TJR: The Time Is Now To Say Thank You John Cena

Today’s the day. John Cena’s final WWE match is here.

I have thought about writing something about Cena on this day for a long time, but truthfully, this is going to be all over the place. I didn’t want to write a list or something like that. This is just me taking an hour on Saturday morning of Cena’s final match against Gunther and writing about Cena the best way I can.

Ever since Cena announced his retirement plan in the summer of 2024, we have written dozens, or even hundreds, of stories about it here on TJRWrestling. That includes many “experts” offering hot takes that there’s no way Cena will stay retired because, in the wrestling world, people don’t really retire. I actually believe Cena when he says he’s retired and doesn’t plan on wrestling again, but I understand the skepticism.

The difference between Cena and a lot of the guys who come back for more matches is that the dude is going to make good money outside of WWE as an actor, TV host, commercial pitchman, and so on. Cena will get consistent acting work for many more years. Some of the wrestlers who come back for that final match do so because they want another big payday, and more power to them for that. I just don’t think Cena is going to be like that because he won’t need one more payday. I believe him.

When I think about my history with John Cena, I remember seeing him wrestle at the very beginning of his WWE career, and here I am 23 years later, covering the business as my career for many years.

I’m only 3 years younger than John Cena. He’s 48, and I’m 45. We have the same initials (Canton’s a pen name, but my real last name starts with a C) and the same first name, so I always felt a connection of sorts with my fellow JC. We were influenced by the same people who got us into pro wrestling. Just like Cena watched wrestling with his dad and brothers growing up, I watched it with my dad, uncles, cousins, and brother. It was Macho Man, Hogan, Sheik, Dibiase, Perfect, and all the rest that influenced us.

By the time Cena debuted on WWE TV in June 2002 against the great Kurt Angle, I was already writing about wrestling for about three years. It wasn’t a job or career yet, but it was a fun hobby for me as a guy in my early 20s who enjoyed writing about wrestling.

I can remember writing an article in mid-2003 where I called Cena “The Untouchable One” because in his “Basic Thuganomics” song, he asks at the start: “So, you think you’re untouchable?” The premise of the article (which I don’t have saved anywhere) was that Cena had all the tools to become a long-term main eventer in WWE. At that point, Cena was 26 years old, and you could tell he had money printed all over him. The same could be said about Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton at the time, but the difference with Cena was that he could talk way better than both of them. The connection with the audience was a lot stronger with Cena.

As an aside, Basic Thuganomics is still a fantastic song, and I loved it as Cena’s theme song early in his career when he was a tough guy rapper that had a chip on his shoulder. I also understand why he switched to “My Time Is Now,” but here’s Basic Thuganomics again in case you want to hear it one more time.

I’m not going to say John Cena is my favorite wrestler ever or my favorite wrestler from his era, but I’ve always liked him. When Cena was getting booed by the fans in the mid-to-late 2000s, I thought it was dumb because you could tell the guy worked so hard and loved the business, so why hate on a guy like that? I understood it as fans booing the guy because he was more talented than them, rich, and successful, which made him easy to hate. I don’t believe “hustle, loyalty, and respect” was just a money-making catchphrase for Cena. I think he believed it, and he embodied it throughout his career. Good for him in doing so.

There’s a whole generation of pro wrestling fans who idolize John Cena, and I think they are lucky to have someone like him to look up to. Cena has said many times that he never had kids because his life is so busy that he wouldn’t have had proper time to have a family. Instead, he has helped raise millions of kids by inspiring them. His work with Make-A-Wish has been incredible and absolutely should be celebrated. As somebody who is around Cena’s age, the guy sure as hell inspired me as well. The inspiration is that when you get knocked down, you should never give up. Just keep pushing forward. Don’t be afraid to fail. That’s what Cena taught all of us.

