Who REALLY Carried WWE Every Year (1985-2026)
2. 2025 (John Cena)
2025 belonged to John Cena due to his epic retirement tour.
He unthinkably turned heel at Elimination Chamber to side with The Rock, but it was a moment booked only for the heat of that PLE's fallout. WWE failed to follow up on it properly, and Cena was back to being babyface by summer. Overall, it's fair to say that creative didn't make the most of JC's final year, but he was relied on to carry business.
Ticket sales were strong for most of his final dates, including shows he was only cutting in-ring promos on, then Cena bowed out with a smile whilst tapping out to Gunther at Saturday Night's Main Event on 13 December. WWE booked that entire night as a celebration of John's life and career. He still maintains in 2026 that he's done as an active in-ring performer.
Others, like Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels and Terry Funk (who retired more times than most) have said that in the past then returned to the ring, but Cena claims he won't. Don't forget that he was talking about losing a step whilst his own retirement tour was still in progress. John knows that this isn't 2006 anymore.
Again, WWE definitely could've made more of Cena's generational heel turn than they did, but he'll ultimately look back on his final year as a wrestler fondly. Not everything was booked on his terms, surprisingly, but Triple H did give John some memorable matches against CM Punk, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton and AJ Styles before the Gunther 'final boss' moment.