In just over a month, John Cena will step into the ring for his final wrestling match, leaving behind an in-ring career spanning 26 years. For the last one, Cena has traveled across the world for his official retirement tour, with a critically acclaimed match against AJ Styles at WWE Crown Jewel as his latest stop. In assessing its entirety on the "Off The Top" podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi personally rated the tour beyond the standard one-to-ten scale, specifically with a score of 15.
"It's been great," Rikishi said. "Damn sure he came back to work. They got him busy. It's like every TV show you see, John Cena's up in there. I got to give it to him, man. At his age, as many years he's been doing it, the bumps, just the demanding of being that guy for the business for 20 years, whatever the case may be, and he's still out there, it's a beautiful thing to be able to have the fans get a last glimpse of Mr. John Cena himself, the icon of the business. In his time, John did a lot. He carried that whole company on his shoulder for a minute. To be able to see him doing this last run-around for this last tour of his, it's a beautiful thing. I just wish him love and respect and success after the ring."
Cena kicked off his retirement tour by declaring himself for the 2025 Men's Royal Rumble in which he later placed second. At WWE Elimination Chamber, Cena outlasted five other men to secure himself a world title match at WWE WrestleMania 41; in a shocking turn of events, he also turned heel for the first time since 2003. Weeks later, Cena dethroned Cody Rhodes to capture his record-breaking 17th world championship at WrestleMania.
Fast forward to November, Cena has since dropped the Undisputed WWE Championship back to Rhodes and is now on track tomake his final appearance before his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts on "WWE Raw."
With Cena's last match just weeks away, WWE has officially begun the journey of determining his opponent. Per Cena's wishes, WWE is running the "Last Time is Now" Tournament, filled with 16 talents from "WWE Raw," "WWE SmackDown," "WWE NXT," and potentially some talent who don't even work for the company. So far, the likes of Damian Priest, Rusev, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Sheamus are confirmed for the tournament.
When assessing the possibilities for Cena's last opponent, Rikishi noted that the decision-making process behind it should go beyond the basis of friendship. If Rikishi were in Cena's position, he'd consider facing off with one of WWE's biggest names.
"... I would have to go after some of the GOATs," Rikishi said. "Now, the one thing that people probably never seen and would love to see, they seen it back in the day, but at this point, I think The Final Boss and John Cena. That right there, I can go to sleep then. Whether it was a stinkeroo or whatever, at the end of the day, they're going to say, 'Whoa, John Cena's last match was against The Rock.' When you say The Rock, oh, there it is. But if it's John Cena had his last match with Edge, does he carry a lot more weight than [The Rock]? That's just me. Not knocking Edge. Edge is a wonderful guy. He's been family for a minute, but I'm just spitting out business out there."
While he respects the work of former WWE Champion Adam "Edge" Copeland, Rikishi recognizes that Copeland is currently contractually bound to AEW, which puts up a major hurdle in considering him as an option for Cena's last match. As such, Rikishi questions whether that route would even be worth entertaining.
"At the end of the day, if it don't make dollars, it don't make sense, then we ain't booking it," he said. Cena's final match will take place at WWE Saturday Night's Main Event on December 13.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Off The Top" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