I have probably seen John Cena wrestle live 25+ times between PPV/PLE shows that I’ve been to, including 5 WrestleManias, episodes of Raw or SmackDown, and many live events. The dude worked a lot, so if you went to shows over the last two decades, then you probably saw him in action somewhere.

When I think of Cena’s legacy, I think of how wrestling fans loved the guy and the impact he had on their lives. I also think about how much my three nephews loved him. I have a niece, too, but she wasn’t really into wrestling. My three nephews are 31, 28, and 26 now. I was an uncle in my teenage years, so we are incredibly close. They were all born in the late 1990s, so by the time they were running around and watching wrestling, Cena was one of their main guys. Cena was cool as a rapper; he looked tough and was easy to like. That was their guy. When we were in the car going to the show, I put on Basic Thuganomics for the boys, and they still knew every word of a song they probably hadn’t heard in decades.

At Elimination Chamber in Toronto, I took my three nephews to the Rogers Centre because I knew it was our last time to see Cena live. It was pretty obvious that Cena would win the Chamber match to set up the WrestleMania 42 match with Cody Rhodes, so I figured it would be a good time. The boys stopped watching wrestling regularly, but they still asked me about it and watched clips on social media because that’s what their generation does.

Elimination Chamber was a fun night. I remember singing John Cena’s theme song word-for-word with 35,000+ people who loved seeing him one last time in Toronto. It made me feel like a kid again. What we didn’t expect was the ending when Cena joined The Rock and Travis Scott in turning heel on Cody Rhodes. Now I know that long-term, Cena’s heel turn will be frowned upon because there was obviously not a great long-term plan there. I would love to ask Triple H if he regretted the decision to turn Cena heel because I would assume his answer was yes, even though the moment at Elimination Chamber was a memorable one.

Looking back, would I have turned John Cena heel at Elimination Chamber? No. I think he should have stayed a babyface all year. They didn’t need to turn him at all. Let’s just keep him a babyface and celebrate the guy all year long. Simple enough. With that said, being there at Elimination Chamber was one of the most unforgettable nights for me as a wrestling fan for over 35 years, so it’s not like I’m going to forget it happened. I’m glad I was there.

I enjoyed a lot of John Cena’s final year as a WWE superstar. I don’t think he was a bad heel at all. The promos made logical sense, but the matches sucked. If babyface John Cena worked against Randy Orton and CM Punk, then those matches would have been better, like his SummerSlam match with Cody Rhodes or his Crown Jewel match with AJ Styles. I found it interesting this week that Cena publicly said he would have worked over 200 dates this year if it were up to him, but WWE said no and only wanted him to work 36 days. My question is, why not compromise a bit? The 200 date number sounds ridiculous since WWE has cut way back on house shows. However, why not use Cena on television more? They could have used him for 50 or 60 dates easily. I would have put him in more PLE matches, whether they were tags or singles matches against guys like Drew McIntyre or The Miz, who would have been fun opponents in his final year. There are numerous other wrestlers that I would have loved to see Cena work with as opponents or interact with as wrestlers. If he wanted to work more dates, why not say yes? The dude is a boost to the box office, and he makes other performers better. I don’t get WWE’s thinking behind not using Cena more.

Let me do a few quick hits about Cena’s career:

Favorite Match: There are many, but the two that stand out the most are Money in the Bank 2011 against CM Punk and Royal Rumble 2017 against AJ Styles.

Favorite Years: I loved the years of 2003 and 2004 before he won his first WWE Title in 2005, but that period in 2015-2017 or so, when he was feuding with the likes of Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, and having amazing matches, was a blast.

Favorite Opponents: I’ll list four in order that I liked the most: CM Punk, AJ Styles, Edge, and Randy Orton. Edge is probably the best heel to Cena, but their matches weren’t as elite as Punk and Styles’ matches, aside from the Unforgiven 2006 TLC match. Also, shoutout to Umaga, who was a fantastic rival for Cena. If it were up to Cena, maybe Umaga would have had a run as WWE Champion, too.

