Backstage Reaction To John Cena Losing At Saturday Night's Main Event (WWE News)

How was the finish to John Cena's retirement match viewed backstage in WWE?

by Andrew Pollard
WWE Saturday Night's Main Event John Cena
WWE

As the wrestling world continues to debate the finish of John Cena's final ever match, there's now word on what the reaction was like behind the scenes in WWE to Cena tapping out to Gunther at Saturday Night's Main Event this past weekend.

Per Fightful Select, there were "plenty of people on both sides of the fence" when it comes to how Big Match John's retirement match wrapped up, with most of the creative team said to be in favour of how things played out. The outlet has heard from "plenty of talent" who wished that Cena got the win in his retirement match, but they understood the reality of having Gunther get the W. Fightful also adds that, from the talent they've spoken to, they've not experienced anybody "livid" about the finish.

While the obvious main talking point from Saturday Night's Main Event was always going to be John Cena vs. Gunther and how WWE opted to handle Cena's retirement bout, just as much of a talking point has been the hugely negative fan reaction towards Triple H from those in Washington's Capital One Arena and beyond. The finish of that Cena and Gunther match initially played out to stunned silence, before fans rained down boos and chants of "Bulls**t!"; boos and chants that only continued when Triple H was later shown as part of the celebration of Cena's career. In fact, that sentiment only intensified on the SNME post-show, where the King of Kings received chants of, amongst other things, "You F**ked Up!", "AEW!", and even "We Want Vince!".

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As for how Triple H was backstage, Fightful notes that the Game was said to "have had a smile on his face in Gorilla position over the finish" of John Cena's final match, reacting to the boos "much like he did on camera".

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.