The End of an Era: John Cena Retires After 24-Year WWE Career

John Cena (Wrestler)

John Cena, one of the biggest stars in WWE history, has officially retired after his final match at Saturday Night’s Main Event. He performed in front of over 19,000 fans at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC.

The 17-time world title-holder finished his year-long retirement tour with a loss to Gunther. Cena only submitted (tapped out) for the fourth time in his career and the first time in 21 years. The "Ring General" put Cena into several sleeper holds. After repeatedly getting out of them, Cena eventually looked at the camera, gave a slight smile, and then gave up.

This was Cena's first submission loss since 2004, when he was beaten by Kurt Angle.

During the match, Cena tried to land some of his famous moves, like the Five Knuckle Shuffle and the Attitude Adjustment, but he couldn't cope with Gunther's constant attacks. Once the match ended, Gunther left the ring as the rest of the WWE roster came out to pay their respects to Cena.

The World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes stepped into the ring and presented Cena with their title belts, letting him hold them one last time.

The audience reacted badly when WWE boss Paul “Triple H” Levesque appeared, shouting chants like “rubbish” and “You messed up” as fans voiced their anger over how Cena's farewell match finished.

A video tribute then played, showing clips of wrestlers from throughout Cena's career, including old footage of former WWE chairman Vince McMahon. Cena then took off his boots and wristbands, leaving them in the middle of the ring before bowing and walking off.

As he headed towards the exit, Cena slapped hands with fans, took one final bow, and addressed the camera for the very last time.

“It’s been a pleasure serving you all these years, thank you,” Cena said, before exiting the arena as the broadcast faded to black.

This loss makes it the second retirement match Gunther has won this year, 2025, as he had previously beaten Bill Goldberg in his final contest.

Cena's farewell match concluded a huge year for him. It started dramatically when he became a 'heel' (a bad guy) for the very first time in his career at Elimination Chamber in March.

He then defeated Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE title at WrestleMania, setting a new record for the most world championships in WWE history. Rhodes, however, won the title back at SummerSlam. Cena’s final time holding the belt came after he beat Dominik Mysterio in his home town of Boston.