John Cena’s Favorite WWE Moment Happened On Retirement Tour
Cena’s in-ring career may have come to a close, but we have yet to hear a lot from The Never Seen 17.
John Cena lost his final ever match to Gunther on December 13th at Saturday Night’s Main Event. After being locked by The Ring General in an inescapable sleeper hold, The Leader Of The Cenation was seen softly tapping out with a smile on his face, effectively ending his time as an in-ring competitor in WWE as he left behind a Hall Of Fame career and a near insurmountable legacy.
WWE Champion Cody Rhodes was among the superstars to greet Cena in the ring after his final match. An emotional Rhodes handed the belt to Cena to hold up high one last time.
Earlier this week, The American Nightmare dropped a major announcement on social media stating that John Cena would be his next guest on his ‘So What Do You Wanna Talk About?’ Podcast.
John Cena Shares Details About His Favourite WWE Moment On Cody Rhodes’ Podcast
With a colourful career like the one Cena has had, that has spanned almost two decades, one would be remiss to guess what the GOAT’s favourite WWE moment of all time would be. Fans got a run-through of expected highlights such as his first-ever championship win, his 16th World Title, facing The Rock, Bray Wyatt’s fiery funhouse and not to mention his WrestleMania moment with Cody Rhodes. But his favourite moment was something many fans didn’t expect.
Cena reflected on his match with CM Punk (Real name: Phil Brooks) in Saudi Arabia and stated that it was what happened in a pre-show promo where Punk publicly apologised to a fan in the front row for some controversial remarks he had made about the country in the past.
“I think what I really cherish most about this… is that it is a universal language. That’s why we have such a global reach. You can watch it with the volume off — you can see anger, and then you can see the match… Maybe it’s just because it’s fresh in my mind. I can’t get past Phil Brooks, CM Punk, Saudi Arabia. I think that might be my favorite moment in wrestling.It wasn’t the match. It was the pre-show promo. I was lucky enough to have a promo with him that night and a match, so I’m attaching myself to that moment. Because I think it’s one of the best moments in wrestling.”
Cena went on to praise Punk for his bravery and attitude, owning up to a past mistake and righting the wrong and in process bringin together two cultures.
“There is no shortage of divide. You had someone who — in a moment of frustration and reaction — said some pretty hateful things about a culture. And then you have that culture being like, ‘F*ck you. Not in our house.’ And then you have a man who’s brave enough to walk into the lion’s den…”
“And in the right moment, Phil was accountable for what he said. He gave a good explanation for the why, and what can we do after that? ‘I’m sorry.’ And then you leave it. That’s all you can do. Forgiveness takes time. But that gentleman forgave him — right there — and broke the ice. The forgiveness was infectious.”
“So what I saw was: holy sh*t, wrestling just brought cultures together. Wrestling just brought people with different ideologies together — in an embrace and excitement. Phil went out there… and they forgave him.”
The moment came in Cena’s retirement tour this year, and he firmly feels that none of his world title wins or great matches could beat this moment he had with CM Punk.
“I don’t know if there’s a better moment than that. I love growth. I love accountability. I’m an advocate for love and forgiveness. And that hit me in every right place. And that wasn’t even a match. That was a segment on a pre-show. That pre-show moment struck me so hard. When [Punk] said, ‘I miss you already out there,’ I got weird, bro. My processors fizzled for a second… I rarely get lost in anything — but that one hit me. I was bawling my eyes out, saying, ‘This is the best thing ever.’”
H/T: ringsidenews.com
Also read:John Cena On WWE Retirement Tour: “I Was Desperately Trying To Fail”