John Cena has opened up about tapping out to WWE star Gunther. The two wrestling veterans faced each other on the Dec. 13, 2025, edition of Saturday Night's Main Event. In the final match of the night, Gunther trapped Cena in a sleeper hold, leading to the latter tapping out and giving up.
A few days later, appearing on What Do You Wanna Talk About? podcast with Cody Rhodes, Cena broke his silence on the match's finish.
“So as I essentially take my last breath, I have struggled,” Cena said. “If you think of somebody, however we picture loss in our life, they struggle, they struggle, they hang on just long enough to say goodbye to everybody that’s been meaningful in their lives, and that day was so many vulnerable, meaningful conversations.
“Then you realize, I’ve connected with everybody I love. Physically, I feel great. I think it’s time to take that last breath, and that’s that. I hate to keep going back morbidly to obituaries, but like ‘this person died peacefully,' and knowing that we’re in a good place, we’re gonna be great going forward. The bottom of the t-shirt says, ‘I gave everything, thank you for everything.' And in that one moment, that was that going peacefully,” he added.
John Cena addresses his WWE career's final moments
In the same podcast, Cena opened up about his career's final moments. Calling it something more than beautiful, he said,
“I envisioned something beautiful,” Cena said. “Saturday far exceeded whatever was in my heart and soul. So I know I’m out there one last time. They had to move the side ramps in to get more seats, it was almost like a fire hazard to go down the ramp. You can not fit any more people in there.
“So going up to this event, I made sure everyone I talked to, all the podcasts I did, I said, ‘Hey, I know you might not think I’m gonna retire, I am. I’m comfortable with that, please just get the closure you need.' Now I’m out there. They hate the guy I’m working with, they universally cheer me, that is f*****g rare, and for the last five minutes, everything I preach about story, and drama, and having a conversation with the audience, the ones I love are front row, I know my colleagues are watching on a monitor back there. We’re just in a sleeper hold, man, but we’re having that conversation with the audience,” he continued.
