The Undertaker Thinks John Cena Could Start New WWE Trend
John Cena might have unintentionally created a new blueprint.
At Money In The Bank, John Cena announced his intention to retire by the end of 2025. This will see the 16-time World Champion wrestle at all of WWE’s biggest events one more time before finally hanging up his boots at the end of the year. In the months since the announcement, Cena has vowed to never wrestle again once he steps away.
On the January 6th episode of Raw, Cena made his WWE return to kick off his retirement tour and declare himself for the Royal Rumble.
Following the appearance, it was reported that John Cena could challenge Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania with the Undisputed WWE Title on the line. If Cena wins, he’ll move clear of Ric Flair, and hold the record number of World Title wins on his own.
The Undertaker Full Of Praise For John Cena
Speaking on his Six Feet Under podcast, The Undertaker paid tribute to his former rival and explained why his retirement tour is the perfect way to say goodbye.
“I think it’s going to be a great swansong year for him. I think it will be the equivalent to like they have done in the NBA, all the legends on their last year and they get to go to all these different towns and get their flowers in each town. Cena was a workhorse, huge star for a lot of years and I think it’s really cool the way they have this kind of laid out.
They’ve got a certain amount of dates he’s gonna make, certain amount of Premium Live Events he’s gonna make, and it’s gonna give people a chance to give him his flowers, give him his props, let him say goodbye. It’s a cool way of doing it.”
I don’t expect anything crazy. I think he’s gonna get some good wins I think he’s gonna take some L’s, but I think overall it’s gonna be great for the WWE fanbase. A lot of time guys will announce their retirement and that’s it, or they come back and retire again. I don’t know anybody personally like that [laughs].”
The Deadman added that he’s not sure where the idea for a year-long goodbye came from, but thinks it could become the norm in the future.
“I don’t know whether it was his idea or creative’s idea to do it this way. It’s got his name written all over it as far as creative. But it’s a cool way for somebody who has meant so much to the business to go out and give that many opportunities for people to see him live and kind of do that. I think it may be the way of the future for how guys go out. I wouldn’t expect him to make a comeback.”
The Undertaker eventually called time on his lengthy career at Survivor Series in 2020 after winning his final match against AJ Styles at WrestleMania 36. The WWE Hall of Famer had all but retired multiple times but was either talked into returning by Vince McMahon or decided to keep wrestling, not wanting to go out on a lackluster performance.
H/t to ITRWrestling