- John Cena revealed he would be retiring in 2025 earlier this year
- Should Cena win his final Royal Rumble match he would face one of WWE’s men’s World Champions at WrestleMania 41
- Cena is a two-time Rumble winner, having won the match in 2008 and 2013
John Cena will attempt to make history when he appears in his final Royal Rumble match in February next year.
The 16-time World Champion has announced tonight that he will be competing in the men’s Rumble match, which will take place on February 1 at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Should Cena win the match, he would become only the second three-time winner in history, alongside Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Earlier this year, Cena returned to WWE television at Money In The Bank to announce his impending retirement. However, instead of competing in one last match, the Doctor of Thuganomics will instead embark on a year-long tour throughout 2025, which will take in not only his final Royal Rumble appearance, but also his final WrestleMania as an active wrestler.
Should Cena emerge victorious in Indianapolis, not only will he have equalled Austin’s record of three Royal Rumble victories, he will also have earned himself a shot at either the WWE Undisputed Title (currently held by Cody Rhodes) or the World Heavyweight Championship (currently held by GUNTHER). The 47-year-old has not held world championship gold in WWE for seven years, when he defeated AJ Styles for the WWE Title at the 2017 Royal Rumble. That victory would see Cena draw level with ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair on 16 World Title reigns (Flair actually won World Titles on more than 20 occasions, but only 16 victories are officially recognised).
Cena first won the Royal Rumble back in 2008, an appearance that has gone down in history as it marked the Peacemaker star’s unexpected return from a torn pectoral muscle, which had been expected to keep him on the shelf for up to a year. Instead, Cena returned in less than four months to stun the Madison Square Garden crowd and win the Rumble match, last eliminating Triple H.
The next Rumble victory for Cena would come in 2013, when he lastly eliminated Ryback to seal his WWE Title match with The Rock at WrestleMania 29. Cena would go onto defeat The Rock for the title, in a rematch of their main event from a year prior, in which The Rock had emerged victorious at WrestleMania 28, albeit with no title on the line.
It was also revealed in the last couple of weeks that John Cena will not be the only legend having his final match inside a WWE ring next year. Goldberg announced that he would be having his retirement match in 2025, too. Although the former WCW and WWE Universal Champion will only be taking part in the one match, rather than a tour like Cena. No opponent has been announced for the Hall of Famer’s retirement bout at the time of writing.
As for Cena, could another Rumble victory and WrestleMania main event be on the cards in his final year? And who will his final match come against?
