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John Cena Reacts To Facing Gunther In Final WWE Match

By John Canton • Published Dec 06, 2025 14:45 EST
John Cena Final WWE Match

John Cena has addressed his final WWE opponent.

The Last Time Is Now Tournament featured 16 wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown, and NXT, and even included two former WWE superstars (Dolph Ziggler and Zack Ryder), with the winner earning the right to face John Cena in Cena’s final WWE match at Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13th.

Going into the tournament, it was reported in early October that the former 2-time WWE World Champion Gunther would win the tournament.

In the final match of The Last Time Is Now Tournament on SmackDown in Austin, Gunther defeated LA Knight with a cravat submission, and Knight tapped out to give Gunther the win.

While the tournament lacked upsets and had the winner that was reported to win, many fans did enjoy it due to all the good matches that took place.

As for John Cena, he reacted on social media by praising Gunther and saying he respects him.

The stage is set for One Last Match. On a night of epic proportions, it is an honor to face off against an opponent who I respect and who has earned the right to issue this final challenge! I will bring my best, I know he will do the same! Don’t miss the Final Time! #SNME @peacock

The match will be the first time Cena has faced Gunther and the last time as well, considering it is Cena’s retirement match.

John Cena Knows There Is Skepticism About WWE Retirement

Since John Cena has had some great matches during his final year as a WWE superstar this year, many people are doubting that the 48-year-old future Hall of Famer will really be done. However, Cena appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live this week to reiterate that this is the end of his career as an in-ring performer.

“This has really never been done in WWE history. WWE superstars don’t necessarily retire, they always kind of hang on for one more match. I am absolutely, 100% done on the 13th of December. it is my last in-ring performance. I will never wrestle again.

Then, you’ll be able to show this clip and call me a liar. There is a lot of skepticism out there because this has never been done before. I just hope people can come to grips with that because the reason I wanted to give people so much me time is because being able to perform for two decades, and people allowing me into their living rooms week after week, 52 weeks a year, no reruns, you do feel a connection with people. Touring the world in this last year has been beautiful. Meeting audience members and them sharing their stories has been great.

I wanted to give people a heads up so people could process whatever closure they want. If you’re one of those people who are like, ‘You’re never going to retire.’ After the 13th is going to be weird because you don’t have the closure you want.”

John Cena’s final WWE match against Gunther will take place on Saturday, December 13th at Saturday Night’s Main Event in Washington, D.C. Fans can watch it on Peacock in the US and WWE’s YouTube channel internationally.

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