John Cena's last match had the internet FURIOUS. He tapped out to Gunther in a sleeper hold and fans chanted "YOU FUCKED UP" at Triple H. But I think it was PERFECT. Let me explain why this was exactly how Cena should have gone out, and why the crowd reaction - while emotional - actually tells the beautiful story of John Cena's entire career.
This was a crowd making up for lost time. Giving Cena the cheers he deserved for so long, in place of the boos that were more meant for Vince McMahon - the man behind the curtain who kept giving fans anything but what we wanted. Cena received "YOU STILL GOT IT" chants from people who, for YEARS, didn't want to admit he ever had it in the first place.
And it finished the way it was always going to - not with one last John Cena 1-2-3, but with a WIN for Cena's VISION: leaving the wrestling world better than he found it. He gave us everything he had. All he had left was one big match and the rub to a top guy who can carry it forward. They just didn't anticipate that crowds who for years never wanted him to win... didn't want him to lose.
That's the story of John Cena's career right there.
🤼 WHY THE FINISH WAS PERFECT:
- They telegraphed it all night - Gunther's submission game, Cena never tapping in 20 years
- Gunther was the RIGHT choice - gives you 5-7 year main event run, Monday RAW proved it
- Crowd made up for lost time - cheers he deserved, boos were meant for Vince
- "You Still Got It" chants from people who denied it for years
- The smile and tap = mission complete, wrestling's in better hands now
- Beautiful irony: crowds who never wanted him to win didn't want him to lose
🎬 MY ONE CRITIQUE:
- Too many celebrity thank yous, not enough Cena MOMENTS
- Wanted flashbacks to WrestleManias, ECW One Night Stand
- Video packages were spectacular but needed more of HIS moments
⭐ NXT STARS SHINED:
- Oba Femi felt like a STAR (Drew finish was annoying though)
- Sol Ruca showed everything against Bayley
- Slater & Evans looked fantastic vs AJ/Dragon Lee
- Proved wrestling is in better spot than when Cena arrived
💬 I'm assuming most of you disagree. Where am I wrong? What would've been better ending for Cena? Let's debate in the comments!
👍 If you appreciated this different perspective, hit that like button and subscribe!
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#WWE #JohnCena #Gunther #JohnCenaLastMatch #JohnCenaRetirement #SaturdayNightsMainEvent #ProWrestling #CenaVsGunther #ObaFemi #SolRuca #NXT #WWEAnalysis #CouchPotatoDiary
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This was a crowd making up for lost time. Giving Cena the cheers he deserved for so long, in place of the boos that were more meant for Vince McMahon - the man behind the curtain who kept giving fans anything but what we wanted. Cena received "YOU STILL GOT IT" chants from people who, for YEARS, didn't want to admit he ever had it in the first place.
And it finished the way it was always going to - not with one last John Cena 1-2-3, but with a WIN for Cena's VISION: leaving the wrestling world better than he found it. He gave us everything he had. All he had left was one big match and the rub to a top guy who can carry it forward. They just didn't anticipate that crowds who for years never wanted him to win... didn't want him to lose.
That's the story of John Cena's career right there.
🤼 WHY THE FINISH WAS PERFECT:
- They telegraphed it all night - Gunther's submission game, Cena never tapping in 20 years
- Gunther was the RIGHT choice - gives you 5-7 year main event run, Monday RAW proved it
- Crowd made up for lost time - cheers he deserved, boos were meant for Vince
- "You Still Got It" chants from people who denied it for years
- The smile and tap = mission complete, wrestling's in better hands now
- Beautiful irony: crowds who never wanted him to win didn't want him to lose
🎬 MY ONE CRITIQUE:
- Too many celebrity thank yous, not enough Cena MOMENTS
- Wanted flashbacks to WrestleManias, ECW One Night Stand
- Video packages were spectacular but needed more of HIS moments
⭐ NXT STARS SHINED:
- Oba Femi felt like a STAR (Drew finish was annoying though)
- Sol Ruca showed everything against Bayley
- Slater & Evans looked fantastic vs AJ/Dragon Lee
- Proved wrestling is in better spot than when Cena arrived
💬 I'm assuming most of you disagree. Where am I wrong? What would've been better ending for Cena? Let's debate in the comments!
👍 If you appreciated this different perspective, hit that like button and subscribe!
🔔 Turn on notifications for all wrestling analysis and hot takes!
#WWE #JohnCena #Gunther #JohnCenaLastMatch #JohnCenaRetirement #SaturdayNightsMainEvent #ProWrestling #CenaVsGunther #ObaFemi #SolRuca #NXT #WWEAnalysis #CouchPotatoDiary
🎧 Listen on: Apple https://apple.co/49NGm2L | Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM?si=icY7NEBvT7yZadv_JFlT6Q
🔗 Support the Show:
- Tip Jar: https://streamelements.com/couchpotatodiary/tip (fuels more content!)
