John Cena's Retirement Match Sets All-Time WWE Record

The John Cena retirement tour in 2025 was a success for WWE's business.

Earlier this week, reports indicated that WrestleMania 41, which was headlined by John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship, was the most lucrative event in wrestling history. Cena was a part of other broken records in 2025 as well.

A new report from Post Wrestling indicates that the John Cena retirement edition of WWE Saturday Night's Main Event on December 13 from Washington DC, was the biggest live gate for an arena-sized show in history.

According to the report, WWE grossed $6,553,883 for that event. That number broke the previous arena gate record of $4,898,365, which was set at the Intuit Dome early in 2025 for the first-ever episode of WWE Raw on Netflix.

The record-breaking event featured John Cena vs. Gunther in the main event for what would be Cena's final WWE match ever. Gunther earned the opportunity to face Cena in his final match by winning the Last Time Is Now tournament.

Cena fought valiantly in the match, but eventually succumbed to Gunther. In a shock to WWE fans everywhere, Cena tapped out to Gunther's sleeper chokehold to lose. To that point, Cena hadn't ever tapped out to lose a match.

MORE: John Cena Reveals the WWE Legend Who Mentored and Shaped His Early Career [Exclusive]

Record-breaking John Cena retirement match highlighted future WWE stars

Other matches on the card that night featured up-and-coming WWE talent, as Cena reportedly wanted the show to be a showcase for future WWE stars currently working in NXT.

Sol Ruca and Oba Femi were both highlighted on the show. Femi wrestled Cody Rhodes in the opening match, which ended in a no-contest after Drew McIntyre interfered. As for Ruca, she wrestled and beat Bayley in a singles match.

Now, Ruca is scheduled to face Jacy Jayne for the NXT Women's Championship next week on NXT. Femi is essentially a main roster star at this point. He was entrant number one in the men's Royal Rumble match in Saudi Arabia and is being courted by both Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis for Raw and SmackDown.

Last week, Femi got an official contract offer from SmackDown. Pearce returned the favor and offered Femi a Raw contract on Monday night. Femi has not publicly announced where he was signing as of yet.

As for Cena, he has remained steadfast in saying that he will not be wrestling again. Cena didn't rule out appearances for WWE, but vehemently denied that he would return to the ring.

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