Cena's retirement

It's been a week since Cena announced his retirement. It's still so surreal. This man has been working in the WWE for more than 2/3's of my life. Yes I know others have done it for even longer, but to truly stay with one company through thick and thin and truly give it his all from day 1 is truly inspiring. I also appreciate how honest John is, he had a line which was 50. And granted he's still only 47 years old. He wants to leave the fans with the best performance he can. Once again, thank you John.

So far most details about John's retirement is being kept tightly under wraps and rightfully so. All John has shared so far is he will wrestle through 2025 instead of stopping at WrestleMania. Which is a great choice if you ask me. I first thought he would have his final match at WrestleMania but I'm happy to hear he's giving us one last full year. Now what will 2025 bring us, especially with Raw headed to Netflix? Well, to quote Adam Blampied, "let me have a go". How would I book John Cena's farewell tour? Let's get started.

What's funny is, in rewatching John's speech I kept hearing a magic word. That word being "opportunity". There was once a man who was dubbed "The Ultimate Opportunist", yes I'm talking about Edge. Now forgive me again readers, I am not as avid of a wrestling fan as I once was. So although I was aware Edge had already left the WWE for AEW and had a great fued with Christan Cage. I was unsure of the exact details of his contract. Once I looked it up I saw Adam Copeland is still under contract with AEW until 2026, which means he will NOT be returning to WWE to help John retire. So who should retire Cena? Well, I know who. But let's take it slow, give me a minute to get there.

So we start off with the first Raw of 2025 January 6th, John opens the show by cutting a promo about this farewell tour. Appreciating all the fans in attendance and watching from home live on Netflix. Delivering his positive spin on how although this is goodbye, it's also a time to be grateful and live in the moment. As we all should in a world that sorely lacks that sentiment. Advising the fans that not only that they should appreciate him before he's gone for good. But also all the current superstars and up-and-comers now while they have the time. He talks their hustle to entertain the fans. Their loyalty to WWE through thick-and-thin. And the immense amount of respect he has for the WWE universe. The lockerroom comes out and helps give John a standing ovation. Superstars old and new come by to give John a hug in the ring and say a few words about what John has meant to them and how honored they are for this opportunity to say goodbye, a luxury so many of us don't get with the ones we love. And as John is about to welcome in the first match. Randy Orton comes out, John of course does not want to fight but will always be on his toes with Randy. There's just too much history. Randy does sincerely thank John for their battles over the years. Randy goes to shake John's hand, gives a sincere shake. Then just like old times, an RKO out of nowhere. Randy grabs a mic, looks down at John and says "for old times sake John".

Then the next week on Raw, Randy now opens the show talking smack about Cena. Stating how with John ready to take his ball home and cry to Hollywood. Meanwhile, Randy only being a few years younger than John has just come back bigger than ever with MUCH more left in the tank. And with the little bit of time left, he'll prove what a coward John is by absolutely torturing him. The Viper will do whatever it takes to ruin John's farewell. Attacking him when he least expects it inside and outside of the ring, even when he's busy doing press work in the various cities they're visiting throughout the year. Simply intimidating John in the middle of matches with other people. And some weeks not even showing up at all, just to keep John on his toes. I really want to blur the lines between reality and Kayfabe with just how much old school heat Randy gets. The feud will be a 3 parter. Randy will have the first two PPV wins at Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber. Just beating John to within an inch of his life each time. Then of course Randy and Cena will have the big blow off at WrestleMania for the last time.

Again I have absolutely NO IDEA how we get here, but somehow someway the WWE heavyweight championship is on the line at WrestleMania with Randy vs Cena. Either it was vacated before, or Randy and Damian have a mini, temporary alliance against Cena. Maybe a 2v1 handicap match? I'm not 100% sure. The moral of the story is, John will be going for the magical 17 and he finally accomplishes it. So John has finally made history. He is 1 of 1. 17 time world champion of the WWE. Looking forward to the last half of the year, we get one last open challenge for John's belt. This time with the historic 17th belt. Reminiscent of John's very first open challenge for the US title John will welcome all challengers and display moves he's never shown even after 20+ years. The man who originally popularized the open challenge and brought legitimacy back to the US title, will be doing the same to build the revamped WWE Heavyweight championship before he goes. This will go on for the rest of the year from WrestleMania all the way until about Thanksgiving time. Yeah a 7 month reign with the belt is insane, especially on his way out but it's 17! Come on guys, it has to be cemented just how important 17 truly is. Now in terms of who he drops the belt to, my choice is Bron Breaker. I feel like that would be a great way to give back on last time. Follow said tradition of giving back one last time to the business, but in more ways than one. Bron is just the perfect choice for that push. His age, his talent, his build, everything screams next top guy. Plus for Cena's goodbye, I don't mind a face vs face match. And it makes sense for Cena's character to lose to a face, but in a good way. Raising his Bron's hand too and yes finally saying "my time is up, your time is now" to acknowledge all the memes that have come out since John's announcement of his retirement. Now this isn't truly the end, it will be his last match. However the final month of Cena's tenure at the WWE will just be some great promos about saying goodbye and just being appreciative of life and life's journey and how despite losing the belt, true losing is only done if you give up. John has not given up, he's just moved on to the next chapter of his life. And as scary as that may be, as long as you take on life with Loyalty and Respect. Life will reward you the same way it has for Cena all these years.

Again, bare with me everyone. I am no Adam Blampied. I do not have an encyclopedic knowledge of Wrestling, I may have even said a few things wrong here and there. I am no wrestling expert nor do I claim to be. I've written a few wrestling articles in the past but that's it. I'm just a nerd, who wants to see Cena's proper farewell.

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