- Partners: C of Dead http://cofdead403.ca/ | Swift Energy https://www.swiftenergy.gg/?ref=m
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SportsTranscript
00:00John Cena's last match. It was something that was talked about for a really long time,
00:04and then when it finally came, the people kind of hated it.
00:09So, let's go and dive now into John Cena's last match in WWE.
00:23So, um, that was a thing.
00:26John Cena, no longer an active member of the WWE roster, in terms of an in-ring capacity anyway,
00:33as he falls to Gunther by, uh, sleeper hold and taps out.
00:38And that is where a lot of people are very, very frustrated.
00:41And I will just say, for me, I thought it was perfect.
00:46I thought that, A, it was what I was expecting.
00:48They were really harping on the Gunther submission element of it,
00:53how John Cena had never tapped out in 20 years or whatever it was,
00:56and how this guy has all these submissions, and that's gonna be his focus,
01:00and he's gonna make the guy who never gave up, give up.
01:03And so I just, I thought there was too much going into that, talking about that, for it to not play out.
01:09And, yes, we are probably past the time of the time-honored tradition,
01:14where you do the job on the way out the door.
01:16And we saw it with Sting, that you can do that.
01:19Um, you can have him win, and have it be this great thing.
01:25I also think that, like, all the talk about John Cena,
01:28how, oh, he's going out on his own terms,
01:30and then he says, well, I'm not, because I would like to do this forever,
01:32it's just the body is wearing down.
01:34But, yes, I am deciding when I am leaving.
01:36So that is, that is great.
01:37I think Cena deserved to go out the way he wanted to.
01:42And, in this case, he wanted to put someone over.
01:46And that someone was Gunther.
01:48And it makes sense, we talked about it, like, yeah, it would have been great,
01:51if there would have been a young guy coming in,
01:53to, uh, take that mantle, and, and just run with it.
01:57And have it not be the 38-year-old dude to, to do this.
02:00But, like, this is going to, like, Gunther is going to be a main eventer for this company
02:04for the next five to seven years, right?
02:06So, I, that, that feels future, and anything beyond that we're projecting in wrestling?
02:14Come on.
02:15Like, I, it would be awesome if you could turn the John Cena thing,
02:18and just hand it off to the next guy, and have the, a Pittsburgh Steelers-esque run of coaches,
02:23but with top-level superstars, and we can just go from one guy to the other,
02:28and 45 years is just covered with two dudes that we can roll it with.
02:34That's insane to assume.
02:35And so, if you are going to try to put, like, a young performer in there,
02:39you are hoping to get a five to seven-year run out of it.
02:42Well, you know you're going to get it out of that guy.
02:44And, I thought on Monday, and we'll talk about Monday in a little bit,
02:48I thought on Monday, this was just proof positive that they picked the right guy.
02:53That the, that Gunther was the dude to go out and get the job done,
02:56and be this next heel for it.
02:59So, I had no problem with the choice.
03:01We did a video before about some other guys who I would rather have seen,
03:05but at the end of the day, this was the play.
03:07And I just, I didn't get it.
03:09And I thought a lot of the reaction, um, took away from what should have been a great moment.
03:14And a lot of people were complaining about,
03:15Oh, well, we wanted to celebrate Cena.
03:17You still could have, guys.
03:19Like, you, win or lose, he was done after this one.
03:25So, to choose that moment to start chanting,
03:29you fucked up, and all those things at Triple H.
03:32I just, I thought that the fans were doing the thing that they accused WWE of doing,
03:36and ruining John Cena's last night.
03:39Like, I just, I thought, I thought the whole thing,
03:41and I was in tears for quite a bit of it.
03:43I thought there was just, there was such an interesting comparison the whole night
03:48of how Cena had been treated in his time as a, you know, as a top guy in WWE,
03:55and how fans were relating to him now.
03:58Like, I just, it, it really felt to me like it was a crowd making up for lost time.
04:04Giving Cena the cheers he deserved for a really long time,
04:08in place of the booze that were more meant for the man who was behind the curtain,
04:13who kept giving fans anything but what we wanted.
04:16He received, in that match, you still got it chants.
04:19Probably from a lot of the same fans who, for years,
04:23didn't want to admit he ever had it in the first place.
04:27And I thought it finished the way it was always going to.
04:30Not with one last John Cena, one, two, three,
04:33but with a win for Cena's vision of how he wanted to go.
04:37By trying to leave the wrestling world in a better place than he found it.
04:42He did what he always promised to do.
04:45To give us everything he had.
04:47And at this point, all he had left to give was one big match,
04:51and then the quote-unquote rub to a top guy who could carry it forward.
04:57They didn't anticipate the crowd that, for years, never wanted him to win.
05:02Now, not wanting him to lose.
05:04But I thought the rest of it was perfect.
05:06I just, I, I thought it was exactly how you could draw up a John Cena last match.
05:13He hit all of his big stuff,
05:14and in the end, the guy who never gave up
05:17kind of realized that the mission was complete.
