John Cena returns to host WrestleMania 42 months after finishing in-ring career

LAS VEGAS – John Cena finished up his in-ring career in December at Saturday Night’s Main Event, losing to Gunther in his final match.

Cena’s 2025 was bumpy to say the least. He won the men’s Elimination Chamber match, earning a shot at the Undisputed WWE Championship against Cody Rhodes. On the same night, he turned heel, aligning himself with The Rock. He vowed to “ruin professional wrestling” as he picked up the record-breaking 17th WWE championship of his career at WrestleMania 41.

He returned as a face before SummerSlam, dropping the title back to Rhodes. He briefly had an Intercontinental Championship run, which saw him lose to Dominik Mysterio at Survivor Series: WarGames. Weeks later, his career came to an end.

Cena vowed that he was finished wrestling for good. But that didn’t necessarily mean he was going to reappear in a different capacity.

He will host WrestleMania 42 on Saturday and Sunday night.

It will be the first time that Cena will be back at a WWE event since his retirement.

WrestleMania Nights 1 and 2 will take place in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium for the second consecutive time.

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Night 1

• LA Knight, Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso vs. Logan Paul, Austin Theory and IShowSpeed in a six-man tag team match
• Jacob Fatu vs. Drew McIntyre in an unsanctioned match
• Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. Liv Morgan in a singles match for the Women’s World Championship
• AJ Lee (c) vs. Becky Lynch in a singles match for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship
• Seth Rollins vs. Gunther in a singles match
• Nia Jax and Lash Legend (c) vs. Bayley and Lyra Valkyria vs. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss vs. Nikki Bella and Brie Bella in a fatal four-way tag team match for the Women’s Tag Team Championship
• Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Randy Orton in a singles match for the Undisputed WWE Championship

Night 2

• Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar in a singles match
• Penta (c) vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Rusev vs. Je’Von Evans vs. JD McDonagh vs. Dragon Lee in a ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship
• Jade Cargill (c) vs. Rhea Ripley for the WWE Women’s Championship
• Sami Zayn (c) vs. Trick Williams for the Intercontinental Championship
• Finn Balor vs. Dominik Mysterio in a singles match
• CM Punk (c) vs. Roman Reigns in a singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship

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Both nights are set to begin at 6 p.m. ET and can be seen on ESPN programming.