John Cena announced his retirement at WWE MITB in June 2024, revealing that he would go on a farewell tour throughout the entirety of 2025, with his last match being in December. This would have been a bold announcement for any superstar to make. However, considering the magnitude of the impact John Cena has had on the WWE for two decades, it is reasonable to dedicate an entire year to his career and give him his well-deserved flowers. There is no doubt that Cena is doing his best with what he is being dealt, but the booking of this farewell tour has been a total bust. Here's why.
(1) The John Cena farewell tour was way too focused on the past.
This farewell tour has been exceedingly focused on past rivalries in John Cena's career. John Cena battled Randy Orton at Backlash, R-Truth on Saturday Night Main Event, CM Punk at Night of Champions, Brock Lesnar at WrestlePalooza, and is now battling AJ Styles at Crown Jewel. While it is important to commemorate the rivalries that meant the most to his career in retrospect, the booking of those rivalries was a complete nostalgia act. There were barely any new storyline-driven elements added to these rivalries, and they merely felt like repeats of feuds the fans saw a decade ago.
The farewell tour should have also focused on rivalries that could have elevated the future. Matches with superstars like Bron Breakker, Gunther, Carmelo Hayes, Drew McIntyre, Finn Balor, Dirty Dom, and LA Knight would have been more worthwhile. This is the last year John Cena is in the ring, and WWE did not even capitalize on allowing the future of this business to directly learn from Cena. Other than Logan Paul being a waste of time, the only young talent Cena elevated and passed the torch to was Cody Rhodes, who was already established before their feud began on the road to Mania.
(2) The John Cena heel turn, in particular, was poorly executed.
Turning John Cena heel was a good idea for his farewell tour, as it added something new to the table, especially since most fans were getting bored with his stale babyface character that had been run to the ground for the past twenty years. Granted, keeping him face was a good PR business decision for merch sales and all the kids who looked up to Cena. However, now that this was his final year, WWE had nothing to lose, and a heel turn was worth exploring. But the way WWE executed this heel turn was poorly planned and was as generic as a heel turn executed in Universe Mode on WWE 2K 25.
John Cena, who is known as a polarizing figure in professional wrestling, explained that he was in a toxic relationship with the fans and had to break up with them. He felt that the fans loved to take and receive but did not want to give back as an appreciation for all that Cena did for them in the world of professional wrestling for the past twenty years. This was an entire 180 from what Cena wanted his farewell tour to look like, as he did say that he actually wanted to give back to the fans in the final year of his career. This was as basic as any trope utilized for a heel turn and looked like a lazy execution.
Granted, Cena has impeccable delivery, can gaslight the fans, and can spin any story he is given to fit his narrative. However, this explanation did not hit home. Most heel-turn explanations come down to turning their backs on the fans due to a lack of appreciation. This explanation by Cena did not make his heel turn feel special or unique. He also said that he would not come out to a new song or dress in new merch because the fans don't deserve that. WWE portrayed this as heel heat, but what it really came off as was a lack of foresight in storytelling and a lack of creativity in character development.
John Cena's obsession with winning #17 should have actually been the true motivation behind his actions. For someone who is so acquainted with winning big matches in his career, the fact that he has lost matches continuously in the past five years during his part-time Hollywood stint should incentivize him to do whatever it takes to win, no matter how immoral those actions could be in his last year. This would have explained why Cena would sell his soul to The Rock at Elimination Chamber, which is a moment that would be notoriously remembered for what it was with zero follow-through.
(3) The John Cena farewell tour was, by no means, storyline driven.
The fact that Cena abruptly went back to being a babyface shows that WWE knows it failed that heel run because this farewell tour was, by no means, storyline-driven. Only long term storyline angle John Cena had was with The Rock, but not even The Rock is bothering to show up to finish the stories he planted seeds for in the past two years. A wrestling fan would think that WWE would have roadmapped a long-term plan for the farewell tour of a superstar who carried the company on his back for more than a decade, especially after he announced that farewell tour half a year in advance.
However, WWE still has three more months to turn this around. They need to show continuity in Cena's journey and elicit some meaning behind this farewell tour. The time is not now for nostalagic acts, like Randy Orton, CM Punk, Brock Lesnar, and AJ Styles. The time is not now for mediocre young talent like Solo Sikoa and Austin Theory, whom Cena wrongfully lost to in the past. The time is now to bring out a storyline that elicits a full circle moment for Cena's career, whilst also elevating the future of this business to greater heights before we can't see John Cena in the ring anymore.
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