What If John Cena's WWE Retirement Run Had Been Longer Than Just 36 Dates?

John Cena is looking to wrap up his decades-spanning wrestling career at this weekend's Saturday Night's Main Event, completing the "Last Time is Now" tour of 36 appearances over this past year. Cena has made good use of those dates, taking his place atop WWE history with a record-breaking 17th world title reign, finally becoming a Grand Slam Champion with his procurement of the men's Intercontinental Championship, and collecting wins over rivals both new and old. But with little more than a calendar month's worth of appearances, there will always be the question over what could have been with a little more time given. 

Cena himself poured fuel on that particular fire as he told Bill Simmons this past week that he had intended on working a run of 220 appearances. Obviously, times have changed since that was expected from any individual, let alone the retiring "Greatest of All Time," but there is a wealth of missed opportunities to explore in even half of the 184 dates WWE decided to shave off of that expectation. 

Alongside the 17th world title, Cena broke the mold of decades and turned heel years after fans had stopped clamoring for it, a move that was as brief as it was poorly-received in the months following WrestleMania. How different could that — and the entire run — have been with more time to breathe? No one will truly know. But it makes for an interesting line of thought, and the basis of this installment of What Could Have Been, in which we take a look at how things might have shaped up if the "Last Time" had just a little bit more time.

Much in the same way he did in real life, Cena would have likely still been sent crashing out of the Royal Rumble to precede "Main Event" Jey Uso's coronation. From there, he went on to declare himself into the Elimination Chamber match, winning it and aligning with The Rock and Travis Scott in a beatdown of WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. That was the last fans saw of Rock in this storyline, though Cena did go on to cheat Rhodes out of the title at WrestleMania. 

More dates would have done nothing on that front, as The Rock was still going to be absent, but they would have allowed Cena to deepen the reasoning behind such a monumental shift in character — maybe even interacting with Solo Sikoa's edition of The Bloodline or the Randy Orton/Kevin Owens feud that was aborted by Owens getting injured. Cena could have spent the additional weeks in interactions with Orton and Rhodes together as allies, writing Orton out of the event with an injury angle and leaving Rhodes isolated heading into 'Mania. Part of what sold the heel turn short was such a stark change in direction for Cena in such a short amount of time, the additional weeks would have allowed not only greater reasoning for the turn itself, but also Cena gradually breaking his own cardinal rules to get the wins leading into the match with Rhodes. 

That would ultimately lead to his victory at 'Mania, with Rhodes managing to circumvent all dirty tactics until one well-placed "If you smeeeeellll" plays out, distracting Rhodes long enough for Cena to pin with him with Cross Rhodes. The Rock (and especially Travis Scott) doesn't even have to be there.

Cena winning the WWE Championship was followed by Orton's attack on him during the "WWE Raw" following WrestleMania, thus setting up their Backlash feud. In our timeline, Orton would have been returning from an injury angle to perhaps an even better response from the crowd and a little more personal animus to their feud. 

Orton failed in the end, thwarted by the heart in the right place at the wrong time, R-Truth. That set up their another match at Saturday Night's Main Event, where Cena defeated Truth in just over four minutes. Not only would that match feel like less of a kick in the teeth with more Cena dates, but there would be time for the three of them to deepen the why behind everything. In turn, Truth's own arc in the following months may have carried more resonance. Rhodes and Orton could have emerged after the Truth match; Cena actually defeated Truth and went on to interfere in Logan Paul's attempt at Jey Uso's World title, thus setting up Rhodes' return to thwart Cena and Paul, teaming with Uso against them at Money in the Bank. Rather than muddying the inter-brand waters, Orton and Rhodes continue to feud with Cena on "WWE SmackDown."

Stepping in on Cena's side in this hypothetical would be The Miz, and by reluctant proxy, Carmelo Hayes. Cena, Miz, and Hayes could have had a trios match with Orton, Rhodes, and Truth, with Cena even walking out on his partners to close that angle, and set up his eventual teaming with Sikoa – hearkening back to the Rock alignment – at Money in the Bank; additionally, Jacob Fatu could have cost Cena and Sikoa the match just like he had when he returned to cost Sikoa Money in the Bank.

