Though just about every element of it felt like a frustrating tease of what could have simply happened from the beginning, the babyface half of John Cena's final year turned out to be a joyous artistic triumph.
From the second he entered at SummerSlam for his losing effort against Cody Rhodes, order was restored and with it came the magic of what Cena's entire run could and should have been. The turn was a noble flex until the company revealed how little it had in supply for the follow-up, and without the weight of the failure on his shoulders, Cena rolled back the years and unleashed performances that had long lay dormant since he went part-time.
Ending on a high with an Intercontinental Championship victory over Dominik Mysterio ahead the Saturday Night's Main Event in his honour, every appearance really did feel like an emotional farewell, which might be the biggest success story of all - not only did WWE pull off an apology tour of a lifetime, but they worked everybody into thinking it really was the end.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
