- John Cena announced himself for this year’s Royal Rumble
- Cena is targeting a record breaking 17th World Title
- The 16-time champion’s final match will take place in December
John Cena made his return to WWE television this week and wasted no time making his intentions clear for his upcoming retirement tour.
With WWE’s Monday Night Raw making its heavily anticipated debut on Netflix this week, the 16-time World Champion kicked off his final run by declaring himself for this year’s men’s Royal Rumble match.
Cena commented on the rumours swirling around about who he may be facing at WrestleMania or in his last match in December, referencing names such as Drew McIntyre, CM Punk, Logan Paul, World Heavyweight Champion Gunther and WWE Champion Cody Rhodes.
But the Doctor of Thuganomics made one thing abundantly clear; He is coming for World Title number 17.
Cena is currently equal with ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair on 16 World Title reigns (Flair technically has more, but several are not officially recognisde in record books) and it is believed he will challenge for the record breaking 17th at some point in 2025.
Well, we may not have to wait long to see that happen.
On Raw, Cena didn’t just announce his participation in the men’s Royal Rumble match next month, but declared he would win it and go onto WrestleMania, where he would have his choice of World Champions to choose from (at the moment, this would either be the aforementioned Gunther and Cody Rhodes).
Rumours have circulated within wrestling media over the past couple of weeks that Cena will in fact win the match and go onto face Rhodes in one of the ‘Mania main events. Although obviously plans can change all the time within the world of professional wrestling.
There are no shortage of big money matches for Cena to take on over the next 12 months, with old rivals CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens and Randy Orton waiting in the wings for one last round as well as Rhodes, Gunther, McIntyre, Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker and first round draft pick Carmelo Hayes.
With his career in Hollywood exploding over the last few years, Cena’s in-ring career has substantially slowed down to a barely part-time schedule, usually resulting in one major programme per year. However, due to the Writers and Actors strikes in 2023, Cena spent several months appearing on weekly WWE television, becoming embroiled in a feud with members of Roman Reigns’ Bloodline. Cena’s WWE schedule for 2025 is expected to take in somewhere in the region of 40 appearances, including the Royal Rumble in Indianapolis on February 1, Elimination Chamber in Toronto in March and WrestleMania in Las Vegas, in April.
WWE Royal Rumble airs on February 1 and is available on Peacock and Pay-Per-View in the United States and can be streamed live on Netflix in every other territory
