John Cena didn’t have a secret list of dream matches he wanted during his WWE retirement tour. He showed up, worked with whoever WWE put in front of him and dealt with opponents changing at the last minute.
Cena addressed the subject during his Q&A at Fan Expo Canada after he was asked which wrestler he wanted to face during his farewell run but never got the opportunity to wrestle. Cena shut down the idea that he spent the tour chasing specific names.
“Who would I want to face that I didn’t get a chance to face? I don’t really look at what I do like that. I never take a laundry list of opponents like, ‘I would like to compete against X, Y and Z.’ I simply show up and do the best I can with whoever is put in front of me.”
Cena then revealed that some matches were changed after he had already been told to expect a particular opponent. He didn’t name the wrestlers involved, but made it clear that WWE’s plans moved around during the tour.
“I had some opponents that changed at the last minute. I was told, like, ‘Hey, you’re going to face this person,’ and it ends up being a different person.”
Cena said that was nothing new after 23 years in WWE. While injuries are one obvious reason for matches being changed, he explained that the company alters plans for plenty of other reasons.
“Over the 23 years of competing in WWE, your schedule and your plan change a lot. For the people who have seen Unreal, you can see how much the plan changes. They only focus on, like, the injury—this person got injured, so plans change. Plans change way more than just injury-based plans.”
Instead of worrying about who he didn’t wrestle, Cena kept his retirement tour goals simple. He wanted to avoid injury, make every scheduled appearance and give everything he had each time he stepped into the ring.
“I never want to focus on, like, I had this menu of people I wanted to face. I wanted to stay healthy. I wanted to make all my dates, and I wanted to give it my best. I think I achieved all three.”
Cena walked away without publicly complaining about a missed dream match or naming anyone WWE failed to book against him. For Cena, completing the tour healthy and keeping his commitment to every date mattered more than checking names off a list.
Who do you wish John Cena had faced during his WWE retirement tour? Leave your dream opponent and feedback in the comments.
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