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How Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch Reacted To John Cena’s Retirement

By Lyle Kilbane • Published Dec 18, 2025 08:30 EST
Becky Lynch Seth Rollins WWE

Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch have admitted to having very different reactions to witnessing John Cena’s WWE retirement.

John Cena competed in the final match of his legendary career at Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13th. Cena battled Gunther in his final outing after The Ring General won a 16-man tournament to earn the right to be Cena’s last opponent.

A raucous crowd in Washington, D.C., was determined to give Cena the sendoff he richly deserved. However, the air was sucked out of the room when the man who preached “Never give up” for over 20 years meekly tapped out while trapped in Gunther’s sleeper hold.

Such was the anger felt at the finish, the fans showered Triple H with “You f*cked up” chants when he led the locker room to ringside to pay their own tribute to Cena.

Seth Rollins Smiled, Becky Lynch Cried

Speaking to Ross Tucker, Seth Rollins admitted he had mixed feelings when watching Cena’s last moments in the ring, but thinks fans have misinterpreted what it meant when he tapped out:

I have so many mixed feelings on it. John is one of the greatest of all time. His whole thing is ‘never give up.’ People were all over him for giving up, for tapping out, but it didn’t feel like he was giving it up. It felt like he was fading off into the sunset.

He had done his job, he was happy to do it, and he was handing the ball off. That’s how I felt about it. I might be in the minority on that. At the end of the day, he smiled before he did it, and there is something poetic to that. I love John. It’s hard for me to second-guess anything he does.

Lynch admitted that emotion got the best of her when watching Cena’s career come to an end, noting:

He smiled, and I cried.