With John Cena set to retire from WWE in-ring competition on December 13, it’s worth reflecting on all the things that ended up changing during his farewell tour.
From original plans that were scrapped, to creative changes throughout the year, there have been some intriguing pivot points throughout this WWE farewell tour of John Cena.
Here are five changes to John Cena’s WWE retirement.
5. John Cena Considered More Dates
With a 36 dates on his farewell tour, seeing John Cena live one more time was an experience some fans couldn’t miss.
However, it turns out Cena could have done even more throughout 2025, with Cena revealing in an interview with Bill Simmons that he originally considered doing far more dates than the 36.
Noting that his original idea was clearing his calendar and travelling the road for 220 dates, Cena was grateful that WWE ended up “only needing him for 36” in the end, referencing the difficulty of the long distance travel.
While fans wouldn’t have complained at getting more opportunities to see Cena perform, limiting the run to 36 arguably made every single appearance that much more special.
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4. Last Time Is Now Tournament Changes
There were some big surprises during the Last Time Is Now tournament that decided who would be John Cena’s final WWE opponent.
Returning to compete in first round bouts, two old Cena foes in Dolph Ziggler (Nic Nemeth) as well as Zack Ryder (Matt Cardona) made appearances in the tournament.
Also, after advancing to the quarterfinals of the tournament, WWE announced that Sheamus was unable to continue in the tournament due to an injury to his shoulder, leading to a vacancy in the bracket.
After already being eliminated in the first round by Jey Uso, The Miz would sub in for Sheamus, but lost to LA Knight in the quarterfinal. In the end, it would be GUNTHER who captured victory in the tournament final against LA Knight to face John Cena in his last match.
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3. Heel Turn At Elimination Chamber
One aspect of John Cena’s farewell tour that may be debated for years was his shocking heel turn at Elimination Chamber 2025.
While the turn itself was a surreal moment and one that still feels slightly surreal in retrospect, the follow up of the moment itself fell short in the eyes of many fans.
Given that Cena turned heel at the instruction of The Rock, the lack of any follow up or interactions between the two afterwards was a huge missed opportunity.
While Cena will hang up his wrestling gear, he has noted that he is signed to a five-year contract with WWE as an ambassador, so perhaps we could finally see a payoff to the angle at long last some time later down the road.
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2. List Of Opponents
Fantasy booked throughout the year, there were a lot of final matches from John Cena that WWE fans dreamed up for 2025.
Taking a look across all of the in-ring matches from John Cena during his farewell tour, he was both a heel and face and competed in singles, tag and six-man competition. While there are still matches that fans hoped to see, in the end John Cena did face an all-star cast of WWE stars in his final year in the company.
Going up against Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, R-Truth, Jey Uso, Logan Paul, CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Sami Zayn, Brock Lesnar, AJ Styles, Dominik Mysterio, Judgment Day during his final year, Cena will finish strong with a match against GUNTHER.
While there’s no way to be certain, the AJ Styles match at WWE Crown Jewel, at one point didn’t seem to be on the docket for Cena. However, it ended up coming to fruition to the delight of the fans. However, it is interesting to wonder what WWE may have had in store for Cena at the event instead.
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1. Surprises Still In Store
There could certainly still be some changes left in store of the final in-ring performance from John Cena in WWE.
Definitely able to pull in some of the biggest names in both sports and entertainment for the event, it could be that pop culture icons, celebrities and more come together to celebrate Cena.
With a potentially complex finish to his bout with GUNTHER, it could be that the night ends up leaving more questions than answers if there were to be some hijinks, shenanigans or interferences in the main event.
While certainly WWE would be unlikely to spoil the surprise to reveal a major names in town for the event, there could definitely be some last minute surprises on Saturday Night’s Main Event.
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