After 23 years of being in the World Wrestling Entertainment industry 17 time World Champion John Cena has officially retired after his final fight against Gunther –Walter Hahn– at a show on the 13th of December for the WWE ‘Saturday Night Main Event’ in Washington DC at the Capital One Arena. A match that will leave fans disappointed and unhappy, here is what happened.
Saturday Night Main Event took place on December 13th, 2025 at Washington DC inside the Capital One Arena with seats filled with 19 thousand excited fans anticipating the arrival of Superstar John Cena but to see him we’d have to go through rounds of other wrestlers before him. In addition to John Cena and Gunther the wrestlers who are also scheduled to perform include current Undisputed Champion American Nightmare Cody Rhodes, NXT Champion Oba Femi, Former Women’s Champion Bayley, NXT Wrestler Sol Ruca, World Tag-Team Champions The Phenomenal AJ Styles and Dragon Lee going against NXT Wrestler Je’Von Evans and NXT Wrestler Leon Slater
Cody Rhodes v. Oba Femi.
The first match to kick off the saddening end to Cena’s farewell tour, Cody Rhodes and Oba Femi go head to head for a one fall match. The two start off strong with Femi attempting a cover but Rhodes kicks out at 1, in return Femi hurls Rhodes outside the ring towards the announce table and quickly makes his way over launching himself in the process towards Rhodes with an uppercut leaving him with an injured ear. Once back in the ring Rhodes gets on the top rope and hits Femi with an “avalanche.”
While the two wrestlers are down, The Scottish Warrior, Drew McIntyre races through the aisle and pounds himself onto Rhodes. After making eye contact with Femi, who is still starstruck by his sudden appearance, shoves McIntyre onto his backside and Rhodes follows with a counter to McIntyre.
The match ended with Femi and Rhodes “raising each other’s arms and [shaking] hands before exiting the ring.” as stated by the WWE Official Website.
Entering onto the next match former Women’s World Champion Bayley walks the aisle alongside former Women’s Intercontinental Champion, Lyra Valkyria. Thus enters NXT SuperStar Sol Ruca alongside another NXT Wrestler Zaria.
The bell rings and the match has started and Ruca is ready to show her skills to this Washington DC crowd as she throws Bayley out of the ring then cartwheels her way over the top of the ring landing on top of Bayley leaving the crowd in starstruck.
After two blows near shoulder and collarbone area Bayley faces even more impressive hits from the NXT star when she climbs the ropes on the ring and manages another cartwheel this time on the top ropes and slams Bayley on the ground once again and covers but Bayley kicks out at 2.
The match continues with the two wrestlers taking turns attempting to win against one another until Bayley receives the “Soul Snatcher” from Ruca which causes her to nearly fall off the ring. Sol Ruca sees the opportunity to cover Bayley and ends up winning the match and starts celebrating with Zaria in the ring.
Dragon Lee & AJ Styles v. Je’Von Evans & Leon Slater.
Once the bell rings marking the start of the third match Leon Slater and Je’Von Evans waste no time in taking their bite on the Tag-Team Champs, Dragon Lee and AJ Styles, kicking each of them. Evans sends Styles out of the rings then makes his way back and launches himself over the top ropes and landing on top of Styles, Whilst Slater heel kicks Lee out of the ring and proceeds to also launch himself over the top rope just like Evans had done to Styles just seconds before taking out Dragon Lee.
Slater then tags Evans in the match leading him to climb on top of the corner of the top rope and launch himself again but this time on top of Lee in an attempt to cover him by hooking his leg but Lee kicks out at 1.
Dragon Lee tags Styles into the match and wastes no time in taking his hit to Evans by pushing him into the barricade after dodging his launch from the top rope. While this is happening Dragon Lee uses the “Flying Rona” on Slater sending him into Style’s arms putting him in trouble with The Phenomenal “Styles Clash” but Evans saves him with a kick to Styles’s face. Ouch.
Attempting to counter, Lee tried to tackle Evans but he dodges sending Lee face to face with the metal post holding the ring together leaving Styles isolated with the two young wrestlers.
Evans hits Styles with the “OG Cutter” and tags Slater. Slater then climbed to the top of the metal post and with the sounds of fans in the arena shouting “This is Awesome!” Slater uses the “Swan Top” and lands on Styles and covers him but Dragon Lee interrupts it with a kick to Evan’s face sending him falling towards Slater stopping the cover to 2.
AJ Styles gets back on his feet and catches Slater and proceeds to attempt the “Styles Clash” once again, this time leading both Lee and Styles to another victory once again keeping their title as The World Tag-Team Champions.
Now the time has come where we get to witness the end of John Cena’s last match in his farewell tour for his retirement in the World Wrestling Entertainment industry. Will he win? Let’s dive in.
