John Cena explains why fan response to WWE retirement match was ‘perfect’
The finish of John Cena’s retirement match received a mixed response from fans — and Cena feels that was a “perfect” end to his WWE story.
During an appearance at Fan Expo New Orleans this month, Cena reflected on his December 13 retirement match against Gunther. He thanked the fans for how they responded to the match, both positively and negatively. Cena’s career was often polarizing, so he feels this was a pretty fitting way to end it.
“Thank you [for reminding] me that you’re allowed to have your opinion, and thank you for not just conforming to a certain set of standards,” he said. “Thank you for being vocal enough to express how you felt, because every moment can be a teachable moment. I put together — my job is to try to put together a story that I think you all will enjoy.
“And when there’s critical opinion out there, I’m all ears. I don’t ignore the critics. I’m thankful for them for [Washington] D.C. and every match I had before that. And like I said, I guess a kind of parallel to my career, I think it was a perfect end. Because a whole lot of people thought it sucked, and a whole lot of people thought it was special. And that’s kind of been my story for 23 years. So I thought it was perfect.”
Cena losing his retirement match was criticized by some fans who were hoping for a happy ending. Him tapping out to a sleeper from Gunther was also controversial given Cena’s “Never Give Up” motto. Cena has explained that the moment — with him flashing a smile across his face — was supposed to mirror someone passing away peacefully after giving all they had.
In his post-retirement career, Cena is under an ambassadorial contract with WWE. He will still make appearances for the company in the future but has promised that he is a man of his word and will never wrestle again.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.