WWE legend John Cena has laid out exactly why losing to Brock Lesnar on his retirement tour made sense to him, and revealed that fan reaction pushed WWE to scrap a planned Drew McIntyre match in favor of AJ Styles.
Speaking to The Sun, Cena framed the defeat as a deliberate storytelling choice rather than a burial.
Fans often treat a loss to Lesnar as a career sentence, but Cena sees it differently. With his farewell run built around giving back, he says handing Lesnar a dominant win was the entire point.
That’s easy. He’s not once in a generation, he’s once in a genre. That’s it. They’ll be one Brock in wrestling. End, stop. The why is, losing to Brock does not kill me at all because I’m on my way out. And we’re bringing him back with the intent to give him as much energy so he can begin to give it away.
Cena’s tour ran throughout 2025, opening with the Netflix premiere of Monday Night Raw in January and ending with his final match at Saturday Night’s Main Event XLII on December 13, 2025, where he lost by submission to Gunther in the Last Time is Now tournament final. The Lesnar bout, positioned to re-establish Lesnar after time away, sat inside that farewell run.
Why The Loss Was The Point
Cena argued that making Lesnar look unstoppable against a recent champion sets up everyone who follows. If Lesnar can steamroll Cena, the reasoning goes, the audience is left wondering who could possibly stop him next.
What’s the best way to do that? Yeah, he’s gonna come back and destroy me. Physically, it’s gonna be a tough night, champ. That’s what we want. If he can do that to someone who was just a champion… he gets mowed over. Oh my god, who’s next? That’s the why. We told the right story with Brock, he’s on the right path. But, boy, the audience was upset. And now there is this growing resentment from the audience.
Cena acknowledged the crowd pushback, and it’s that same fan sentiment he credits for reshaping the back half of his schedule.
Drew McIntyre Was In, Then Out
Cena revealed that McIntyre had been penciled in as his next opponent before WWE changed direction. He pointed to live-crowd cues, including a reaction to AJ Styles during a Dublin segment with Logan Paul, as the tell that fans wanted a different match.
For my next opponent, it was originally supposed to be Drew McIntyre. Sorry Drew, but you can’t ignore the indicators. ‘We’re sick and tired of this. Give us someone that we want.’ Rewind: I had cut a promo in Dublin with Logan Paul. They popped for AJ Styles. Indicator that they want to see this match. What if we socially ask the people that are typing away that this sucks? Let me put something out. Do you guys want the AJ match? ‘F***, that’s what we’ve been trying to tell you!'
The pivot fits a tour built around marquee matchups. Cena had pitched a 220-day farewell run before WWE trimmed it to roughly 36 dates across events including WrestleMania 41, SummerSlam, Crown Jewel: Perth, Night of Champions in Riyadh, and Clash in Paris.
Cena signed a five-year WWE contract extension in December 2025 to stay on as an ambassador and on-air personality. In 2026 he has continued appearing in non-wrestling roles, including hosting WrestleMania 42, while maintaining he will keep his promise not to return as an active wrestler.
