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John Cena’s Father Voices Frustration Over Retirement Match Booking

By Monika Thapa • Published Dec 14, 2025 09:00 EST

John Cena lost his final match to Gunther.

The Last Real Champion wrestled his retirement bout at Saturday Night’s Main Event. The crowd at Capital One Arena saw him tap out and lose the match.

The Cenation was upset seeing their hero tap out in his final WWE match. Fans even booed and criticized Triple H on the show, post-show, and on social media for his terrible booking.

John Cena’s Father Didn’t Like Gunther Making His Son Tap Out

Just like the WWE Universe, John Cena’s father also didn’t like seeing his son lose his last match via tapout. Speaking to Bill Apter in an exclusive interview, he stated WWE could’ve gone with a better finish.

“The only thing I can say is that I saw a lot of people cry. Do I believe that’s the way it should have ended? I would have done it differently. I think it might have been better for everyone if it had ended differently.”

However, Cena Sr. did acknowledge the wrestling tradition where a superstar retires by putting over his opponent.

“The unwritten rule is that when you’re going out, you’re going down. So I guess all I can say is they did what they had to do — what was best for business.”

But still, John Cena Sr. wanted to see a better ending to his son’s legendary 23-year career.

“Did I expect a tap-out? I’ll be real honest with you, Bill: I would have expected a pass-out and still GUNTHER being the winner. I said, ‘I’m really not sure that’s a tap-out. I wonder if it’s a last effort to try to break the hold.’ And yeah, that would have been a good way to do it. Then GUNTHER would have clutched it even more, and Cena would have blacked out — period — without tapping out.
So GUNTHER still would have been the winner by default because Cena couldn’t answer the ten count. I think it would have been better to go that way than how it kind of went. The tap-out was a light tap-out, if you noticed.”