As of today, the “Last Time is Now” Tournament is down to just four. Gunther, LA Knight, Jey Uso, and Solo Sikoa, are all closing in on the lauded honor of being John Cena’s final opponent for his last match at Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13, 2025 in Washington, D.C.’s Capital One Arena. While there’s certainly a greater debate to be had about how Cena’s retirement tour was organized as a whole, with the “Last Time is Now” Tournament, it’s hard to see it as anything less than a missed opportunity. When it was initially announced, it sounded like an awesome idea and a perfect way to incorporate a plethora of wrestlers into this historic event. But regarding its execution, it feels like a perfect microcosm of everything that went “wrong” during the terminal year of one of wrestling’s most famous icons.
Now, as of writing this, we still don’t know who is going to be Cena’s last opponent. Although it’s highly probable that Gunther will be Cena’s ultimate challenger, there’s no guarantee. WWE hasn’t been shy about throwing its audience curveballs in the year 2025, so until we see that graphic, it’s risky to make any concrete assumptions. Gunther is undoubtedly a great last challenger for Cena, a dream matchup that has shockingly yet to happen. This match feels like a classic David versus Goliath scenario, perfectly setting the stage for Cena’s farewell. While that pairing is undeniably appealing, the rest of the “Last Time is Now” Tournament field hasn’t been as exciting. Although some of the other wrestlers involved would have made great final opponents for Cena too.
LA Knight (who is still in the running, but probably won’t win), Carmelo Hayes, Je’von Evans, and Sheamus would’ve all been satisfying selections for the honor, but that’s just four names out of a field of sixteen. Obviously, some of those spots were always going to be filled with guys who are there just to take the loss, but there’s been such a dearth of stakes across the board. It never felt like Gunther was in any jeopardy of losing that spot that seemed destined for him. If Gunther ended up facing someone like Damian Priest or Rusev (no disrespect to either guy, who are extremely talented), would anyone honestly think that Rusev or Priest has a shot of beating the Ring General?
Now if the tournament was full of names like Bron Breakker, CM Punk, Oba Femi, or Drew McIntyre, then maybe that would put into doubt Gunther’s chances of being destined for that last match. But such wrestlers weren’t included. Instead, the field was occupied with names whose only purpose seems to be to play the part of looking up at the lights after a three count or just take up space in the field. It’s quite telling that Jey Uso and Solo Sikoa both ended up in the final four, which illustrates how clumsily the tournament was managed. Sure, injuries to Penta and Sheamus have undoubtedly affected matters, but WWE didn’t exactly pivot effectively. Sheamus was substituted by Miz, who had already been defeated in the first round, and Penta’s injury meant Solo progressed by default. Nothing against the leader of the MFTs, but Solo Sikoa vs. Gunther isn’t exactly the kind of high-profile match-up befitting such a historic tournament. Neither is Jey Uso vs. LA Knight, a bout that has already happened on Monday Night Raw not too long ago. There’s just been a lack of excitement across the board. Apart from Zack Ryder and Dolph Ziggler both taking part, there’s been little in the way of “hype” surrounding the tournament.
One thing that would’ve greatly benefited this tournament was more names from NXT. Jevon Evans was absolutely a welcome addition, but him being the only one from NXT to take part is a huge missed opportunity for shining a spotlight on some fresh names. Guys like Ethan Page, Ricky Saints, Trick Williams, and of course Oba Femi all should’ve been obvious names to include. Yet, they are perplexingly absent. Instead, spots which could’ve been used to introduce NXT talent to the main roster (something WWE has struggled with) were taken up with guys like Miz, Damian Priest, Shinsuke Nakamura, Finn Bálor, Solo Sikoa, and Jey Uso. Again, all talented in their own ways, but not exactly dream selections for John Cena’s final match-up. When you add on top of that the fact that we never got Cena having one last showdown with guys like Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Rey Mysterio, Chad Gable, Sheamus, Finn Balor or fresh first time bouts against names like Jacob Fatu, Bron Breakker, Ilja Dragunov, Rey Fenix, Penta, Aleister Black, Carmelo Hayes, it’s hard to view the entire tournament as just the quintessential of everything that went wrong in this past year.
If you take the absence of NXT talent, lack of big names, and just general booking of the field overall, it’s easy to conclude that WWE could’ve done a lot better with “The Last Time is Now” Tournament. As mentioned earlier, there is certainly a greater discussion to be had about how WWE has booked John Cena’s final year. There’s been highlights, of course. His matches with Cody Rhodes (at SummerSlam), Logan Paul, AJ Styles, Sami Zayn, CM Punk, Randy Orton, and the Elimination Chamber, were all great to outstanding. But for those wonderful moments, there was a torrent of missed opportunities. The tournament itself was a great call by WWE, and Cena’s last match regardless of the opponent, will be a moment in WWE history. But when you take a step back and view the past year. It’s pretty apparent WWE’s management could’ve booked Cena’s retirement tour much stronger. But hey there’s always the next retirement tour. Let’s hope AJ Styles fares a bit better.
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