The Latest On Future John Cena WWE Appearances (WWE News)

What does John Cena's WWE future look like?

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

While he's called time on his legendary in-ring career, don't expect Saturday Night's Main Event to be the last we've seen of John Cena in WWE.

Cena announced last year that 2025 was to be his last as an active in-ring talent, leading to this year playing out with his retirement tour and concluding with a controversial loss to Gunther this past weekend.

Big Match John's time may be up as an active wrestler, but Fightful Select reports that he's expected to make future WWE appearances, both on-screen and off. The outlet adds that they aren't sure "to what extent the on-camera appearances will be".

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For those who may have missed Saturday Night's Main Event, John Cena, forever presenting himself as Mr. Never Give Up over the past two decades, closed out his career by, well, giving up, as he tapped out to a sleeper hold from Gunther. Washington's Capital One Arena initially reacted to that loss with stunned silence, before that silence quickly switched to heavy boos and chants of "Bulls**t!". That reaction was only amplified when WWE Chief Content Officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque appeared as part of the celebration of Cena's career, and the Game was likewise serenaded with chants of "You F**ked Up!", "AEW!", and "We Want Vince!" when he later joined the SNME post-show.

Either way, regardless of his time as an in-ring competitor having come to an end, it sounds like we've not seen the last of John Cena in WWE, with plentiful speculation amongst fans that the record-setting 17-time World Champion could headline the 2026 WWE Hall of Fame. That said, if that was to be the case, purely from your writer's perspective, it would've made perfect sense to announce that at Saturday Night's Main Event.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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.