Triple H Receives HUGE Backlash After John Cena Taps Out At Saturday Night's Main Event (WWE News)

The Washington crowd was NOT happy with the WWE Saturday Night's Main Event finish.

WWE Saturday Night's Main Event John Cena Triple H
WWE

With the legendary in-ring career of John Cena having come to an end at last night's WWE Saturday Night's Main Event, where Cena tapped out to Gunther, one of the bigger talking points coming out of SNME was the incredibly negative response aimed in the direction of WWE CCO Paul 'Triple H' Levesque.

A 24-minute back-and-forth bout, the finish of this match saw Gunther repeatedly apply a sleeper hold, as Big Match John broke out of that move several times. Eventually, it was too much for the record-setting 17-time World Champion, and he gave a smile as he tapped out for the first time in decades.

For those in attendance at Washington's Capital One Arena, they were left in stunned silence as Mr. Never Give Up... gave up.

Advertisement

After a few moments of silence, the crowd burst out into a loud "Bulls**t!" chant, with heavy boos ringing throughout the venue. Gunther quickly made his way to the back, while John Cena took in the noise. CM Punk and Cody Rhodes led the roster and WWE officials down to ringside, where Punk and Rhodes placed the World Heavyweight Championship and WWE Championship over Cena's shoulders, and Triple H got on the ring apron to point Cena's attention towards a tribute video package that began playing. By the time all was said and done, John left his sneakers, wristbands, and armband in the ring before making his exit, with no retirement speech; just Cena saying to the camera how it'd been a pleasure to serve the fans over the years.

It's worth noting, Triple H received huge boos when he was shown on-camera, and that same sentiment followed the Game to the SNME post-show, where, amongst other things, the watching crowd chanted "You F**ked Up!", "AEW!", and even "We Want Vince!". For his part, the Chief Content Officer knowingly said that he expected the boos to be louder, and highlighted how John Cena has always wanted to leave the industry in a better place than he found it, and that the loss for Cena helped make Gunther.

Advertisement

Finally, Triple H said that he has big shoulders, welcoming the negative response that was left lingering in the air at the end of WWE Saturday Night's Main Event.

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.