05:21And maybe he didn't have to, maybe he didn't have to give up,
05:25but he didn't have to keep fighting for the thing that he was fighting for forever,
05:28and that was making the WWE a better place.
05:31He recognized now that it's in better hands with some of these other guys.
05:36So I just thought that the smile and the tap and all of it,
05:39like, we all just love the subtlety and everything.
05:42And look, John Cena is subtle as a jackhammer.
05:44We know that.
05:44But we love the subtlety and the storytelling of Roman Reigns finally being like,
05:49you know what?
05:50It's my time.
05:51And smiling and tapping.
05:53And then to hate this, I just, I don't get it.
05:55I don't, I don't get it.
05:56So I thought, I thought it was great.
05:59I really, really didn't understand, just full disclosure,
06:02I wasn't able to watch it live.
06:06Watched it a couple of days after the fact.
06:09And already kind of had that cycle of everyone being pissed about it,
06:13going through on social media.
06:14And so I knew how people felt about it.
06:18And I had a general idea of how the match ended.
06:20And I was very surprised when watching it at how normal and obvious it all felt to me.
06:27So again, I just, I thought it was a great ending.
06:30And I thought it was the perfect way for John Cena to go out.
06:33The one thing, my critique of the whole night, I get, like, it's cool to have Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady and Eli Manning
06:40and all them throwing out their thanks.
06:44By the way, like,
06:46the sports people who, you know what?
06:50You're almost perfect.
06:51Just, just a Patriots fan.
06:53Like, sports people are so lame with some things sometimes.
06:56But that's beside the point.
06:57But, um, all that stuff is cool and neat to get and everything.
07:01I kind of would have preferred more Cena moments throughout the night instead of the thank yous and all of that.
07:08I would have liked the flashbacks to WrestleMania's gone by and ECW One Night Stand.
07:14If Timothee Chalamet is talking about those shows, then we should be seeing them on our television.
07:20So, I, I thought we could have done with more Cena moments and not necessarily the,
07:24oh, thank you, John, and all of that.
07:26Like, the video package they produced and everything, that was spectacular.
07:29Um, oh, like, the, the ones with the, the wrestlers thanking him and the big one that they put up on the board.
07:34All of that, great.
07:35Um, I, I just wished that we would have had, like, some real moments as the, the night kind of went on.
07:44Aside from just people saying thank you to John.
07:46And, you know, you can do that privately.
07:47Or just, like, put them all out on social media and all that throughout the day.
07:50Um, but a, a mix of the two, I think, would have been a little bit better for me.
07:53Anyway, personally.
07:54Aside from that, I, I think the big story of the night was the NXT wrestlers shined.
07:58Like, Oba Femi felt like a star by the end of the night.
08:02And the Drew McIntyre stuff, god, that's so annoying.
08:05I, I understand, like, Oba, there's a, an aura to this guy.
08:09And, like, beating him is one thing.
08:11But I think the way that he wrestled that match, if that would have ended with Cody winning,
08:15I don't think Oba's in any worse of a spot.
08:18But, he is the champion of your developmental brand.
08:22And, boy, did that developmental brand's champions come into focus in the next couple of days
08:26after.
08:27But, um, he's the champion of your developmental brand.
08:30He shouldn't be on the level of Cody Rhodes.
08:33So, like, beating him, I don't think it would have done any damage at all.
08:38Now, I was surprised by the reaction to Cena's loss too, so what do I know?
08:42But, I, I just, I, I thought that was a really unsatisfying way to have that match end.
08:49You could have done all, basically everything else you did.
08:52McIntyre comes out and attacks him.
08:54Oba stands over Drew McIntyre.
08:56And, this, that, and the other thing.
08:57All of that could have worked.
09:00And, we would have been happy with the match because Cody would have got the win.
09:03Um, Sol showed off everything that we wanted her to against, uh, Bayley.
09:07And, I thought both Slater and Evans looked fantastic against, um, AJ Styles and Dragon
09:12Lee.
09:12And, they lost and I did not lose anything for them.
09:15So, I, I think that the real story of the night, as, again, Cena wanted it to be, was
09:21the NXT stars who stepped up and took advantage of this opportunity to shine.
09:27Uh, showing that, again, the wrestling industry is in a much, much better spot than when John
09:31Cena came into it all those years ago.
09:34I'm going to assume a lot of you disagree with where I'm at on the, the Cena loss.
09:39So, let me know in the comments.
09:41What do you guys think?
09:42Um, where, where am I wrong in this whole thing?
09:45And, what would have been a better way for John Cena to go out?
09:49Let's talk about it in the comment section down below.
09:53Um, WWE shows can be a little bit long and we got some big ones coming up.
09:56Big AEW show.
09:58Some of us are going to be staying up late or waking up early for Wrestle Kingdom.
10:01Going to need that energy.
10:02And, you can head over to swiftenergy.gg.
10:04Use the code PKprimetime for 25% off.
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