We all saw it coming. Once John Cena shocked the wrestling world by announcing his retirement after 2025 at Money in the Bank last July, him winning his record-breaking 17th World Championship was preordained. Wrestling fans around the world were on board with the WWE engineering a championship run for a man who hadn’t won a singles competition in seven years, and was hardly part of the company over that time period. They were so on board that they gladly sacrificed suspense for fulfillment. This was 20-plus years in the making, and generations of fans were ready to see him make history at WrestleMania 41.
Then, he did. And it sucked. But why?
Before Cena won his generational battle with Cody Rhodes, the heir apparent to his babyface throne, the WWE was running a storyline development masterclass for the ages. While everyone treated the Royal Rumble as a formality for Cena to get to WrestleMania, Chief Content Officer Triple H (we’ll get to him later) and the WWE writers were still able to generate shock within this predictable rollout by not only having Cena be eliminated at the end of the Royal Rumble, but also by putting fan favorite Jey Uso onto a well-deserved championship track. Then, after simply being added to the Elimination Chamber because he’s John Cena, he books his ticket to a WrestleMania title match with a win before proceeding to shatter every Cena’s fan’s heart by siding with the soul-stealing Final Boss The Rock and executing the most shocking heel turn in professional wrestling history. And then, in one of the most scathing heel promos ever, he reduced a young child to tears by presenting his 20-plus-year relationship with the fans as an abusive one in which he did everything for them and they still wanted more.
The Rock was the orchestrator. Travis Scott was high and giving Rhodes a black eye. Cena being chosen to be the face of the company by the insidious Vince McMahon was brought up, as was Rhodes only being in the position he is because of Cena’s absence and Rhodes copying him. Everything was set. All that was left was for Cena and Rhodes to put on the historic WrestleMania matches they’ve been known to do individually. Boy, did they not.
After uninspired fisticuffs, the match devolved to simply an exchange of finishing moves before concluding in one of the weakest endings in WrestleMania history. After getting his lick back on Travis Scott by hitting the Cactus Jack rapper with a Cross Rhodes, the champion wouldn’t strike Cena with the championship belt. Why? By the look on his face, it appears he didn’t want to win the wrong way. Well, that Captain America nobility bullshit got him kicked in the groin and knocked out, making him the loser of the match. No surprise interference outside of Travis Scott, no ruthless aggression, no sustained back-and-forth fighting. It was the equivalent of the WWE shoving the full-course meal you ordered in your face and telling you to enjoy what you asked for. At a WrestleMania that featured Seth Rollins’ surprise alliance with Paul Heyman; Iyo Sky, Rhea Ripley, and Bianca Belair putting on an instant classic triple-threat match; and Jey Uso winning the World Heavyweight Championship, Cena’s title match would be an afterthought if not for the history made.
Even with all of that disappointment, I’m not ready to give up on the WWE’s grand plan. The most promising sign that the WWE has a worthwhile plan which that terrible WrestleMania 41 main event fits into is Cena’s expressed desire to “ruin wrestling.” Earlier today on The Pat McAfee Show, Cena broke down part of his post-WrestleMania plan, and it quite honestly sounds like the WWE’s version of DC Comics’ Crisis on Infinite Earths in which the DC timeline was reset, liberated of its burdensome multiverse.
“I’m going to make wrestling start over. That championship is coming home with me, and I will be the last undisputed WWE champion, period. They’re going to have to make a new title. They’re going to have to start the over again.”
Retiring a championship is truly next-level heel shit. Beating someone to a bloody pulp, knocking someone off of a bridge, and nailing the boss’s daughter to a cross to sacrifice her are bad. Having the balls to remove a championship is a seismic change that could be a smart move. Cena delivering a WrestleMania match that felt like a formality more than a fight and robbing fans of the type of five-star match that requires you to put your body on the line could totally be Cena’s way of ruining wrestling. Imagine if the rest of his wrestling career is centered on simply removing everything positive that fans expect every year, and then leaving with a title they have memories attached to. That would be a scorched Earth plan I can get behind.
Another saving grace for the WWE is time. Cena has already committed to wrestling until the end of December, with another 27-37 matches left to go after originally stipulating he’ll wrestle in 30-40 matches in his final year. So far, he’s only wrestled in Premium Live Events. If he’s going to hit that number of matches, it’s safe to assume we’ll be seeing him wrestle on RAW and Smackdown. With the championship already won, the next eight full months can be a collection of dream matches and title defenses. Maybe Cena can finally beat Roman Reigns in a Singles match after failing the previous two times. Maybe the sleeping giant Randy Orton goes back to his Legend Killer ways and begins his own potential retirement tour by ending Cena’s with a loss.
We’ll almost certainly get a Cena/Rhodes rematch, or we’ll riot. If Cena and WWE’s plans are for the newly 17-time World Champion to ruin wrestling, they’re off to a great start.
