10 Things That Must Happen During John Cena’s WWE Retirement Tour
As Cena gets set for a year-long final run, WWE should prepare some grand plans for 2025.
Whether you love him or hate him, John Cena has been essential to WWE’s success during the past two decades. He was the face of the company through the latter half of the aughts and well into the 2010s, dominating the world title scene, selling obscene amounts of gaudy merch and granting a record number of wishes to sick children.
Sitting on a record-tying 16 world title reigns and having main-evented five WrestleManias, Cena, 47, announced Saturday that he will embark on a year-long retirement tour in 2025 with 30-to-40-plus appearances planned, culminating in his farewell match sometime by the end of the year.
There isn’t a lot left for Cena to accomplish in the professional wrestling world. His resumé reads like the ultimate WWE bucket list: 16-time world champion, two-time Royal Rumble winner, Money in the Bank winner, five-time United States Champion, four-time tag team champion, and countless other accolades.
With Cena committing to an actual retirement tour with a few dozen appearances, there is an actual opportunity to make this a meaningful final run for Mr. Hustle, Loyalty and Respect rather than just a couple quick high-profile matches to grab headlines and then a bow-out. Depending on how those appearances line up, he could be part of some interesting storylines and have a memorable 2025.
Or it could be one big, self-serving promotional tour that makes his going over the Nexus in 2010 pale by comparison. Let’s take a look at what could and should happen in 2025.
Let’s get to it…
10. Avoid Super Cena
Right out of the gate, the most important thing that needs to happen during John Cena’s retirement tour is actually what needs to be avoided at all costs: the appearance of Super Cena.
Longtime WWE fans know this term all too well, and it sends shivers down everyone’s spines. For years, Cena would overcome every form of adversity put in front of him, rarely ending up on the losing end of a feud. If he did get beaten down or lost, he’d find a way to shrug it off and find a new opportunity at a world title in a matter of weeks, which persisted even as fans turned on the supposed babyface. It all gave birth to the phrase, “Cena wins, LOL.”
Under no circumstances can that version of Cena return to WWE. He’s currently almost universally beloved by fans (time truly heals all wounds), but if were to run out and AA the entire Judgment Day and Bloodline in rapid succession, fans would turn on him in record time.
To be fair, the odds that this will happen are slim: Cena hasn’t won a televised singles match in more than six years and has mostly wrestled in tag matches since then. It would be quite the change for him to dominate like he did 10-15 years ago.