“I Tried”: Current WWE Champion Hoped To Land John Cena Match Before Retirement

John Cena hung up his wrestling boots in December last year.

At WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event, he tapped out to Gunther, retiring rather unceremoniously in the eyes of many fans.

Cena dedicated 36 dates to his retirement tour, during which he fought against some of his biggest rivals while also winning the World Championship for a record 17th time at WrestleMania.

With only a few appearances and many wrestlers to choose from, some superstars unsuccessfully attempted to land themselves a match, including the current NXT Champion Joe Hendry.

Joe Hendry Wanted To Wrestle John Cena In WWE

During a recent appearance on Busted Open After Dark, the 37-year-old Scot revealed that he was one of the hopefuls while serving as the then-TNA World Champion.

Hendry admitted that while he tried to make the match, he was respectful and did not cross any boundaries.

I tried. I tried to make the match with John Cena happen. So, this is interesting. It’s a tough game to play — that one — because there is you have to be bold but within the — there are guidelines that you must respect.

What you don’t want to do in this business is to go into business for yourself, and so anything that I did to try and get that — for example, you remember when I did the billboard? So I put my face up on the billboard next to a WWE show when they were in Glasgow. That, to me, was something that was fun that didn’t interfere with business. I felt I gave everything that I could that was respectful.

I didn’t wanna make it about me, because it’s John Cena’s retirement tour and I was very honored to be a part of that last show.

On the February 4 taping of NXT, Hendry won the 7-man ladder match to become the NXT Champion for the first time. Hendry officially joined WWE in November 2025.

H/T: WrestlingNews.co