Samoa Joe paid tribute to John Cena before his upcoming retirement.
The AEW World Champion defended his title against Eddie Kingston in the latest Winter Is Coming special of Dynamite, coming live from Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia, this week.
A spot in the match saw the former WWE star locking in the STF submission on Kingston and doing the patent salute, which the Cenation Leader always does during his entrance:
Samoa Joe paid tribute to John Cena with his signature salute and STF on #AEWDynamite #JohnCena pic.twitter.com/J1nzhJeNzW
— Anutosh Bajpai || SEScoops || Wrestling News (@AuthorAnutosh) December 11, 2025
Cena has since responded, posting a photo of Joe's salute on his Instagram page.
Kingston bit the finger of Joe to get out of the submission, but he was unable to win the match in the end. Joe locked in the Coquina Clutch and let his opponent fade out to retain his title and end the special episode of Dynamite.
Samoa Joe had discussed John Cena’s retirement and the tribute paid to him during the Crown Jewel match with AJ Styles in an interview earlier this year. The AEW Champion had said that he had ‘unyielding amounts of respect’ for both the competitors of this bout.
John Cena never had a one-on-one match with the AEW star on TV. The two did get a chance to lock up for a couple of WWE Live Event matches back in 2017.
Apart from this, the Winter is Coming special of Dynamite saw the crowning of the inaugural Women’s Tag Team Champions, as well as the debut of a legend’s son. You can check out more details about it here.
