John Cena is set to retire on December 13, 2025 as apart of WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event. On that night, he will be taking on former World Heavyweight Champion and the winner of the Last Time Is Now Tournament, Gunther. But, this isn’t a retrospective piece, this isn’t a detailed look back at John Cena’s illustrious career, this is simply a thank you.
John Cena has been in the WWE for over two decades. Since signing with the company in 2001, John Cena has been a constant in many people’s lives, including mine. At 27 years old, I’ve been watching WWE basically since birth. In the late 90’s, we had The Rock, Stone Cold, Triple H, and many more. But for those my age, John Cena was the man we remember when being fully cognizant. For nearly my entire lifespan up to this point, there’s been 2 surefire constants. WWE, and John Cena.
Though the prototype wasn’t popular at first, and John will even tell you that himself, the fan-favorite rapper, Dr. Of Thuganomics John Cena, created a whole new outlook on the man himself. Fans clamored for John Cena’s raps and hilarious tactics each week. We waited to see which throwback jersey he wore, we emulated the pumped up kicks, even if we couldn’t afford a pair of our own, and shoe with a tongue was able to be pumped up. We stuck our pinky’s out, some even wore master-locks around their neck. John Cena was the coolest, he was our guy.
How could this man get any cooler in the eyes of a child, though? He wins the WWE United States Championship and changes the title to make the center plate spin. Now, that’s cool! Spinner chains, spinner belts, John Cena was a walking billboard of coolness and made every child want to be just like him. From my own experience, I used to make spinning paper belts as a kid, wrestle with my brothers on trampolines while we all argued over who got to be “John Cena.” Emulating the moves, eventually waving our hands in front of our faces yelling “You can’t see me!”. It was the life, and that’s all thanks to the champ.
When WWE really got behind John Cena, it only made the fans get behind him even more. John Cena won the WWE Championship for the first time at WrestleMania 21 in 2005, and with that, of course, came a spinner WWE Championship! By this time, WWE had been pumping out all the merch. We had the plastic spinner title, we had the foam brass knuckles (remember those? They ruled!), I personally didn’t have the chain gang spinner chain, but they made it, and I’ve always wanted it! John was the epitome of living out every kids dream.
But, as his career went on, and the ebbs and flows of aging into a teenager, it became cool to boo John Cena. I think we all had that phase. John was “over pushed”, “the company guy” and so much more. Fans wanted new guys to get the spotlight, so as little kids still cheered John Cena, the teenage kids who grew up with him, grew tired of him. We wanted the fresh young talent to be given a chance, and we wanted John to move out of the way. The funny thing is, though we vocally said “Cena Sucks!” We all still favored him in the back of our minds, you can’t tell me you didn’t.
Every time John left for a movie, we cheered when he returned. When John was out with injury, we anticipated his comeback, and when he’d win a title one more time, our inner child smiled. The truth of the matter is, we boo’d John Cena because of the way we felt he was shoved down our throats, but we could never boo the man himself. And while looking back on all the memories we had connecting to this one man, it’s sad to know we have one final time with him.
Whether you’re in the building on Saturday or watching from home, your inner child will come out one more time. We will cheer, some may cry, some may smile, but we will all collectively remember the good times and memories we’ve had with John Cena as apart of our lives. Even if you’ve never met the man, it still feels like we’re losing a piece of our family. That one constant in my life will now be gone, in terms of wrestling, and that sucks.
Though I’ll be sad that it’s over, I’ll also be happy that it happened. So, thank you, John Cena. Thank you for allowing myself and many other kids to connect with you through our television screens. Thank you for allowing me to connect with my siblings through you. Thank you for all the matches, all the moments, the good times and the bad. Thank you for putting your body on the line every single week and all the sacrifices you’ve made in life, to entertain us. Thank you for all the Make-A-Wish’s you’ve done, and making those kids dreams come true. Thank you for teaching us to Never Give Up, remain loyal, and hustle for what we want in life. Thank you for your album, because ‘Right Now’ is still an absolute banger! Thank you for using your final appearance to push forward the next generation. And last but not least, thank you for being you. You’re an absolute legend and we will all be awaiting that Hall Of Fame speech!
We appreciate everything you’ve done. Happy retirement, champ. Thank you, John Cena.
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