The dates are winding down for “The Greatest of All-Time,” and there’s still work to be done. When John Cena announced in August 2024 that his final year as a wrestler would span 36 dates through 2025, fans seemed optimistic. While they didn’t expect a then-47-year-old Cena to wrestle a match for every date, 36 dates seemed like enough to generate a solid amount of matches and some promo segments to build up those matches.
John Cena confirms that his farewell tour in 2025 will consist of around 36 dates around the world.
(Interview w/@Collider) pic.twitter.com/l1nkDLR6Np
— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) August 13, 2024
Fast-forward nine months into 2025, and Cena’s retirement run has not lived up to most people’s expectations. While Cena achieved the ultimate goal of winning his 17th world championship, breaking Ric Flair’s record at WrestleMania 41, the quality of his matches as a heel, which were marred by constant interference, along with his rather one-note heel promos and poor booking once turning back babyface, have left fans with a lot to be desired as the clock ticks down on his career.
Furthermore, what many consider wasted segments on Logan Paul and Brock Lesnar programs (the latter of which may not be over yet) have left Cena with only five dates left in his illustrious career. Unfortunately, there is only so much one can achieve in five dates, with not all of them being guaranteed to be matches in the first place; there is a chance that we only see a couple more John Cena matches until he hangs up the jorts and sneakers for good.
we had John Cena in his final ever year for 36 dates and 10 of those dates are being spent on him interacting with Logan Paul
so more than 1/4 of John Cena’s final year featured Logan Paul pic.twitter.com/5KtGOYbc8H
— Michael🎢 | LyraForWorldChamp 🪶 (@MichaelSFNR1) August 23, 2025
With only five shows left, is John Cena really going out like this? After a heel run that felt sabotaged from the beginning, with The Rock’s departure and pointless side quests such as a R-Truth feud that went nowhere and a CM Punk match that ended like a discount Bloodline Rules match? Is this the end for the Unseen 17?
Well, let me try my hand at this. We only have five dates to work with here: Crown Jewel on November 10th, Raw in Boston on November 17th, Raw at Madison Square Garden, Survivor Series, and Cena’s final date, Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13th. There’s no room for error here. Cena must wrestle at all five dates, face people he hasn’t encountered before, and put over some youngsters before ending his career.
Let’s roll.
Crown Jewel
As has been reported, John Cena is facing AJ Styles at the October 11th Crown Jewel event in Perth, Australia, so let’s go from there.
Since Cena has no dates between Wrestlepalooza and Crown Jewel, the build for this match on his end has solely been on social media, as he stated that he specifically requested to face Styles for his fans who wanted to see the match. Sure enough, AJ Styles has been high on the list of potential opponents for Cena’s retirement run, as the two have put on magic every time they locked up in the past.
I do not choose my opponents, but I (even through tough times) ALWAYS listen to the fans.@AJStylesOrg are you listening?
Better yet @TripleH ….. are YOU listening???#CenaVsStyles https://t.co/BNspbeUxXd— John Cena (@JohnCena) September 23, 2025
Since Cena will not appear on TV for this build, Styles will have to do the heavy lifting. With his own retirement imminent, as he announced in a recent interview, as well as his contract expiring soon, Styles can say that he himself needs this match more than Cena to prove to himself that he is better before he calls it quits.
Styles and Cena have faced off four times in the past, with Styles winning the first two and Cena winning the final two. This fifth match would be the tiebreaker in their series, and Styles says that he needs to close that chapter of his career before he retires, having gotten Cena comparisons since his TNA days.
AJ Styles says his upcoming final match against John Cena came out of no where and didn’t think it would happen but assures it’s going to be incredible:
“I am certainly happy for the opportunity to wrestle John Cena on his retirement tour. I did not think this was going to… pic.twitter.com/m4LgaHpRIR
— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) September 29, 2025
In the match, Styles and Cena turn back the clock to 2017, throwing everything and the kitchen sink at each other. Despite also being 48 years old, Styles has shown that he can still go in the ring, given the right opponent, and Cena has had something of a renaissance since SummerSlam, pulling out moves he has never done before.
