John Cena Never Changed Brock Lesnar Match Finish at WrestlePalooza

WWE fans were stunned when Brock Lesnar steamrolled John Cena to open WrestlePalooza. What was expected to be one of Cena’s farewell matches turned into a dominant squash by Lesnar. But after rumors spread that Cena was originally booked to win and changed the finish himself, one wrestling insider says that story couldn’t be further from the truth.

Billi Bhatti, speaking on Dirt Sheet’s The Wrestling Informer podcast, called out what he described as the “biggest nonsense of the week,” denying the claim that Cena flipped the script to make himself look worse.

“We’ll start with the biggest nonsense of the week. And that was that John Cena had the Brock Lesnar match changed from John Cena winning the match to him being absolutely squashed in the way that he was. And apparently that was John Cena’s idea.”

Bhatti didn’t mince words. He said the finish was always locked in, and Cena never needed to change anything.

“I can tell you that that story is 100% bullsh*t. Brock Lesnar was winning that match all the time, throughout the entire time Brock Lesnar was winning. John Cena did not need to come to television or come to the show on Saturday and say that he wanted the finish changed to Brock Lesnar winning.”

While Bhatti admitted the layout of the match could have been Cena’s idea, he firmly stated that the final result was never in question.

“Now, I don’t know about the details of the squash… and perhaps that is what John Cena laid out and said, ‘If I’m going to be losing, let’s do it in this way,’ which is exactly the same way he lost at SummerSlam 2014 as well.”

At the end of the day, the shocking squash wasn’t some last-minute Cena curveball—it was always booked for Brock to walk out dominant. Fans might debate how the match looked, but the result was locked in from the start. The real question now is whether this was truly the best way to handle one of Cena’s farewell matches, or if WWE missed an opportunity to give him a more fitting sendoff.

What do you think—was the squash the right call, or should Cena have gone out differently? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.