John Cena reveals original plans for WWE Crown Jewel 2025
John Cena spoke about some of the pivots his final year in wrestling went through creatively during a recent interview.
Cena told the No Contest Wrestling podcast that AJ Styles was not his original opponent for Crown Jewel 2025 in Australia. Cena says he was initially set to face Drew McIntyre at the event, but the decision was made to give the fans a feel-good moment instead.
“AJ was supposed to be Drew but it pivoted. We wanted to give them a feel-good moment because they were listening to the data points. They listen to you guys, they do. It’s real.”
Cena’s match against Styles on the show featured callbacks to many of both of their former opponents and rivals and was rated four and three-quarter stars by Dave Meltzer.
Cena continued to say there were times fans were happy with how the run was going, but not at others.
“You have the Brock moment, people are pissed off. Then you have the AJ moment, things are great. Then you have the three-appearance run with Dom, which is fun.“
Cena reiterated that the original plan had been for him to turn back babyface during his match with Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam rather than on the go-home show. He also said that the decision for his character to smile and tap out in the match against Gunther was his own.
“It was a brave choice to say be like, we’re killing the character off. What’s the craziest way we can do it?” Cena said.
Cena’s full appearance on the No Contest Wrestling podcast is available below. The video is cued to Cena’s comments about Crown Jewel 2025.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.