The Best And Worst Moments Of John Cena’s WWE Retirement Tour

What was the best and worst of John Cena’s WWE retirement tour in 2025?

The record-setting 17-time World Champion left his boots in the ring following his loss to Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event, signaling the end of a legendary career in WWE.

It was an emotional sendoff for one of the best to ever do it, and it came after plenty of highs and lows during his final run as an active competitor.

Which moments were the best of the best during Cena’s farewell tour? And which moments didn’t exactly hit the mark?

Here are the best and worst moments of the Cena retirement tour.

The Best Moments Of John Cena’s WWE Retirement Tour

The heel turn At Elimination Chamber

Let’s start with what, for some, may be a controversial choice.

The heel turn itself has to be considered one of the best moments because, well, that’s what it was. A game-changing moment. It shocked everyone and hinted at a two-man Hollywood power trip with Cena selling his soul to ‘The Final Boss’, The Rock.

Just think of all the possibilities with that duo! What’s not to like? That was the thinking at the time, so bravo to WWE for creating another moment.

We’ll get to what came after it in a second…

The rematch with Cody Rhodes at WWE SummerSlam

We’ll also get to the first match with Cody Rhodes shortly. But it’s the rematch at SummerSlam that’s worth talking about.

The Undisputed WWE Championship was on the line in a Street Fight, and this was what the WrestleMania 41 match should have been between the two superstars.

Cena brought it in the ring the entire year, but his return to form as a babyface is what allowed him to shine as bright as ever in what was arguably the best match of his retirement run.

Completing the career Grand Slam

Cena finally captured the one title that had eluded him in WWE.

Not only did he complete the career Grand Slam by winning the Intercontinental Championship, but he did it in his hometown of Boston against the ultimate heel in Dominik Mysterio.

That’s just good professional wrestling (or sports entertainment, if you prefer), and the impromptu setup gave Cena’s biggest fans a nice surprise. It’s an easy addition to the best moments list.

Teaming with Sheamus and Rey Mysterio at MSG

Sometimes, the feel-good moment wins out over everything else.

Cena’s tour needed more of those in the first half of 2025, but this was a great development in the GOAT’s final appearance at Madison Square Garden.

While many pondered potential one-on-one matches for Cena, pairing him with Sheamus and Rey Mysterio to defeat The Judgment Day was an old-school approach that allowed fans to cheer the good guys and boo the bad guys.

The AJ Styles match at WWE Crown Jewel

A lot of people have described this as a love letter to professional wrestling, and that seems spot-on.

After a disappointing stretch for Cena the month prior, this was the relief that the WWE universe needed. It was a phenomenal showcase that proved why Cena and Styles are two of the best to ever do it, and the numerous callbacks to other superstars were about as good as it gets, given the setting.

If you were ranking matches this year based on pure fun, this would top many people’s list.

The Worst Moments Of John Cena’s WWE Retirement Tour

The aftermath after the heel turn at WWE Elimination Chamber

This encapsulates a lot of moments. Where to begin?

The lack of any interaction with The Rock after selling his soul at Elimination Chamber. Matches against career rivals in Randy Orton and CM Punk that were held back by Cena’s heel shenanigans. The forced heel promos were more try-hard than effective. And the list goes on and on.

The turn just didn’t deliver on its promise to change the WWE landscape, and it wasted months of potential memorable Cena moments.

The bizarre ‘I’m going to ruin wrestling’ promos

From the very first heel promo on March 17 in Brussels, it wasn’t clear that the ‘new’ Cena was not the authentic Cena.

He was playing a character that few people wanted. The idea that he needed to unleash years of frustration on the fans was understandable given their backlash towards him, but the persona came off as generic and fake.

And while the ‘ruin wrestling’ bit was intriguing initially, the reality was that people wanted to celebrate Cena in 2025, not watch him intentionally try to ruin shows.

Everything with R-Truth

That’s not a knock on Truth as a performer. It’s a knock on the execution of the story that WWE was trying to tell.

The whole thing was a mess, coming in as the worst of the eighteen Cena retirement tour matches in a recent ranking by The Takedown on SI’s Jon Alba. Truth was released by WWE shortly after, before eventually returning.

The dynamic was off with Cena as the heel, and their on-screen dynamic could have been so much more had the Cena turn not happened.

Being destroyed by Brock Lesnar at WWE Wrestlepalooza

WWE fans are still scratching their heads at this one.

Not only did Lesnar dominate Cena in impressive fashion, but the two never interacted again after the match. The surprising outcome would have been warranted had there been a compelling follow-up, but that isn’t how it played out.

It seemed like a move to bring Lesnar back for the historic debut on ESPN and nothing more.

Cena moved on to his match with AJ Styles, and this was rarely brought up again.

An infamous WrestleMania 41 main event featuring Travis Scott

For as deflating as the Lesnar match was, there is no moment more worthy of the ‘worst moment’ award for the Cena retirement tour than everything surrounding the WrestleMania 41 match against Rhodes.

It looked like a match trying to ruin wrestling, and it was capped off by rapper Travis Scott being the person to assist Cena in his historic 17th World title victory.

It is one of the worst WrestleMania main events in WWE history, featuring a monumental letdown when "Fein" hit and fans realized they weren’t getting the long-awaited interaction between Cena and The Rock.

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