Absent Ex-WWE Champion To Retire John Cena After Comeback?

Absent ex-World Heavyweight Champion Gunther tipped to retire John Cena.

The Ring General has been absent from WWE programming since August 2025. His last appearance was at SummerSlam 2025, where he lost the World Heavyweight Championship to CM Punk. The absence was due to an injury that required him to take time off to recover, which kept him out of action and off television for several months.

Gunther is scheduled to return on the November 18, 2025, episode of Monday Night Raw. His comeback match will be a first-round bout in the “Last Time Is Now” tournament against NXT star Je’Von Evans.

Gunther Should Retire WWE Legend John Cena

On the latest episode of the REBOOKED Wrestling podcast, ex-WWE star Aiden English stated Gunther should win the John Cena tournament to face the reigning Intercontinental Champion in his last match at the December 13th Saturday Night’s Main Event and retire the WWE legend.

English said, “I still hang my hat on Gunther. [To win the Intercontinental title again?] Potentially, but it’s less about the Intercontinental title. It is still about retiring John Cena. And Gunther doesn’t need “it”. He’s a former world champion. He’s a world-beater. Everybody knows how bada** he is.

That said, to just say he’s one of those guys you can really hang your hat on because he is that damn good. And so just to give him one more intangible resume builder, one of those guys, you know, like ‘I ended the era. I retired The Undertaker.’ I don’t know.

He’s one of those guys I feel like you could put that on his resume, and then when you know, just for whenever he has a title or not, he’s that guy. It cements him forever, sort of thing.

Because, while again certified main event, former world champion, but still, like he could be one of those people you really just give him that one punch of that one thing that nobody can ever take away from him.” (From 9:53 to 11:02)