Why John Cena's WWE Retirement Tour Was So Disappointing

John Cena has a very strong case for being one of the best to ever do it. His intense (and, at times, tumultuous) connection with the fans, his dedication to improving his in-ring craft, and his popularity outside of the ring have allowed him to transcend from in-ring icon to pop culture ambassador for professional wrestling. With Cena's abundance of clout, it was no wonder that his 2025 retirement tour made news headlines when it was announced at Money in the Bank 2024.

The stakes were high for Cena's retirement tour, as advertisements for premium live events plastered with "The Last Time is Now" slogans led to sold-out stadiums and incredible viewership numbers. Fans flocked to arenas in order to catch a glimpse of Cena's final moments of in-ring glory, but as the weeks turned into months, and the appearance dates dwindled, deep dissatisfaction with Cena's final year in WWE became a pervasive sentiment throughout the professional wrestling community. Fans, veterans, and those close to Cena began to voice their criticisms of Cena's retirement tour as it pathetically chugged along. The trumpets and cheers associated with Cena's iconic entrance faded, only to be overtaken by the crescendo of fan backlash. As Cena tapped out to GUNTHER in Washington D.C., any "thank you Cena" chants were overshadowed by an explosion of boos, and raucous "AEW" chants.

With Cena's retirement tour now completed, one can view his 2025 narrative's rise and fall with the gift of retrospect. How did Cena go from a historic heel turn to a controversial tap-out in a year? How did the fans that grew up loving Cena (or loving to boo him) turn on him on the eve of his retirement? Now that it's done, we can ask the question: why was John Cena's WWE retirement tour so disappointing?

Fans had plenty of time to build up expectations, hype, and fantasy bookings for Cena's final year in WWE following his 2024 retirement announcement, and initially, Cena met the hype. Lucas Oil Stadium saw record-breaking ticket sales from WWE fans, old and new, and when Cena entered the Royal Rumble in February 2025, fans exploded with gratitude and excitement for the star's final Rumble appearance. While Cena's final Royal Rumble appearance saw him put over the blossoming Jey Uso, Cena's shocking loss did not slow down his momentum. 2025's Royal Rumble earned a 4.5/5 star rating from Wrestling Observer Newsletter, and fans were eager to see Cena's performance at Elimination Chamber, which followed just a month later.

Cena's Elimination Chamber heel turn practically broke the Internet. After winning an incredibly well-received Elimination Chamber match, Cena was poised to take on WWE's quarterback Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 41, for Rhodes' Undisputed WWE Championship. Instead of relying on the "hustle, loyalty, and respect" mantra he had gone by for years, Cena aligned himself with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Travis Scott to attack Rhodes, and leave him in a bloodied heap in Toronto. As of writing, Cena's heel turn has amassed nearly 12 million views between WWE and ESPN's published segments on Youtube. Cena's heel turn was hot, and WWE had everything in place for a home run.

The shock value of Cena's heel turn — one that marked an end to a decades' long run as a babyface — was the main selling point of Cena's heel turn. However, shock only lasts for a moment in time, and Johnson and Scott began to pull away from Cena, then WWE entirely, the flash in the pan decreased to a simmer. The hype train behind Cena's retirement tour slowly started to lose steam...

Johnson and Scott's dwindling presence from WWE (and, ultimately, absolute absence) had the potential to derail Cena's risky heel turn very early, but Cena has carried the brunt of his storylines before. Such independence in the delivery of his storyline is admirable, but as the weeks turned into months, one of the biggest stories in professional wrestling fizzled out.

Fans began to raised eyebrows soon after Cena's heel turn. He began to cut "you people" promos, in which he compared the WWE Universe to an abusive relationship. If the promo didn't completely go over people's heads, it was clear: Cena's therapy-speak did not carry much sustenance outside of a typical heel promo. For any other Superstar, that in and of itself is not a death sentence. For an established star and mic worker like Cena, however, it was the beginning of his own funeral march. Cena's heel work, paired with a complete visual change from his colorful, loud, "Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect" presentation, continued to spiral as he and Rhodes entered a feud for Rhodes' Undisputed WWE Championship, with the finish line set for WrestleMania 41. Just one month after his incredible heel turn, Cena dethroned Rhodes for his record-breaking seventeenth world title...in a match that earned 1 ¾ stars from Wrestling Observer Newsletter, and an abysmal 3.31/10 rating on Cagematch.net (aggregated from 1061 votes, as of writing).

With the title now in hand, Cena attempted to climb up from his less-than-satisfying WrestleMania program with Rhodes. Career rival Randy Orton was the first to step up to "The Never-Seen Seventeen," with their final clash set for Orton's hometown of St. Louis, at Backlash 2025. While their match was more well-received than Cena's Vegas bout with Rhodes, it was hardly impressive, with 628 fans giving the match an average 6.21/10 rating on Cagematch.net.