The match is a straight-up face vs. face contest, as both men should play to the crowd as much as possible, with the build almost exclusively centered around the fans’ desires. Ultimately, Cena reverses a top-rope Styles Clash attempt into a Hurricanrana from the top, after which he hits three Attitude Adjustments on Styles and pins him.
Following the match, Cena and Styles embrace, raise each other’s hands, and Cena holds down the middle rope for AJ to leave the ring to a wave of applause. With the ring all to himself, Cena picks up the mic and declares that the time for talk is over, that he has four dates left, and he wants to wrestle as much as possible before he calls it a career, for the people.
Remember those three words, “For the people.” They’ll come in handy soon.
November 10 Raw: Boston, MA
This brings us to the following month and Cena’s final hometown appearance. This one’s probably the easiest one to book from his perspective, but he also has a job to do: put over a younger star with the hometown rub.
Cena opens the show with an open challenge, stating that he only has four dates left, and if someone from the back wants to make their career off beating John Cena, they only have four more dates to do it. He throws down the gauntlet, which is answered by…The Miz?
Miz, flanked by Carmelo Hayes, demands Cena face him one final time, bringing up their one-sided rivalry in 2009 and their WrestleMania match in 2011, which Miz only won due to interference from The Rock. Miz states that he’s never gotten a clean win over Cena, and he wants one last chance to make it right.
“For the people,” he says, to which Cena responds that the people do not want to see him fight Miz, and instead directs his attention to Carmelo Hayes, pointing out that he is from Boston, and bringing up how he helped Hayes defeat Bron Breakker for the NXT Championship. Cena wants to see how much Hayes learned from that moment and how he has evolved in the two years since.
Hayes accepts Cena’s challenge, and Miz reluctantly concedes his spot in the match. Carmelo Hayes vs John Cena is official for the main event of Raw. Before the match, Miz tells Hayes that he will be in his corner if he needs anything, but Hayes tells him to stay behind for this one, that he has a point to prove, and he wants to beat the GOAT in their hometown. Miz agrees and says he will leave the building.
The match itself is Cena’s fastest to date. Carmelo Hayes is the youngest full-time wrestler Cena has faced since Austin Theory at WrestleMania 39, and he takes Cena to his limit, flying all over the place and trying to outpace him. Cena, however, keeps up well enough, as he should be relatively up to speed with modern wrestling at this point, and the match is surprisingly back-and-forth. Hayes hits Cena with the Skull Crushing Finale for a two-count. Cena hits an RKO on Hayes for a two-count, since he loves stealing finishers now.
At the end, Hayes has Cena down after a springboard DDT and goes up top for Nothing But Net. Miz appears from the crowd, appearing to help Hayes, but distracts him instead, allowing Cena enough time to thwart Hayes and deliver a top rope Attitude Adjustment for the win.
Following the match, Cena helps Hayes up, embraces him, lifts his arm, and exits the ring to allow Melo and Miz to hash out their differences. Miz tries to comfort Melo, but ends up flooring him with a Skull Crushing Finale, turning Hayes babyface and ending Melo Don’t Miz to start a short feud that Hayes wins to go solo with new fans.
November 17 Raw: Madison Square Garden
Only a week later, John Cena made his final appearance in the most famous arena in the country. He has to lace up the sneakers one last time in MSG, for the people.
Side note: For the last few weeks, Dominik Mysterio, still the Intercontinental Champion, has been taking shots at Cena and making snide remarks as much as he can, calling Cena a coward for not facing him in his hometown, and suggesting that he’s afraid to let his fans down one last time before hanging up the boots. Dominik opens Raw in MSG and says that Cena lost his chance to face the greatest Mysterio of all time and that he’s probably not even in the building.
That’s when Cena’s music hits, and he arrives. Cena tells Dominik that he’s been wanting to give him a spanking for years, and that the Intercontinental Championship is the only title he hasn’t won in his career. John Cena vs Dominik Mysterio is made official for the main event of Raw in MSG.
Before the match, Mysterio tells the Judgement Day to stay behind during his match, that he needs to do this for himself and nobody else.
