John Cena’s Heartbreaking Reaction To AJ Styles Informing Him Of WWE Retirement
John Cena recently got candid about his long-term colleague and rival, AJ Styles’ retirement.
John Cena retired from wrestling at Saturday Night’s Main Event in December last year after losing to Gunther.
The bout was the final act in a year-long retirement tour that saw many ups and downs.
Cena believed a retirement tour was the best idea because he could get a proper send-off, wrestle opponents he never had the opportunity to face, push his character’s limits (he briefly turned heel for the first time in over 20 years), and do things for the promotion to leave it in a better position than when he joined.
AJ Styles, who also retired after a loss to Gunther earlier this year at the Royal Rumble, had other plans.
The Phenomenal One wanted to retire at the event he debuted, and there was no plan to do a retirement tour.
John Cena Recalls The Moment AJ Styles Informed Him Of His Retirement
John Cena, in a recent appearance on No-contest Wrestling, recalled the time Styles approached him when they were in Perth, Australia, preparing for their match at Crown Jewel 2025.
Yo man. When he told me that, we were planning our thing in Australia.
I immediately was like, ‘He’s not gonna get a sendoff.’ (32:05 onwards)
Cena’s heartbreaking statement came after hosts O’Shea Jackson Jr. and TJ Jefferson discussed interviewing Styles when he was already on his “retirement tour,” but no one knew of it.
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