John Cena Says WWE Crown Jewel Match Was His Rightful 'Sendoff' To Retiring AJ Styles

WWE legend John Cena has discussed why it was important for him to give AJ Styles a fitting sendoff to his career when they clashed at Crown Jewel 2025.

Cena and Styles, who had a phenomenal rivalry a decade ago, has opened up about why he wanted to give Styles a great farewell after learning about Styles' impending retirement. 

"When he told me that [he was going to retire at the Royal Rumble], when we were planning our thing in Australia, I immediately was like, he's not going to get a sendoff. [I told myself] He's going to get one in Australia," Cena said on the "No-Contest Wrestling" podcast. "And a lot of people love AJ Styles. I love AJ Styles. We use the word love when we communicate, like he's a person close to my life. He's brought the best out of me, he's virtuous, he's a nice guy. He'll give his body for the business till he can't go anymore. And he never wants to be a diminished version of himself. I really respect his core value of mine. It's huge. So when he's like, 'I'm out in the Rumble,' and I kind of put the math together of like, 'Oh, my last opponent is his last opponent probably.' Yeah, that makes sense. I know how I'd put that match together. I know how he put that match together."

The match between the two veteran wrestlers, won by Cena, saw them use moves from many of their past opponents.

AJ Styles and John Cena's match was dubbed by Triple H as a "love letter to pro wrestling," and Cena explained the thought behind borrowing moves from their previous rivals. The 17-time wrld champion noted how Styles has several moves in his arsenal, all of which he wanted Styles to use in their match.

"And I started doing some homage moves knowing that I had him, and I'm like, 'Dude, you do so much stuff. I want to have a match where you can do all your stuff.' Which is why, in two-fold, I get to pay respects to the guys I haven't been in the ring with. So, that's pretty cool. But now my moveset is up. I got to somehow do a magic trick to fight in his weight class. I don't have any more moves. And it's tough to teach a 49-year-old dog," Cena said.

Cena said that Styles had the idea to pay homage to many of the wrestlers he faced in his time in TNA, which he feels was a great addition.

"But I'm like, 'Yo, this will be a full homage for me and that's how you can do anything you want and we can put on this great match.' And he's like, 'Well, what if I do it as a homage to, like, the guys I dig in TNA?' I'm like, 'That's perfect.'"

While Cena wasn't a part of Styles' final event in WWE as he had already retired by then, "The Phenomenal One" wrestled at Saturday Night's Man Event — Cena's last event — where he teamed with Dragon Lee against Je'Von Evans and Leon Slater.