The John Cena heel turn has come and gone, extinguished in a burst of color, like the end of winter in Narnia. Will the experiment prove to be a stain on the Cena retirement tour? Thankfully, there are enough dates left on the calendar that WWE really should be able to turn this around, particularly if the crowd reactions for Cena at “SmackDown” and SummerSlam are anything to go by.
When it comes to the next steps for the 17-time champion, the roster isn’t short of worthy opponents, plenty of whom have history with Cena. And with at least three PLEs on the calendar — as well as a rumored special Saturday Night’s Main Event in Cena’s home state — there’s enough time to spin a proper narrative and give us something to help extinguish the memories of WrestleMania 41.
As for what that might look like, here’s what we know is happening before Cena retires in December, as well as some likely (and less likely) options for the coming months:
Logan Paul
Those who follow the backstage politics of WWE will know the promotion has been keen to do John Cena vs. Logan Paul for a while now — at one point it was considered for last year’s WrestleMania XL. Cena’s big heel turn in March presumably forced it to put any plans on ice, with the creatives choosing to have the two heels team up at MITB instead to face Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso.
With the deck finally reset, it’s back to the original plan, as Cena and Paul meet at Clash in Paris in Cena’s first singles match since dropping the Universal Championship.
For all his prodigious in-ring work and superstar quality, it’s still a big pat on the back for “The Social Media Megastar” to be one of the few non-legacy names chosen to get his time with the GOAT of WWE. Then again, no one ever went broke betting on Logan Paul getting big opportunities in WWE.
No doubt the two of them will deliver an enjoyable match at Clash itself, but I’d be surprised if the feud continues after their respective planes take off from France.
Brock Lesnar
After that ending to SummerSlam we all know this one is happening. We also know from his big promo on last week’s “SmackDown” that John Cena feels more than ready to take on “The Beast” in what will be their first singles encounter since 2014.
As for when the match is actually happening, we’re still in the dark. Given Brock Lesnar hasn’t always been that keen on traveling internationally — purely as a personal preference — the overseas shows were always unlikely, with Paris now off the table entirely. Indeed some reports say Cena vs. Lesnar will take place at an unconfirmed U.S.-based PLE in September.
Given the massive reaction to their interaction at SummerSlam, perhaps there’s a case for stringing this one out beyond that. Having “The Beast Incarnate” hovering over Cena like a television show-style “big bad” — perhaps emerging again after Cena beats someone else in September to deliver another F-5 — could help build anticipation for their eventual showdown.
Gunther
If the reports are to be believed, WWE has its eyes set on Gunther to serve as Cena’s final opponent, with the match taking place at a special SNME (yet to be confirmed) in Massachusetts just before Christmas.
On the face of it, you can’t fault the plan. Who better to provide that final match than one of the most ferocious competitors — and a proudly old-fashioned wrestler too — on the current roster? It’s certainly the kind of thing that would add to the prestige around Gunther: a man who likely has a good 10 years, at least, as an upper-card star.
That said, we know WWE likes to mislead the fan base (and the media) with these supposed leaks. And does it really make sense to give Cena exactly the same final match as Goldberg — given the latter happened just two months ago?
AJ Styles
Given the focus on going “one last time” with Cena’s classic opponents, it’s probably still more likely this match happens than not — even if we haven’t yet seen any teases that the WWE is planning on doing Cena vs. Styles.
Another dance between two of WWE’s most accomplished stars of the 2010s would merit a spot on any of the remaining PLEs. Then there’s the fact that Cena is also set for a one-off appearance on “Raw” (probably his last appearance on that particular show before retirement) in Massachusetts in September: Could that be the moment we get Styles vs. Cena?
Who else might we see?
After the colossal shock of the Lesnar return, we probably shouldn’t rule out another unexpected opponent for Cena. He and Seth Rollins obviously have history, even if the latter has his hands full right now. Could they battle one last time?
We also know Cena likes putting over the younger talents (don’t forget his most recent singles matches pre-2025 were against Austin Theory and Solo Sikoa). With that in mind, maybe we should keep an eye on the likes of Bron Breakker and Dom Mysterio, either of whom could put on a future classic with babyface Cena.
The chances of seeing Edge, Batista and The Rock feel like very remote possibilities right now (albeit for different reasons), certainly for any kind of in-ring stuff. But might they show up in some form in the final stages of the retirement run? We are literally dealing with wrestling history here, after all.
Finally, it might be nice to see some kind of encounter with the Wyatt Sicks, given Cena has said himself how much he enjoyed working with the late Bray Wyatt. An actual match would almost certainly be overkill, but a spooky backstage interaction could be fun, particularly if it had a callback to the Firefly Fun House.
What dates will Cena be working?
According to WWE and the man himself, Cena has another 11 dates to go until he hangs up those boots in December. Although we obviously shouldn’t discount the possibility that there’s a secret plan to add an extra date, particularly given we’re still expecting that last SNME to be announced.
Either way, here are the shows that we know Cena will be appearing at:
Aug. 22: “SmackDown” (Dublin)
Aug. 29: “SmackDown” (Paris)
Aug. 31 – Clash in Paris
Sept. 5: “SmackDown” (Chicago)
Sept. 15: “Raw” (Springfield, Massachusetts)
Oct. 11: Crown Jewel: Perth (Australia)
Nov. 29: Survivor Series
(You can maybe add an asterisk on Crown Jewel: Perth as Cena isn’t actually listed on the WWE website. However, he is named on the stadium’s ticket sales platform. In the event that he isn’t working that show, Perth might not be too happy about it …)
That leaves four dates to go, with more likely candidates being:
Sept. 20: WWE PLE (at least if reports are correct …)
Oct. 10: “SmackDown” (Perth, Australia)
Nov. 28: “SmackDown” (TBA, but likely San Diego, given Survivor Series)
December TBA: “SmackDown,” pre-SNME episode
December TBA: special episode of SNME (Boston)
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