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John Cena Allegedly Committed Massive Mistake In WWE Retirement Match

By Monika Thapa • Published Dec 17, 2025 05:01 EST
John Cena

John Cena lost his retirement match at Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13.

The Never Seen 17 faced Gunther in his last WWE match and lost via tapout. People were not happy with the finish of the match, and former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen is one of them.

John Cena Looked Weak When He Tapped Out In His Retirement Match

Speaking to Ariel Helwani in a new interview, Sonnen stated that John Cena made a huge mistake in his last match, claiming that he shouldn’t have tapped out to Gunther because it made him look weak.

John Cena can’t wait. And you brought this up yesterday. Now you are so correct on this, and this is open to interpretation. And I have my own. John Cena is not a legit badass. Not like in the slightest. He didn’t go take martial arts classes, right?

He was doing the bodybuilding and this kind of stuff. But it’s very relevant to understand that because I don’t believe in my heart that John Cena understands what it means to tap and pass out.

There’s very different taps if your leg is going to snap because you’re in Ric Flair’s figure four and you sacrifice the evening’s festivities for the goodness of your health in your leg. If you tap out due to strikes. If you tap out in a chokehold. John Cena, not being a badass, does not understand the difference in those three.”

And moreover, in evident of the fact is he then passed out. Ariel, they not only got him to tap and quit. He then fell asleep. Now he fell asleep as a way of saying I hung in there to the bitter end.

It’s just from a physiological standpoint not possible. You cannot tap and not have consciousness. It’s a double loss from a wrestling standpoint. It’s being pinned while being technical fault.

Sonnen also noted that whoever planned the tap-out spot for Cena wanted to humiliate the WWE legend in his farewell match.

And whoever talked him into this in the back is not his friend. Whoever told him this is the way you want to do it, John, and then act like you’re unconscious that you fought to the bitter end is not his friend. And there’s only a few true shooters in the back and one of them set him up.

One hundred percent. You’re correct. Sorry to cut you off. No, no. You hated it too. Oh, it was awful. It was awful. I couldn’t believe that he did it. And Ariel, I just can’t tell you how in line I am with you.”

I mean again yesterday’s clip, but you said, hey, listen, it’s a time-honored tradition. No, it’s not. It’s a time-honored tradition—excuse me, comma—in the main event.

It is not a time-honored tradition because you’re saying c’est la vie when you’re jerking the curtain and people are still getting their popcorn and sitting down. That’s brand-new tradition. As a matter of fact.

Now it could not have happened to a better guy in Gunther. I think Gunther is one of the great workers. I’ll just share with you. John didn’t lose once. He didn’t pass the torch. He lost twice. He tapped out and he passed out.

Per the rules of professional wrestling, if you are separated from your consciousness, not only do you lose—if it’s a title match, the title can change hands. It’s not like a countout, for example, or a disqualification where the title can’t change hands. It’s the same as a one, two, three. He lost twice. And my problem with it—I don’t think he knows.

H/T Ringside News