John Cena reflects on AJ Styles match at WWE Crown Jewel
John Cena says he doesn’t typically watch his matches back, but made an exception for his bout with AJ Styles at WWE Crown Jewel last year.
Cena’s fifth final match took place at the October 11, 2025 event in Perth, Australia, where he defeated Styles in a bout that ran just under 30 minutes and included multiple tributes to past opponents of both wrestlers.
Cena discussed the match during a Q&A appearance at MegaCon Orlando 2026 this weekend.
Cena said:
“The atmosphere in Perth was like something I’d never seen. I’d never seen that many t-shirts. I know for a fact we didn’t give them away, but it’s like we gave them away. I wore yellow that night and the whole crowd was yellow. I’m used to it being 50/50, or sometimes people wear an older shirt. So the atmosphere really swept everybody up, and because the audience was smart enough to understand what we were doing as well. You can do all this cool stuff that you think is cool, but if you guys don’t get it, I’m kind of being selfish.”
Cena also revealed that Styles had told him in advance that he was planning to retire in January.
“AJ had shared with me that he was going to retire in January. I really think the world of him and wanted to do something special and make it special. And then you had an audience that kind of understood that.”
“I don’t watch a lot of matches back because I like to live the moment. I don’t like to get into my head about what I could have done different. I can’t. It’s done. That’s one that I have watched back, and man, the audience was calling spots for us. It was great. It was just a moment where everyone in the arena was in on it.”
Clips of Cena’s full Q&A appearance at MegaCon Orlando 2026 are available below. The video is queued to his comments about wrestling Styles at WWE 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.