CM Punk on John Cena’s final match finish: ‘I thought it was beautiful’
Almost a month after John Cena’s WWE retirement match against Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event, CM Punk has shared his opinion on it. Speaking on My Mom’s Basement with Robbie Fox, Punk claimed that he found the match’s finish ‘beautiful.’
“Just like the John Cena and Gunther finish. I feel like it’s the same thing. Some people, maybe I don’t think you understand what you’re watching,” Punk stated while recalling Cena tapping out to Gunther last month in December, 2025. “If you didn’t like it, I can also understand that. To make it your entire personality and spend an unhealthy amount of time talking about it, I’ll put it this way, if John won, they’d be mad about that too, but we wouldn’t be talking about it anymore.”
“We’re still talking about that finish. The smile, the tap. ‘Oh my God, the guy who said don’t give up, gave up.’ Did he? I thought it was beautiful.”
Cena and Punk shared a storied rivalry during their prime in WWE, with both facing each other multiple times in both title and non-title matches. Cena and Punk also faced each other one last time during Cena’s retirement tour last year in Saudi Arabia.
While Cena is now retired, Punk recently defended his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Bron Breakker on the WWE RAW-Stranger Things episode on January 5th, 2026.
Shounak Chakrabarti is an experienced sports journalist with a lifelong passion for athletics and storytelling. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and joined F4WOnline in 2025.
Shounak takes particular interest in soccer, closely following top clubs like Real Madrid and Arsenal. Beyond sports, he enjoys fiction writing, photography, gaming, and cinema.