Worst WWE Booking Decision In John Cena’s Career: There are two. One is when Cena’s team beat The Nexus at SummerSlam 2010. Awful decision, and we know Cena is the one who influenced the change. The other one is WrestleMania 34, when we finally get The Undertaker vs. John Cena, and they have a 3-minute squash match won by Taker. What? I was pissed off. Undertaker said he was angry about it in his Last Ride documentary. It should have been a WrestleMania classic between two all-time greats. What the hell was that? It still bugs me.

I never met John Cena in person, and I may never meet him. I’m not one of those people who is obsessed with meeting celebrities. If it happens, then cool, but if not, that’s okay. If I did, I’d probably try to have a conversation about his career, about life, and who knows, maybe even ask if he ever read my stuff. After 20+ years writing about the man, I gotta ask that, right? And if he said no, that’s cool too. It just means I gotta hustle even harder in my career.

Over a year ago, knowing Cena would retire in 2025, I made a pitch to a good friend who has produced many books about how I wanted to write a book that encapsulates John Cena’s incredible career. I had it all mapped out in my head, and my knowledge of Cena’s career is so strong that I feel like I could have done a great job. I would have included quotes from Cena, quotes from others talking about Cena, many of my match reviews, and so on. It would have been my first book on pro wrestling. I never told anybody about it, but it was really close to being something that I worked on. Could I still do it? Yeah, but it’s tough to find time when I am writing 25,000 words per week every week, and I only took one week off this year. It’s not a complaint. That’s just the reality of my life. Maybe one day I’ll write a book and who knows, Cena could still be the subject I go with.

There is one final funny story I had to share as I wrap this up. Many years ago, in the early 2000s, my email address was [email protected], and for whatever reason, when Cena became a big WWE superstar, some people would email me at that account thinking that it was Cena. I can remember getting dozens of emails a week from people who thought I was Cena. It was entertaining to read them, even though they had the wrong person. Anyway, I didn’t reply to 98% of them, but sometimes I would reply with a simple, “Thanks for the support. Word life.” I probably shouldn’t have done it, but it made me chuckle, so hey, it’s all about entertaining yourself sometimes. To those people thinking they got a reply from John Cena, I’m sorry for deceiving, but I still hope I inspired you!

Is John Cena the greatest pro wrestler of all time or the GOAT, as the kids love to say? I don’t know. I think it’s all personal opinion. I think he might be the best overall WWE superstar of all time in terms of being somebody who embodies what it means to be a WWE superstar. Cena could do it all, from having great matches, creating memorable moments, and absolutely crushing it on the microphone as well. I don’t know how to properly rank this sort of thing, but if somebody told me they think he’s the GOAT then I’m not going to argue about it because he’s certainly somebody who belongs in the conversation. I just find it incredibly difficult to properly say somebody is the greatest in a “sport” like pro wrestling in WWE. I think Shawn Michaels may be the greatest all-around WWE superstar of all time, but then there’s Kurt Angle too, and then I think about “Stone Cold” Steve Austin as a box office draw on another level from anybody else. Then you can counter that to say Austin wasn’t on top for long enough, and that’s where Cena beats nearly every main event performer in WWE history because his longevity was amazing. I don’t know if I can say who the WWE GOAT is, but I certainly think John Cena is somebody that every pro wrestler should aspire to be like because he did his job so well for so long.

From one JC to another, congratulations to John Cena on an incredible WWE career. Be proud of what you’ve accomplished in the ring and out of the ring, but also be proud of the influence you had on millions of people around the world. You deserve all the love you have received. Thank you for working hard and being a role model that wrestling fans, young and old, can look up to forever. Word freakin’ life.

I look forward to watching and reviewing John Cena’s final WWE match at Saturday Night’s Main Event against Gunther, and I’ll do it right here at TJRWrestling, of course. Thanks for reading.

John Canton

Email: [email protected]

Twitter/X: @johnreport