John Cena Reveals Original Opponent For WWE Crown Jewel 2025

Although John Cena's retirement tour had it's ups and downs, one of the highlights from his final year with WWE was rekindling his rivalry with AJ Styles at Crown Jewel. The entire match was perceived as a love letter to professional wrestling, with both men not only honoring their own feud, but performing finishers and moves from some of their greatest opponents. However, now that Cena's career has officially come to an end, he's started to share backstage details about the creative direction of his farewell tour, and during a recent appearance on "The Rich Eisen Show," he revealed that Styles wasn't his original opponent for Crown Jewel.

"AJ was supposed to be Drew [McIntyre]. But it pivoted. We wanted to give them a feel good moment because we they were listening to the data points. Like they listen to you guys. They do, it's real," he explained. "So you have the Brock moment, people are p****d off. Then you have the AJ moment, things are great. And then you have this three appearance run with Dom [Mysterio], which is fun. Hometown boy wins in his hometown, gets the hits for the cycle. Like you can't write it better than that ... and then 'The Ring General.' Like Yeah. They make you have so much fun and this thing is going to be awesome and man we're going to go, no, he ain't going out like this. F**k. Darth Vader's born."

Cena continued to explain that he's one of the few characters in WWE who has truly been "killed off," as many veterans often choose to return for one more run or match after retiring, which he has no interest in doing.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Rich Eisen Show" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.