John Cena Acknowledges Iconic Rival Ahead Of WWE RAW Return
The 17-time WWE Champion, John Cena made a reference to his legendary former rival before his return on RAW. The rival in question is none other than Brock Lesnar.
Brock Lesnar is considered one of the biggest rivals of John Cena throughout his legendary career. Lesnar made his WWE return after years back in 2012, and his first feud was against Cena. However, The Beast Incarnate failed to defeat The Leader of Cenation in his violent return match at Extreme Rules 2012. The two renewed their rivalry in 2014, and this time Brock absolutely destroyed and squashed Cena at SummerSlam to capture the World Championship.
The last match between Brock Lesnar and John Cena took place last year at WrestlePalooza during Cena’s retirement tour, where Lesnar got a controversial one-sided victory against the Never Seen Seventeen. Meanwhile, The Beast Incarnate has been feuding with Oba Femi for months, and the two are set for a Hell in a Cell match at SummerSlam 2026. It was recently announced that Lesnar will be appearing on RAW this Monday, weeks before SummerSlam.
Ahead of Brock Lesnar’s return on RAW, John Cena acknowledged him through a cryptic post. Taking to his Instagram handle, Cena shared a picture of Lesnar on the occasion of his birthday without any caption.
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John Cena on the reason behind his squash match against WWE legend during his retirement tour
The WWE legend, Brock Lesnar made his return after two years of absence at SummerSlam last year and took out John Cena right after. It was later announced that Brock would take on Cena during his retirement tour at WrestlePalooza 2025.
The match between Brock and Cena turned out to be a squash match, as Lesnar manhandled the 17-time WWE Champion for the win. As fans were wondering why John Cena got squashed by Lesnar in his retirement tour, Cena revealed the creative reason behind it, stating that they had to reintroduce Brock through an exhibition match:
Could I have put together a better performative match with Brock Lesnar? Sure. But it doesn’t tell the story, doesn’t creatively tell the story. We got to reintroduce this guy. Everybody needs to know he means business. How do you do that? By taking the one entity that can lose, not lose steam. It’s like an exhibition match.”
It will be interesting to see what transpires when Brock Lesnar shows up on RAW this Monday.
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