Wrestling both is and isn’t like many other sports in various ways, but one of the biggest connections between the two categories is that wrestlers, like many pro athletes in sports, have a “shelf life.” As in, they’ll come, do all they can in the time they can, and they’ll retire. So, just like mega-stars in the NBA, NFL, MLB, and more, when a big-time athlete reveals they’re retiring, many will pay tribute to them. This past Saturday, wrestling legend John Cena had his last match, and WWE 2K25 decided to pay tribute to him via the message you can see below:
For those who don’t know, John Cena wasn’t just the “top star” of the company in many respect, he’s been with the company for over two decades, and he was able to go from a “fledgling talent” to one of the biggest names in the game, including becoming a Hollywood actor who has had some big role, including that of the DC Comics character Peacemaker. So, again, his retirement match and his entire retirement run were a big deal. …however, if you look at what actually happened Saturday night, and what was to follow, it was anything but a “memorable sendoff.”
First and foremost, his retirement run started with him “going heel” at the request of The Rock, which led to him becoming WWE champion one last time. That might sound fine, but it was botched numerous times over, including at WrestleMania, which is their biggest event of the year.
The heel run was so bad that they eventually dumped it and had Cena go heel, win the only title he hadn’t won in WWE, lose that in less than a month, then do a tournament for his “final opponent,” which led to someone winning it that didn’t need/deserve to be Cena’s final foe, and then, Saturday Night Main Event happened.
In front of 19,000 people, John Cena had his final match, and it was so bad that when it was mere seconds away from ending, and he was being choked out by his foe, he smiled at the camera and did a rather meek tapout.
The crowd went rabid, and when the current head of “The Fed,” HHH, came out to “congratulate” Cena on a “career well done,” he was booed out of the building, and numerous people online talked about how badly he had screwed up Cena’s retirement run.
Some even went so far as to say that “this is what killed WWE” and that they would watch rival AEW instead.
