Backstage Report On The Outcome Of The Cena-Lesnar Match At WWE Wrestlepalooza

The highly anticipated clash between John Cena and Brock Lesnar was the opening contest at WWE Wrestlepalooza 2025, but the result of the match took a lot of people by surprise. Despite many fans believing that Cena would get one final win over Lesnar as he reaches the tail end of his retirement tour, "The Beast Incarnate" made light work of the 17-time WWE World Champion. 

The match was originally set to main event the show, but that was changed due to ESPN wanting the Undisputed WWE Championship match between Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre to close the show. However, according to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, reports of the finish of the match being changed are untrue. Reports circulated after the event that Cena was meant to leave Wrestlepalooza with the win, but Meltzer claims that Lesnar was never going to lose his first match back in WWE. While there had been discussions about Cena going over, the match was designed to make Lesnar look as strong as humanly possible. Cena was reportedly fine with losing, and actually wanted to lose for business reasons as he is the one leaving the company at the end of the year while Lesnar will remain as an active performer.

With Lesnar being built up as an unstoppable monster, the question of who will be the man to beat him has already been brought up. Meltzer believes that it would be more meaningful to have a younger star like Jacob Fatu or Bron Breakker to defeat Lesnar, but Cody Rhodes could also be the man to beat him if WWE slots Lesnar into a title program. Meltzer also mentioned that Cena could potentially beat Lesnar in a return match at Saturday Night's Main Event in December, which would be his final match, but that is currently not in WWE's plans.