John Cena Admits Major Mistake Made In WWE Retirement Match

John Cena retired from wrestling in December 2025 at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Cena faced Gunther in the main event of the evening, which The Ring General expectedly dominated. However, Cena was his resilient self, pushing back at every chance he got.

However, in the end, he succumbed to Gunther’s chokehold, tapping out in the process, much to the viewers’ chagrin.

After the match, the company’s higher-ups, talent, and officials surrounded the ring and paid him a tribute.

John Cena also left a few articles of his gear in the middle of the ring, highlighting the end of his career as a sports entertainer.

John Cena Reflects On Retirement Match Mistake

The 17-time World Champion was a part of MEGACON Orlando 2026 (via Kickin’ It With Keegan) recently, where he did a Q&A.

While responding to a fan, John Cena admitted to making a mistake, revealing that he wore the same wrist and armbands during his retirement match that he wore at SummerSlam, calling it a learning experience.

So, uh, great catch. The reason is it was a mistake. I wish I had some cool, like, deep gut to be like, oh, the match, the match, the SummerSlam match didn’t mean a lot to me, but the colors were essentially the same, and the person who drops the uniform in my dressing room, the merchandise guys, they drop the SummerSlam wristbands in the room, and admittedly, that was a bit of a busy day for me.

There were a lot of folks there. There were a lot of guests there. I was actually doing meet and greets throughout the day. I didn’t really have a lot of time to sit and reflect. So I just figured, OK, these colors match, the shirt, there is no way someone would give me a set of old wrist pants to wear out there, and lo and behold, here we are. I guess my takeaway is details do matter. So that’s my learning experience. [H/T: Fightful]