No one who witnessed John Cena’s final match will forget it. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing — well, that's still up for debate.
John Cena’s final match this past Saturday in Washington D.C. had real weight and historical importance to it. I watched the event more as a booker than a fan, because I was very intrigued as to how the match with Gunther would be handled.
In the end, WWE and Cena went with the finish we’d predicted — John losing his final match, and then some.
All year, I’ve stated in this column that I felt strongly Cena should have gone out with a series of big wins and as a legend who never gave up. But that’s not WWE’s way. That’s not Triple H’s way. And John himself clearly wanted the last four or five months of his career to be about elevating those who will carry WWE into the future.
Having Cena tap was the flash point. Some people, including friends of mine, took something personal away from it — things like time beats all of us, even titans like John Cena; about the inevitability of making way for the next generation; and even for the Cena character, a cathartic end that, at age 48 and with more world titles than anyone, he’d simply fought all of his heart out and was OK with his fight being over.
Many more were livid and fans have every right to be emotional, be angry, and to express their opinions regarding the finish or any other aspect of the stories they are paying to see.
Yes, Cena wanted to go out putting people over, but Sting wanted to go out on his back too, yet Tony Khan and the Young Bucks said, “No, the fans don’t want to see that,” and Sting went out a winner.
I never debate these types of things, because it's opinions and emotions and we all have got those. If you got something emotional out of it, great. If you hated it, thought it was poor booking, the wrong decision and everything else, you have every right to say so.
What I will say is I thought what they did, they executed perfectly. WWE did what WWE often does, which is take something that is big and important and know how to make it feel even bigger and more important.
No one who witnessed it will forget John Cena’s final match.
It was interesting watching the crowd during Cena vs. Gunther.
Many of them clearly expected John to lose, but that didn’t take a thing away from the emotion of the match at all. In fact, you sensed those who felt John would go out with an L were chanting and cheering for him to win the loudest, which is one of those amazing moments only pro wrestling provides — you know it's art, but you're still willing the character to win as if you can help change the script.
John proved in his final year that, even as he nears age 50, he doesn’t need any carrying, and Gunther played his part perfectly. There were some great moments in the match, wonderful, heartfelt fan interaction from John, and the intense emotion all made it a classic.
The finish will be remembered for a long, long time. Decades.
But hopefully people also realize John Cena’s final outing was an outstanding pro wrestling match.
I enjoyed Saturday Night’s Main Event from start to finish. Obviously, the main event had weight and importance, but as widely reported and revealed by John himself, Cena wanted the show to be stacked with up-and-coming talent and not make the entire event about himself.
John has long been a proponent of “leave the business better than you found it,” and that mentality was reflected throughout the show.
WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes really put NXT Champion Oba Femi over hard in the opening match. They of course went to a no-contest, which was booking 101 for a talent like Femi who is surely going to hit the main roster in a matter of months. But before Drew McIntyre ended the match by attacking Rhodes, Femi made a huge impact as a future player.
Likewise, Sol Ruca left a real impression on the huge audience with her match against Bayley, and AJ Styles and Dragon Lee really let Je’Von Evans and TNA’s Leon Slater shine in their tag match.
I was personally thrilled for Leon, of course, and almost broke my arm patting myself on the back for signing him to TNA in one of my final acts as President there. I know AJ is a huge personal hero of Leon’s, and how much wrestling AJ on such a big stage meant to the young man.
You have to wonder how long Leon Slater will remain in TNA, especially after that performance on such a night.
As much of a buzz you get from seeing great matches come together or a cool angle taking shape, the very best part of being a booker is seeing talent you had a part in developing go out and take on the world.
And Speedball Mike Bailey is absolutely killing it in AEW. After first meeting him at a social-distancing show in Canada (we don’t lack for space up here), I really got to know Speedball during the COVID period of filming TNA — iMPACT Wrestling, at the time — at Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.
I was so excited to get Mike to join TNA. I’d met him briefly before and had been impressed with how he handled a five-year issue getting into the United States. Instead of giving up on his career, he hit the road in Canada, Europe and Japan and really fought to get his name out there despite not being able to wrestle a single date in the U.S.
I suffered a similar U.S. immigration issue back in 1996, and I also hit the road, taking bookings anywhere I could make them happen. So when I saw Speedball had done the exact same thing, but for longer, I knew this was a guy who had a work ethic to go along with his flashy, unique in-ring moves.
We wanted him in TNA as soon as his U.S. visa was in place. Initially, we lost out to WWE, but along the way Mike’s WWE deal fell through and we secured Speedball for TNA. And then Speedball was on his way, having a series of matches that exposed his unique style to a much wider audience.
Mike has a quirky, fun French-Canadian energy that leaps out of the ring, along with the mullet-style haircut. He is one of the few who wrestles barefoot, and he has that winning smile, which is actually his white mouthguard, not radioactive white teeth like some people believe.
After a great run with TNA, Mike didn’t last long on the open market and now he’s blowing up in AEW. His team with Kevin Knight is one of the best acts in AEW, and Kevin is another talent I am so impressed by.
It was a great Saturday of AEW matches for my old iMPACT and TNA alumni.
Speedball and Kevin Knight had a hell of a match in the very impressive Continental Classic, and Josh Alexander had a great match with Swerve Strickland.
Back to the Cena result — having hundreds of fans outside the arena gathered around the post-event broadcast stage, heckling Triple H by chanting, “AEW! AEW! AEW!” isn’t what WWE would have wanted by any means.
It doesn’t seem medically possible for Hunter to come back in-ring, but the heat on him right now could translate into a hell of a heel role.
On this week's "Raw," though, Gunther came out to nuclear-blast heat and cut a very effective and very brief promo. So no matter anyone’s thoughts about the result this past weekend, WWE’s booking was effective in doing what it was supposed to do.
The D'Amore Drop is a weekly guest column on Uncrowned written by Scott D’Amore, the Canadian professional wrestling promoter, executive producer, trainer and former wrestler best known for his long-standing role with TNA/IMPACT Wrestling, where he served as head of creative. D’Amore is the current owner of leading Canadian promotion Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling.
Category: General Sports