Cena vs Dominik is unlike many of Dominik’s usual matches in that this one is very even. We see a new side of Dominik Mysterio here, as he seems far more determined to prove a point, countering Cena’s moves and pulling new ones out of his bag of tricks.
Cena can even attempt a 619 if his body allows him to. In the end, Cena has Dominik on his shoulders when Bron Breakker’s music hits. Cena drops Dominik only to run into a spear from Breakker, giving Dominik enough time to hit a frog splash to retain the Intercontinental Championship. Raw ends with Cena getting beaten down by The Vision.
Survivor Series: War Games
To keep things short, Cena is in the War Games match, teaming with Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, and the Usos to take on Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, and, unfortunately, Brock Lesnar. I won’t waste too much time with the match itself, as it isn’t crucial to the story. Long story short, Cena enters last, doesn’t take many bumps, and wins the match for his team after a top rope Attitude Adjustment through a table.
Following the match, Cena is embraced by his team, who leave the ring to let him take in the admiration of the San Diego crowd for the final time. All of a sudden, Gunther appears, making his return after losing to CM Punk at SummerSlam. Gunther walks to the ring, stares down an exhausted Cena, and turns to leave, only to deliver a massive chop on Cena’s chest, all while wearing a suit, after which he leaves the ring, leaving Cena laid out to close Survivor Series.
The story around Saturday Night’s Main Event is whether John Cena will even make it to his retirement match in the first place. Gunther cuts promos on the following two episodes of Raw, calling Cena a coward and a hypocrite for not being strong enough to see his own demise, stating that he had all the time in the world to beat younger talent.
Still, when it was his time to fall, he’d be too scared of the music. Byron Saxton interviews Cena’s friends, such as CM Punk and Randy Orton, neither of whom has seen him recently, but promise that he will show up in Washington, D.C. “For the people.”
Saturday Night’s Main Event: The Final Time Is Now
Cena vs Gunther is set to be the main event, but Gunther cuts a promo to open the show as well, calling Cena a coward once again and declaring that the man who preached “Hustle, Loyalty, Respect” would not show up to his own funeral. Throughout the show, Cena does not appear, and nobody knows his whereabouts. The main event comes, and out comes Gunther, but Cena is still missing.
After a while, the camera cuts to the parking lot, and Cena is seen parking his car and walking through backstage, with every member of the roster watching him. Cena’s music hits, and he steps to the ramp with no grandiose expression or theatrics: just him, his towel, and a very stern expression. Cena looks around, salutes the crowd, and walks to the ring, taking it all in one final time.
With commentary silent, Cena throws his shirt and hat to the crowd and stares down Gunther, with a bandage on his chest where he got chopped.
After 23 years, John Cena would not run from his fate. He made it to D.C, which is an achievement in itself.
Unfortunately, making the trip to the ring for the final time is the last obstacle he can overcome, because even Clark Kent is mortal, and his time has finally run out. Cena tries everything against Gunther, but it’s not enough, as he gets flattened with chop after chop, lariat after lariat, powerbomb after powerbomb.
Cena gets a few hope spots in here and there, even hitting his Five Moves of Doom, but all he can manage is a two-count, if not a one-count. John Cena’s final act as a wrestler was to die by his sword and by his resolve. Living to fight the last fight, but not surviving to see the end.
In the end, Gunther floors Cena with a huge chop and drops him with one last powerbomb to pin him in the middle of the ring and end his career. In an uncharacteristic display of respect, Gunther reaches his hand out to help Cena up and bows to him.
He clears the ring to let John Cena get the farewell he deserves, because at the end of the day, from his first night on the main roster against Kurt Angle to his last match 23 years later, Cena respected the mat more than anyone Gunther has ever seen, and even the Ring General has to show respect for the GOAT.
Cena is offered help by Punk and Orton, but rejects it, opting to get up by himself for the last time. The entire locker room, except for Gunther, clears out as Cena makes his retirement speech and says his goodbyes to a round of applause and “Thank You Cena” chants. John Cena’s career is over, and a few months later, he is announced as the headline induction in the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2026.
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