The table is set for John Cena’s last professional wrestling match. After winning The Last Time Is Now Tournament, Gunther will assume one of the most villainous roles of his heel career as he vows to make man who never gives up—well—give up.
The table is set for a fun evening as some of NXT’s brightest stars mix it up with main roster mainstays at Saturday Night’s Main Event. But how should this showdown itself play out?
John Cena should win.
John Cena Winning Bucks Conventional Wisdom
Conventional pro wrestling wisdom would have an aging superstar wind down his time in the limelight by counting the arena lights, putting over a younger talent who can carry the business forward for years to come.
Gunther certainly fits the bill as a decorated and well-respected talent who is still relatively fresh to WWE fans. But is The Ring General choking out Cena—much like he did to Goldberg in his final match at a Saturday Night’s Main Event earlier this year—really the way to go?
It’s exciting to imagine Cena and WWE bucking tradition here and doing less what’s conventionally right for business than what’s right for the moment at hand. Cena winning carries with it the prospect of sending fans home happy in a way that a Gunther victory simply does not.
Gunther Can Weather This Loss
One argument against John Cena winning his farewell match is that it would hurt his opponent. While there’s nothing left to protect or push in terms of Cena as an in-ring attraction, Gunther likely has years ahead of him as a main event-level star.
Gunther is also a successful enough wrestler to weather this loss, though. The longest reigning NXT UK Champion of all time, longest reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time, and the man who has held the World Heavyweight Championship for a cumulative 311 days in the last year and a half needs no protecting.
Gunther weathered dropping the Intercontinental Championship to Sami Zayn at WrestleMania 40 by winning King of the Ring and then World Heavyweight Championship at the following SummerSlam. He weathered tapping out to Jey Uso at WrestleMania by putting the Yeeting Superstar to sleep on Raw to take his world title back less than two months later.
Whereas a new main roster face like Oba Femi or even a guy looking to graduate to the top of the card like LA Knight might be meaningfully damaged by this high-profile loss, Gunther can keep moving on.
Yes, defeating John Cena would be a nice feather in the Ring General’s cap. There’s also the reality, though, that he can be just fine having won the tournament to get this last match, worked it as a bully heel in front of what’s sure to be a huge audience tuning in for Cena’s last dance, and carry on with a successful career to follow, maybe even taking on a little extra fire over his kayfabe embarrassment at the loss.
WWE Owes One To John Cena Fans And The Kids
No, WWE doesn’t technically owe its fans anything. But John Cena’s most ardent fans tend to fall into one of two buckets. They are loyalists who’ve followed the product since Cena’s heyday over a decade back. Alternatively, they’re children who don’t know a WWE universe without Cena as a defining star.
These fans have had a tough year. They’ve watched their hero and the defining babyface of a generation turn heel. When WWE launched its PLEs on ESPN, they watched Cena get obliterated by Brock Lesnar in an ugly defeat that fans are still scratching their heads over.
Yes, Cena won Elimination Chamber, won a WrestleMania main event and 17th world title, and finally won an Intercontinental Championship. But for a career that’s been all about pleasing young fans and fans who reject irony and coolness in favor of unabashedly cheering the babyfaces and booing the heels, isn’t the fitting legacy to deliver on a happy ending? Indeed, fans who love Cena but feel turned off by his last match may see this as the point to move on from wrestling. By contrast, there’s a chance for WWE to send fans home happy and prepared for the next chapter of the company’s history.
In the end, WWE will do what feels right for itself and it’s hard to imagine all the considerations and future directions for anyone outside the heads of Triple H and his inner circle. Just the same, when it comes to serving the audience and ending 2025 on a feel-good note, the answer is clear. John Cena’s time is up… and his time is now.