With arguably his biggest career rival out of the picture, Cena's heel turn suffered a precipitous drop in quality. Cena and Orton's program was followed up by a brief feud with R-Truth, which, despite its inconsequence to Cena's heel persona, earned R-Truth a match with Cena during one of his final appearances at "Saturday Night's Main Event," where Cena beat him in an unimpressive sub-5 minute match.

Controversial Youtuber-turned-streamer was the next to score in-ring time with the 17-time world champion. One year after breaking the news cycle with his retirement tour announcement, Cena paired up with Paul to take on Rhodes and Jey Uso at Money in the Bank 2025, only to walk out of the bout with a loss on his record, a middling match, and no future title contender. To top it all off, headlines from the event put R-Truth's name before Cena's, as R-Truth's return amidst a lengthy and dramatic contract saga only further distracted from a heel Cena's attempts at relevancy.

Cena and CM Punk's program for Cena's Undisputed WWE Championship was good on paper, but became mired in controversy. Cena and Punk's clash was scheduled for Night of Champions, hosted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Instead of focusing on Cena and Punk's mic wars, which included a dazzling "Doctor of Thuganomics" parody promo from "The Second City Saint," online discourse focused on Saudi Arabia's human rights violations against Punk's openly anti-Saudi stance. Cena and Punk's Night of Champions match was one of the better ones on featured on Cena's retirement tour, but was not enough to stop the growing number of fans tuning out to his character. While Cena was quick to dismiss these fans as abusers and exploiters ahead of WrestleMania, it seems that the champion was not immune to the criticism.

Some will call it a sincere apology, others will call it an attempt at a retroactive fix. After defending his title against Punk at Night of Champions, Cena was due for a WrestleMania rematch against King of the Ring winner Rhodes, but after a few weeks of blacked-out entrance titantrons and "you people" promos, Cena faced the music regarding his failed heel persona. His babyface reversion did what he had attempted to do during his villain arc: it sparked interest in his career. Cena dropped the title to Rhodes in one of the best matches in his retirement tour, amidst a sea of fans chanting his name.

The sky was the limit for a born-again Cena, but a certain "Beast Incarnate" looked to drag his career rival down. Brock Lesnar's program with Cena was a draw on paper, given their history together, but their feud saw plenty of online discourse regarding Lesnar's name in a deeply troubling sex trafficking lawsuit, and not enough live television appearances featuring both men to drown it out. Lesnar and Cena's "feud" was built on fragmented broadcasting segments, and when they finally clashed at Wrestlepalooza, WWE's ESPN streaming debut, fans watched in horror and outrage as Lesnar squashed Cena in a sub-10 minute match.

From here, Cena's appearances were reserved for premium live events. Cena was forced to take to social media to build with feud with AJ Styles, and while his and Styles' match was one filled with love for the professional wrestling business, any hopes of a full-fleshed feud were in vain. GUNTHER only became the man to retire Cena after winning "The Last Time is Now" tournament, and the two hardly interacted against their match at "Saturday Night's Main Event," which saw Cena tap out in D.C..

With a catalogue of Cena's retirement tour, in all of its successes and shortcomings, now established, the question remains: just how did an explosive, high-profile, mournful goodbye to professional wrestling has been labeled one of the biggest missed opportunities of the year?

Cena's heel turn was a viral moment, but moments, however great they are, cannot constitute entire storylines. Cena originally turned heel to appease "The Rock" and celebrity Scott's evil plans, but whatever plans Johnson and Scott had never came to fruition, as the two big names almost immediately pulled out of the storyline, either by choice or by force. Cena was left to scramble for the pieces, and his floundering "abusive relationship" promo could be seen as a result of his attempts to scrounge up what parts of his heel storyline be salvaged. It was fanciful and intelligent, but without anyone to bounce off of, Cena was destined to give "you promo" peoples from the very beginning — promos that, for someone of his caliber, are not groundbreaking.

His extremely exclusive retirement tour dates did not help Cena's efforts. While Cena was originally scheduled for more than 36 dates, WWE restricted him to his very limited number of appearances, out of what seems to be consideration for Cena's ring rust. Limited tour dates can still be impactful, however...if they're not wasted on five-minute matches with R-Truth. Cena was given arguably pointless matches with little narrative (or career) impact. With those dates gone and done, Cena was forced to turn to social media and tournaments to sustain his final two "feuds —" respectable mediums in their own right, but nothing compared to in-person segments.

His narratives were shallow, and his dates shallower. While Cena seems content with the "art" that he released as part of his retirement tour, fans remain — perhaps, justifiably — unsatisfied.