his WWE career. If Cena were to capture the Intercontinental championship that would make him a grand slam champion.
Let’s be clear – if this match happens Cena should not be winning. The younger Mysterio is part of the company’s future, and anything other than a successful Mysterio defence is ego-boosting nonsense with only one date left on his contract. What would happen then? Cena surrenders the title the next night? If so, in one swoop you’ve cut off Dom at the knees and trashed the IC title, which you’ll then have to hold a tournament for. What’s the point?
Any potential matchup needs to be in service of boosting Dominik as we head into 2026, not stat padding Cena’s credentials like he’s LeBron James. (Yeah, I went there.) There’s more to gain for WWE in Dominik strongly beating Cena, while also keeping Cena strong in defeat. I don’t feel there’s a point in undercutting either. The point of this match needs to be catapulting Mysterio farther along in his trajectory, and I don’t think Cena winning serves any purpose.
This has the potential to veer a rocky final run back toward the right side of the road, and I think it would be a good second last match that can “make” a young wrestler. I feel that needs to be the impetus in these last months and the story works here. At this stage in their careers and lives, they are polar opposites and the avenues they can travel down might be worthwhile. At a minimum a match against Dom will be the most interesting thing Cena has done since August. Along with the AJ match, it will definitely serve to wash out the sour taste left by the Lesnar match.
The Final Leg
Survivor Series is mere weeks away from what is being billed as Cena’s last match in Washington, D.C. “Final Leg” is very on the nose here as in my head Cena’s run has lost a leg while jumping the shark — it didn’t go well. That being said, coupled with the Mysterio match I think there are things they can do as they hop into December to dovetail the ending toward something more palatable. As I said the ending matters, even if the back half was kind of mediocre.
Firstly, I think Cena needs to lose to Dom, thereby failing to become a Grand Slam champion. He does not need the distinction and I think it damages the value of Mysterio and both the IC and AAA titles. Secondly, during Cena’s match with AJ Styles Michael Cole repeatedly mentioned the former was the greatest of all time. That on its own is not groundbreaking as he’s been saying that for years. What’s more important is what happened after Seth Rollins beat Cody Rhodes.
In the aftermath of that match Rollins referred to himself as the greatest of all time. I feel that’s deliberate. Beyond the Elimination Chamber match earlier this year they have not wrestled, and I think it’s possible Rollins could be a good final matchup in Washington for Cena over the world championship. There are conflicting reports that contradict that stating it’s likely Gunther, but I think story-wise there’s more value in running with Rollins one last time.
Either works for different reasons though, and obviously with Rollins his inclusion is dependent on the legitimacy and severity of his apparent injury.
Gunther is a good option because I think it will be a better match overall. I think it also has value with it being a first time match-up and it’s something to get excited about. Gunther is a balanced pro wrestling killing machine. Where the Lesnar match was utterly stupid, predictable and one-sided, you have the same ingredients with Gunther paired with the same egoist vulnerability that made him a good final opponent for Goldberg. I’m more in favour of Cena winning this one than against Mysterio, but I think Gunther still has to win because I don’t know how that creates value for Gunther as an ongoing presence in WWE if he can’t beat the outgoing Cena.
In contrast with Rollins, you know what you’re getting here. This can easily not be for the title, but I think you do it for the expressed purpose to push Rollins farther along in his own legacy and current storyline. As noted Rollins is the last major name from Cena’s past that he has not wrestled yet (that is under WWE contract), and I think it’s better for the marquee if you’re selling the last match as a chance for Cena to become an 18-time champion rather than putting him against Gunther with nothing on the line other than pride (…it can still work on that premise). Rollins’ comment seems odd and out of place otherwise, which is why I feel this is a possible option.
‘The Last Time’ and Cena’s final credits
Whatever combination we end up with, although I think this run is past due, it should end in a decent place. From the outset of his retirement run I said the point, even if he came out of his heel run late in the year, needed to be understanding who he is as a person and live and breathe what he believes is true in his heart. Working hard, being true to yourself and the people who believe in you, and respecting the package of this platform enough to leave it in a better place.
With Mysterio he’d be opposite someone who is younger, faster and more dynamic, and who is also willing to lie, cheat and steal a win from Cena. The same is true with Rollins and Gunther. Both are younger and more skilled, and hold more years in front of them than not. Cena has no business beating either man right now. Cena shouldn’t need to win any of these, but the opportunity is there to go out swinging and trying his best against wrestlers who are better, younger or stronger than him.
It doesn’t matter whether he wins because the value is in the effort he gives, and that’s the lesson we should take away if it means doing it on your terms. That’s the key point that can also tie off the heel turn retcon — he acted on behalf of someone else, not himself. I think the Mysterio match is good, and I think there’s more value in doing the match with Rollins over the expected Gunther because it gives Cena one last crack at a world champion to win it on his own terms with his own effort.
That can be the lasting visual of Cena–him going out swinging in defeat with his head held high regardless.
