It seems that the final time is indeed now.
Last weekend in Toronto at WWE’s “Money in the Bank,” John Cena made a surprise appearance in the middle of the card to make an announcement that many wrestling fans were sad to hear but also fully expected like death and taxes — that he was officially hanging up the boots and leaving professional wrestling in 2025, embarking on a retirement tour the likes of which professional wrestling has never seen before.
Cena is undisputedly one of the greatest performers in WWE history, and it is only fitting that the man who carried the company through arguably some of its darkest years post-Attitude era is going to be allowed to end things properly. And he’s not going to retire and come back to do guest referee appearances, or take any bumps, or take a Saudi Arabian pay day to have a stinker of a tag match with Triple H, Undertaker and Kane or anything of the sort. Cena says when he’s done, he’s done for good.
So the mind immediately turns to the obvious question — who are going to be Cena’s final in-ring opponents? I took a few minutes this week to ponder what could be coming in the next year and change as we bear witness to the twilight of one of the best of all time.
CM Punk
Punk has already gone on record as saying that he would be the person to drag John Cena back to the squared circle after his impending retirement, but should we have to wait? Neither man is getting any younger (Cena is 47, Punk is 45) so if we’re going to see the two icons square off one last time, it has to be soon, assuming Punk’s body can hold up long enough for it to happen.
Randy Orton
The Viper is enjoying somewhat of a resurgence since returning from injury last fall. More importantly, it’s apparent that he’s having fun, which wasn’t something from my standpoint appeared to be the case for some time, even prior to COVID-19 shutting down the world. These two have put on so many matches over the years (some were bangers, others were stinkers), but it would be a shame to have Cena ride off into the sunset without seeing the two face off again.
AJ Styles
This is assuming that Styles will even still be in WWE in 2025, but this one would be a personal favorite. Cena won his record-tying 16th world championship in 2017 at Royal Rumble against Styles in one of my all-time favorite matches between two of my favorite wrestlers.
Styles, who made his bones in TNA and then went over to New Japan Pro Wrestling before finally making it to the big time, put on a clinic with Cena. If Styles is still around next year, this is one I’d pencil in now if I was in charge.
Edge
This one is more of a pipe dream than anything else. Adam Copeland is under contract with AEW until at least the end of 2025, so unless Tony Khan is willing to be cool about letting Copeland do a WWE date on his way into retirement, this one may be something that will be reserved for fantasy booking YouTubers.
Bron Breakker
To put this simply, this kid has all the tools to be great. He’s Bill Goldberg if he could talk with confidence and finesse on the mic and not kill people in the ring. Austin Theory should have never gotten the rub from beating Cena at WrestleMania a couple of years ago, but Breakker should absolutely get the rub on Cena’s retirement tour. It could turn out to be the difference between becoming the next big star and never quite making it to the mountaintop.
Rollins, Reigns and Rhodes
I’m going to close this out with two of the guys who were at the top of most WWE cards for the past 10 years in Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, as well as Cody Rhodes, the current reigning WWE champion and the one who will carry them into the near future as the next wave of NXT stars work their way up. Reigns and Rollins both have had their clashes with Cena over the years, and these, arguably better, incarnations of their characters would be able to put on epic classics.
Meanwhile, Rhodes vs. Cena could potentially be the greatest babyface vs. babyface match ever. The American Nightmare and future of wrestling could have the torch passed to him officially, and to be honest I can not picture a more perfect way for John Cena’s career to come to an end.
Dan Isenberg is a copy editor who writes about whatever strikes his fancy for the Mirror. He can be reached at disenberg@altoonamirror.com or on Twitter @TheseDanTweets.
