{"id":212200,"date":"2026-02-18T12:31:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T18:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=212200"},"modified":"2026-02-19T13:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T19:44:16","slug":"cena-reveals-plans-for-his-match-at-crown-jewel-were-changed-says-he-came-up-with-the-finsih-for-his-retirement-match-vs-gunther","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/02\/18\/cena-reveals-plans-for-his-match-at-crown-jewel-were-changed-says-he-came-up-with-the-finsih-for-his-retirement-match-vs-gunther\/","title":{"rendered":"Cena reveals plans for his match at Crown Jewel were changed, says he came up with the finish for his retirement match vs. Gunther"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1035868114\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>John Cena says that plans changed and he wasn&#8217;t originally supposed to face A.J. Styles at the Crown Jewel PLE in October 2025 at the tail end of his retirement tour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA.J. (Styles) was supposed to be Drew (McIntyre), but it pivoted,&#8221; Cena said during an appearance on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fM46-yDW9do&amp;list=PLNC_OvgHiA0FhVGhHr2asQ4NmCfabqdxJ&amp;index=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">No Contest Wrestling<\/a> podcast. &#8220;We wanted to give them a feel-good moment because they were listening to the data points. They listen to you guys, they do. It\u2019s real.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cena said during the interview there were times that fans were happy with how his retirement tour, which featured a lengthy heel turned, was going, but he admitted there were times he knew when they weren&#8217;t happy with how he was being presented. \u201cYou have the Brock moment, people are pissed off,&#8221; said Cena. &#8220;Then you have the A.J. moment, thisngs are great. Then you have the three appearance run with Dom, which is fun.\u201c<\/p>\n<p>Cena finished off his retirement tour tapping out to Gunther at Saturday Night&#8217;s Main Event in December 2025. Gunther has turned his wins over Bill Goldberg and John Cena in their respective last matches into a career killer gimmick. Gunther most recently retired A.J. Styles\u00a0 by beating him at the Royal Rumble PPV in January.<\/p>\n<p>Cena said he made the decision to smile and tap out to Gunther at the end of his retirement match. \u201cIt was a brave choice to say be like, we\u2019re killing the character off,&#8221; said Cena. &#8220;What\u2019s the craziest way we can do it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>WWE CCO Paul &#8220;Triple H&#8221; Levesque took the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2025\/12\/14\/wwe-coo-paul-triple-h-levesque-defends-finish-of-cena-vs-gunther-match\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">brunt of the frustration<\/a> from fans for the finish after he came out after the match. The fans in attendance booed loudly and chanted &#8220;You f&#8212;&#8211;ed up!&#8221; at him. Cena admitting he made the decision to smile and tap out to Gunther is a reversal from his previous comments that he made during interviews in 2025 during his retirement tour that he shows up and does what he is told.<\/p>\n<p>Levesque <a href=\"https:\/\/vip.pwtorch.com\/2025\/12\/14\/wwe-coo-paul-triple-h-levesque-defends-finish-of-cena-vs-gunther-match\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">took the blame<\/a> for the finish during the SNME post-show. \u201cJohn has said the right thing his entire career, that is about leaving this place better than you found it,\u201d said Levesque. &#8220;There\u2019s no way for people to understand that in the moment, but you do what is right for the business. You do what is right for this industry. John has done that his entire career and I\u2019m going to do that my entire career. I will do what I believe is right for this business, which it is what it is. I understand that\u2019s tough for people to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>PWTorch sourcing indicated at the time indicated\u00a0that Cena had full authority over the finish of his match against Gunther and was not against it.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-545340796\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>You can watch Cena&#8217;s appearance on the No Contest Wrestling podcast below:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"John Cena Exclusive, In-Depth Interview | No-Contest Wrestling with O&#039;Shea Jackson Jr &amp; TJ Jefferson\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fM46-yDW9do?list=PLNC_OvgHiA0FhVGhHr2asQ4NmCfabqdxJ\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3188334214\"><div id=\"pwtor-1833692034\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>John Cena says that plans changed and he wasn&#8217;t originally supposed to face A.J. Styles at the Crown Jewel PLE in October 2025 at the tail end of his retirement tour. \u201cA.J. (Styles) was supposed <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/02\/18\/cena-reveals-plans-for-his-match-at-crown-jewel-were-changed-says-he-came-up-with-the-finsih-for-his-retirement-match-vs-gunther\/\" title=\"Cena reveals plans for his match at Crown Jewel were changed, says he came up with the finish for his retirement match vs. Gunther\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":204602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-news_wwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-18-at-10.52.13-AM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212200"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212267,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212200\/revisions\/212267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}