With Money in the Bank gone and done, Cena prepared for the latest part of his final chapter against another familiar face, CM Punk, at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia. Punk was notably working his first match in the Kingdom, with Cena making a point of dragging his challenger there in an attempt to illustrate that Punk was as power-hungry at the detriment of his morals as Cena himself. But once again, more dates would have meant further interactions, and thus an opportunity to further the storyline behind their eventual bout. With the benefit of hindsight, Punk could have planted the seeds for what eventually became Cena's turn back to babyface, poking holes in the reasoning behind his heel turn.

That also could have enhanced the match itself, with Cena either reluctant or outright refusing to cheat, getting the clean win and beginning the steps to reclaiming honor at the same time. Cena and Punk have their moment of respect, the former getting to soak in the adulation of an international crowd he will never perform in front of again, and getting the road started to his rematch with Rhodes. at SummerSlam. 

Further dates beyond Night of Champions might have given Cena the chance to flex his acting chops, reckoning with the idea that he himself has ruined his legacy and thus the entirety of his retirement tour. The Rhodes match could have presented itself as true redemption, a chance to right the wrong of WrestleMania for both men at the same time. Rhodes and Cena wound up being face vs. face in actual fact, but as has grown to be the theme, just a little more time to let everything breathe, settle, and slide into place would have undoubtedly improved things. 

Cena kicked off his renewed babyface run with a Clash in Paris bout against Logan Paul later that month. But since an ongoing vein with Sikoa and MFT – his Bloodline – has been established, let's imagine that Cena teams up with Sami Zayn in his feud against them; Zayn captured the US title from Sikoa on the "WWE SmackDown" prior to Clash, so there would be precedent.

Cena and Zayn winning together in Paris would also set up the canon event that was their US title match in the week following. Brock Lesnar, who had returned for a post-credit cameo at SummerSlam, returned once more to decimate both Cena and Zayn, ending the match in no-contest. That ultimately led to Lesnar vs. Cena at Wrestlepalooza; Lesnar defeated Cena in less than 10 minutes. Meanwhile, Paul Heyman re-aligned with Lesnar and kind of – but not quite – made him a part of The Vision. 

While we're fantasy booking, maybe with the additional dates, Cena, Heyman, and the Vision could have interacted ahead of Wrestlepalooza and deepened that plotline going into the match; rather than Lesnar decimating the man who i supposed to be singing his swan song, Cena overcomes the onslaught and looks likely to win. Then Heyman and Vision plot to play Rock's music, distracting Cena and allowing to get Lesnar the win the company felt he needed.

Cena went on from here to set up far-and-away his best match of this year, AJ Styles at Crown Jewel. Not only could this have received greater build-up, but Styles was feuding for the Intercontinental title held by Dominik Mysterio prior to it. They could have been competing for the opportunity at Mysterio, rather than just running things back because they simply had to. 

It was almost a month after Cena beat Styles that he finally returned and declared his want for the Intercontinental Championship, winning it from Mysterio on the same night. It was a long-awaited moment that had looked increasingly unlikely, so there was undoubted relief when it finally came.

But it is also hard to escape the idea that Cena declaring for, challenging for, and winning the title all on the same night came rather abrupt and fast. Clearly, because of the lack of dates actually left. So, without that inconvenience, Cena and The Judgment Day might have been able to get the ball rolling weeks prior to this eventual title win. Cena wound up working Finn Balor, JD McDonagh, Raquel Rodriguez, Roxanne Perez, and Liv Morgan into his feud with Mysterio. But that was all done in one single match at Survivor Series – the IC title rematch where-in Mysterio recaptured his title. Those interactions could have been deepened and expanded upon in the weeks that Cena wasn't present for, his Intercontinental title win might have felt better earned, and then the rematch loss equally in those regards. Maybe for the two weeks he held the title, Cena could have brought back the open challenge once again. The Last Time is Now tournament would have continued after the fact, only Cena could have actually been present for that on commentary or even as a referee.

The main point is that with more dates, the entirety of this run very likely would have felt more befitting of John Cena the workhorse, the face of the company for over a decade, and the most decorated world champion in WWE history.