John Cena received support from Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Jelly Roll before his WWE rematch match — but their congratulations didn’t help him win.
WWE aired video tributes from sports and entertainment superstars on WWE SmackDown on Friday, December 12, before Cena, 48, entered the ring for the final time at the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. for Saturday Night’s Main Event on Saturday, December 13. Cena put up a good fight in his final battle with WWE star Gunther, but ultimately lost the match by tapping out to a choke hold.
Before the disappointing result, NFL icon Peyton, 49, and his brother Eli Manning offered Cena congratulations on wrapping up his legendary WWE career.
“I’ve got to warn you when you enter the grocery store or step into your garage, there’s no entrance music at all in retirement, unless you play it yourself on your AirPods,” Peyton joked. “So that’s a free tip from me to you. Congrats again, pal.”
Eli, 44, added, “You inspired so many people. You won a ton of championships, almost impressive enough for me to forget the fact that you’re a die-hard Patriots fan. But hey, I guess no one’s perfect, including the ’07 Patriots.”
Jelly Roll — who wrestled a WWE match earlier this year— called Cena the “the legendary, never seen 17” in his tribute message. (Cena won his record-breaking 17th WWE World Championship at WrestleMania 41.)
“John Cena, the legendary, never seen 17. Man, thank you for all these years,” the musician, 41, told him. “Thank you for the inspiration. Thank you for being the role model that we all needed. You deserve this, brother. Congratulations, happy retirement.”
The West Newbury, Massachusetts native even received a special video on Friday from former New England Patriot Brady.
Brady, 48, told Cena. “Congratulations on an incredible career. You’ve impacted the lives of so many people inside the ring and outside the ring. Good luck in your last match. I hope you fare better in yours than I did in mine.”
Other celebrities who contributed goodbye videos for Cena included Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon and hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg.
Following the tough loss in his retirement match, Cena was joined around the ring by many contemporaries — including CM Punk and Triple H — to take a final bow in the ring. Cena was then gifted with his own replicas of WWE championship belts.
Cena stunned WWE fans during a surprise appearance at the Money in the Bank live event in Toronto, Canada’s Scotiabank Arena on July 6, 2024, when he announced his “retirement from the WWE.”
The 17-time WWE World Champion confirmed that he planned to dedicate much of his 2025 schedule to pro wrestling — though he still managed to film two movies, action-adventure comedy Matchbox and the Netflix comedy Little Brother.
“This farewell does not end tonight. It is filled with opportunity,” he promised in July 2024. ”I want to say thank you. Thank you so much for letting me play in the house that you built for so many years. Thank you so much always for your voice, because it’s really loud and your honesty because it’s beautifully brutal. And most of all thank you so much for allowing me to be here with you tonight.”
Cena kicked off his retirement tour by competing in the Royal Rumble Match in January and winning the Men’s Elimination Chamber Match the following month. At WrestleMania 41 in April, Cena had some help from rapper Travis Scott to win the Undisputed WWE Championship from Cody Rhodes.
Cena eventually lost the championship back to Rhodes in a Street Fight at SummerSlam in August, before battling the likes of Brock Lesnar, A.J. Styles and Dominik Mysterio in the lead-up to his final match against Gunther on Saturday.
Before the Saturday Night’s Main Event special, Cena told Jimmy Kimmel Live! that he is serious about never wrestling again.
“It’s weird, there’s a lot of skepticism out there because this has never been done before,” he explained on Wednesday, December 10. “I just hope people can come to grips with that because on the 13th — the reason I wanted to give people so much lead time — is being able to perform for two decades, people allowing me into their living rooms week after week, 52 weeks a year, no reruns, you do feel a connection with people. … I wanted to give people a heads up so people could process whatever closure they wanted for the 13th.”
Cena started wrestling in 1999 and signed with WWE two years later. After a year in WWE’s development league, Ohio Valley Wrestling, he made his first WWE SmackDown appearance on June 27, 2002, for a match against former Olympian Kurt Angle.
Nicknamed the “Doctor of Thuganomics,” Cena parlayed his success in WWE into a mainstream movie career, having starred in blockbusters like The Suicide Squad, F9: The Fast Saga and Blockers. Cena also currently appears in the HBO Max streaming hit Peacemaker.
He opened up to WWE interviewer Tom Rinaldi on Monday, December 8, about why it was time for him to step away from wrestling.
“I chose to retire,” Cena said. “I made a promise to the WWE that I would not stick around when my skills can’t match the product, and they can’t. I’m 48. My 40-yard time has gone like [down]. I can’t match up with the product now, and that’s okay, because what I do isn’t who I am. The realization of that has helped me come to like, no, let these guys have it now because they’re really good. All I would be doing is a disservice to the consumer if I go any point beyond this.”
WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event is available to stream now via Peacock.
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