The day we never thought possible has finally passed. John Cena, the ultimate representation of WWE and all of sports entertainment, officially retires. For over 23 years, everyone and their grandmothers waved their hands in front of their faces, saying, “You can’t see me,” as John had done to each of his opponents. In every facet of the world, there is one body that encapsulates and represents its business, and for the WWE, that was John Cena.
On Saturday, December 13, 2025, Cena battled Gunther in his final performance in in-ring competition at the final Premium Live Event of the year, Saturday Night’s Main Event. Beyond the results and quality of the match itself, the end marked a bittersweet finale of a once-ever talent. John received flowers from major celebrities and athletes, as well as those outside of the wrestling sphere, including Tom Brady, the Manning Brothers, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Snoop Dogg, to name a few.
Continuing on the path of tributes outside of wrestling, John received numerous tweets and congratulations from several major sports teams and promotions that featured pictures of John wearing their respective jerseys. Throughout the night, several current and past figures of John’s past in WWE paid their tribute by thanking Cena for his wisdom, leadership, inspiration, and the many memories he created within the industry. CM Punk, Becky Lynch, The Undertaker, Kane, Sami Zayn, Rob Van Dam, and even Brock Lesnar all shared some support for their friend, colleague, and mentor.
The Main Event
On the card were three other matches that included NXT Champion Oba Femi taking on WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, Sol Ruca vs Bayley, and Dragon Lee and AJ Styles vs TNA’s X Division Champion Leon Slater and Je’Von Evans. Before Cena vs Gunther, there was a segment that featured The Miz, R-Truth, and the white-hot new WWE signee Joe Hendry.
The opening match started off entertaining, but was unnecessarily cut short by a run-in interference from Drew McIntyre. Sol Ruca defeated Bayley in a thoroughly entertaining match that I would like to see run back. The tag team match was a blistering 900 miles an hour and was my match of the night. The Miz’s segment with Joe Hendry and R-Truth was ridiculously fun, and I am so glad to see Joe Hendry with WWE.
This brings us to the main event- John Cena’s final match against The Ring General Gunther. The final moments of the match saw John tap out to a tightly locked chokehold, and the air was sucked out of the arena. There has been much clamor online about the results, and I disagree with the majority of the sentiments.
It is a tradition in wrestling that in the big retirement match, the retiring wrestler loses and puts over their opponent. Shawn Michaels did it, Goldberg did it, Ric Flair did it (he sucks, by the way), Batista did it, and so many others have done this. I am not here to say I wanted Cena to lose, but I do not think his losing was the worst decision. Now, that is to say, I did not want him to lose his final match at all, but since he did, I wholly disagree with the way it was booked, because it was bad.
John Cena vs Gunther- Mini Review
This is where we get personal. The amount of hype for this match was unparalleled. The greatest sports entertainer of all time was set to take on one of the best wrestlers of all time. Big Match John would dance with The Ring General to close out a career never to be replicated. Much of the community and general viewing audiences are upset that Cena tapped out to a submission finish.
I have so many issues with this, considering they tossed in the narrative that John has not been submitted in 20 years. I take a massive issue with how unceremonious the finale was. Forgive me for being a bit of a ranting mark, but you mean to tell me that Mr. Never-Give-up, Superman, John “never lost an I Quit match” Cena, Big Match John- John Cena tapped out? He tapped out after a few minutes of being in a chokehold? He gave up?
The choke was fine, John’s tapping was bad, and Gunther’s dominating was okay. The problems are in the closing moments, and the lack of understanding of John Cena’s basic fundamentals. I can not actually believe Triple H put us in a situation where we have to say that John Cena did not get enough offense in.
Gunther is already a destroyer of worlds, so if this match waned in his direction more than it already did and allowed him to utterly destroy John like we know he could do, then that would have been cool. If John fought more until his last breath gave out, then that would have been preferable. It is not unreasonable to have set such a high standard for a match containing two generational performers.
Emotional Goodbyes
I am still currently trying to wrap my head around how Triple H decided that the finale we saw was the best ending we could have gotten. While watching the match, my girlfriend asked if I thought someone would interfere in the match, as Drew did in Cody v Femi earlier on. In that moment, I thought how no one would be dumb enough to end Cena’s career on a disqualification interference, but somehow that may be a preferable ending. I digress.
Despite the almost unforgivable number of issues I had with this main event match, I will not deny that I was fully in tears in the lead-up moments to this match. When John’s horns hit, I wept. When longtime ring announcer Lillian Garcia introduced John, the tears were flowing. The finale took away any of that authentic emotion, but again, I digress.
This was more than just a sendoff for a wrestler. December 13, 2025, marked the end of a legacy. Rarely do we see an individual so influential and such a force for positivity get the ovation they deserve quite as John Cena did. After the match, everyone backstage circled the ring and witnessed Cena lay down his arm bands, his sneakers, and wrist wraps. Included in that crowd were World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk and WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. For one final hurrah, both men knelt and gave John their titles so that he could show them off one final time.
Never has gold looked better around anyone’s waste then that of the legendary John Cena. Immediately after handing the titles back to the respective champions, a video package played in tribute to John. If you somehow are not convinced that John Cena is Superman, then that package is everything you need. John was truly a one-of-a-kind talent, performer, and human being who was nothing less than a man of the people.
Thank You, Cena
Superman has hung up his cape, and Metropolis has no idea what to do now. John Cena’s career is full of every accomplishment possible, and each achievement was another moment of pure greatness. I pity anyone who never had the chance to get excited for an upcoming John Cena match. If you never watched a match and chanted “Let’s go, Cena” or “Cena sucks,” then I think you have some homework to do.
The December 13th edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event had its ups and downs, for sure, but the one indisputable thing is that John Cena has officially called it a career, and he was the greatest to ever do it. I was two when he began, and I watched John retire at 25. From this fan in Philly, thank you, John.
