Actor-wrestler John Cena brought the curtain down on his 24-year-long WWE tenure at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on Saturday in an unprecedented fashion. The 17-time world champion tapped out to former two-time WWE heavyweight champion Gunther, eliciting shocked responses from fans watching WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event.
Nevertheless, many said that it was Cena’s way of signalling his retirement.
Following the match, those in the WWE locker room came out to celebrate Cena. WWE World Heavyweight champion CM Punk and Undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes handed their belts to the 48-year-old wrestling icon as a tribute.
Instead of delivering a farewell speech, Cena left his wristbands and shoes in the ring, walked up the entrance ramp, turned and gave one last salute to the camera and fans.
Wrestling legends Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and current WWE champion Cody Rhodes also took to social media to pay tribute to Cena.
“John, you epitomize one of my favorite quotes, “it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice”. Congratulations on your historic and extraordinary @wwe career, my friend,” wrote Johnson.
“So many incredible in-ring moments over the last 20+ years…let’s make the final one tonight,” posted Triple H.
Cena signed with WWE in 2001 under the ring name The Prototype and made his SmackDown debut in June 2002 in a losing effort against Kurt Angle. After struggling as a singles competitor, his career transformed when he adopted the ‘Doctor of Thuganomics’ heel character that saw him perform freestyle raps in promos.
From there, Cena evolved into one of WWE’s most beloved stars and its most decorated world champion, with 17 recognised world title reigns. He headlined WrestleMania six times and is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
Cena made his acting debut in 2006 with The Marine. Since then, he has starred in several comedy and action films like Trainwreck (2015), Blockers (2018), and The Suicide Squad (2021). He has also starred in films such as Bumblebee (2018), F9 (2021), and Heads of State (2025). Additionally, Cena headlined the James Gunn-created superhero series Peacemaker (2022–2025).