There are no lights on when it is Cena’s turn to run down the aisle towards the ring, the only source of light comes through the thousands of screens recording from the phone of fans wanting to remember this moment.
John Cena’s theme song bursts through the loud speakers and the crowd goes crazy shouting and screaming the lyrics to his song. “You can’t see me, the time is now!” Cena then runs through the aisle of supporting fans after holding up a handkerchief with the words “The Last Time is Now,” embedded on it.
The sound of the bell rings through the arena. The match has started. Gunther attempts to grab a hold of the WWE SuperStar but fails as Cena catches his arm, marking the strong start of this match-up. Cena then attacks Gunther sending him stumbling towards the ropes and Gunther tries to counter what he was attempting to do by sending Cena to the opposite side of the rope as well but little did we know Cena shoulder tackles Gunther, not once but twice, onto the ground.
Gunther doesn’t seem too pleased with this so he quickly gets onto his feet to try and punch Cena but fails after Cena grabs ahold of him and slams him to the ground once again with fans shouting and clapping at the sight of this.
During this round of shouts and screams, Cena begins to make his signature move, the “Knuckle Shuffle,” beginning with his catchphrase, “You Can’t See Me,” in which fans follow along by shouting the phrase.
Gunther stumbles onto his feet with Cena watching, then tries to carry Gunther on his back but failed to as Gunther counters his move with the “German Suplex” and locks Cena in a “Sleeper Hold,” as he’s stated previously on a Monday Night Raw event that he will force Cena to tap out on this very match.
Cena figures his way out of this chokehold and proceed to give one chokehold back to Gunther in an attempt to make him tap out, but Gunther begins to crawl his way towards the bottom rope in order to stop Cena but WWE Star tries to drag him back to the middle of the ring and fails as Gunther kicks him off sending Cena falling onto his legs.
Cena gets on his feet but is too late when Gunther kicks him near the face sending Cena once again falling back on the ring floor. Gunther isn’t done yet, when he picks him up then slams Cena back down.
This match isn’t looking too good for the popular wrestler as the crowd boos Gunther for slamming Cena on the floor. Gunther tries to “Powerball” Cena on the announce table but fails as Cena shockingly picks up Gunther on his shoulders and throws both himself and Gunther on the announce table breaking it in the process.
Once the two wrestlers are back inside the ring John Cena then begins to perform his signature move once again with the crowd following with his gestures, “You Can’t See Me.” Cena runs back towards the ropes in an attempt to finish his “Knuckle Shuffle” but Gunther got back on his feet quickly before Cena could finish his move, kicking Cena in the face and then grabbing him and slamming him twice on the ring floor once again.
What happened to the sudden change of events? Cena was doing great during the beginning of this match but now fans in the crowd are worried he’ll lose his final match. Gunther tries to cover Cena, but with a quick reaction Cena kicks out at 2.
With the two wrestlers back on their feet, Gunther makes an attempt to launch himself on top of Cena but Cena rushes towards Gunther carrying him on his shoulders in the process and launches himself and Gunther back onto the ring floor with an “avalanche.”
This is it. He will definitely win this match. As he covers Gunther the crowd is shouting thinking this will end in John Cena’s victory but Gunther shockingly kicks out at 2, just a second before Cena could steal his win.
In a saddening moment Gunther puts Cena in another “Sleeper Hold,” with fans watching with great concentration. This can’t be how John Cena’s farewell tour ends. While struggling in Gunther’s arms, Cena taps out and the bell rings marking the sad end of this fight.
The camera pans to multiple people in the arena showing their dismay at the situation they had just witnessed. His last time is now and though a devastating one the WWE staff and previous wrestlers, whom we had just seen earlier, all come out making their way towards the ring to show a montage of Cena’s career from the past 23 years of being in the industry. The full video can be found on the WWE Official Youtube Channel.
After his devastating loss, fans were disappointed in WWE. How could they let one of their biggest stars lose in such a way. In an article written by Dani Di Placido from Forbes states, “Most of the anger was directed at Paul “Triple H” Levesque, with fans criticizing the booking of the final match and the dramatic, downer ending.”
Continuing onto this topic of the disappointment of Cena’s final match. Fans were also not pleased to see the man who quotes, “Never Give[s] Up” finally does, though other fans “appreciated the emotional weight of the decision.” Also stated by Placido.
Although John Cena’s retirement from the industry is sad on its own, his legacy leaves an open door for new, upcoming wrestlers, “leaving the spotlight open for a new generation of WWE performers,” Placido adds.
The World Wrestling Entertainment industry and fans will remember Cena for his kind personality and outstanding performances as the years go on without him in the ring. Thank you John Cena for your work and dedication for this industry.
