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Why John Cena Plans To Keep WWE SummerSlam Moment Private

By John Canton • Published Aug 09, 2025 02:00 EDT
Cody Rhodes John Cena Hug WWE

John Cena is a hugger, and he’s also not revealing what was shared during a big hug at WWE SummerSlam.

The WWE SummerSlam main event match between the new WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and the former champion John Cena was an absolute classic. The two men had a legendary Street Fight that went over 30 minutes, involved both men kicking out multiple finishers, and they broke tables throughout the match.

Cody Rhodes got the win after a Cody Cutter through a table, followed by the Cross Rhodes for the win.

After the match, Cody shook John’s hand, and Cena told him, “That’s the best I got. You just beat the real John Cena.”

There was also a hug by Cody and John where Cena spoke into the champion’s ear. It was clear that what Cena said affected Cody, who was nearly in tears while he hugged Cena, who has been Cody’s professional mentor for many years.

While speaking to Adam’s Apple, Cena made it clear that he’s not going to share what was said between him and Rhodes in that post-SummerSlam moment.

“If the world finds out about it, they won’t find out about it from me because that was between me and him.”

“I Don’t Like Wrestling, I Love WWE Specifically” – John Cena

During one of his many interviews during his WWE retirement tour, John Cena told Stephanie McMahon on her podcast that he doesn’t necessarily love pro wrestling, but he loves WWE.

“I’m not going to go out and badmouth the thing that I love. I don’t use the word wrestling. I use the words WWE. I don’t like wrestling. I like — I love WWE specifically. It’s where I belong.

So as long as that’s a sentiment in my life, I’m always going to try and get people to watch, try and get people to experience, and get invested in it. It’s made my life this crazy f*cking rollercoaster.”

The Cody Rhodes-John Cena match at SummerSlam was so good that even Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer rated it five stars, which is rare for him since he doesn’t do that often for WWE matches. In fact, it’s only the second time he’s given that rating for a Cena match.