Let’s go to work.
I love professional wrestling, and one of the primary reasons I do is because it’s constant. It’s always there. Wrestling happens on television twice a week every single week of the year, and more often when there are special events. Every year, without fail. Wrestling is also like cereal to me: it makes me happy no matter how I’m feeling. As I mentioned in my breakdown of my visit to San Diego for WWE Survivor Series: War Games, I was sick, and yet, I enjoyed the show because wrestling makes me happy.
My journey to loving professional wrestling started with the Undertaker; he was the first character I saw on television and the first name I heard mentioned by the announcers. I followed him for nearly the next 30 years until his retirement, which unfortunately happened during COVID-19. But when I hit my teen years and was more cognizant and active as a fan, both in my consumption and internet activity with wrestling message boards, I came-of-age with John Cena. It was John Cena’s run, primarily in 2006-2007, that solidified me as a lifelong professional wrestling fan.
Once I was able to buy PPVs in 2006, I bought most. I collected WWE magazines. I bought as many DVDs and VHS tapes whenever they were available. I even began attending live shows. Over time, I became a student of the game, as it were, devouring as much history and knowledge of professional wrestling as I could. Simply put, I couldn’t get enough, and John Cena was at the forefront of it all. What made Cena so great is that he was like professional wrestling itself: constant. Cena’s mantra of Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect, as well as, “Never Give up,” was represented in his longevity, in his work ethic both in the ring and out of it, and it engendered my support of him. His passion and dedication was infectious. Most tops guys of the modern era, for one reason or another, didn’t enjoy the longevity John Cena has. The WWE machine cycles through top guys by necessity. Yet, Cena was the top guy for a solid 10 years before they finally started shifting to another top star in Roman Reigns.
As John Cena eventually made the jump to Hollywood and became more part-time with WWE, I was certainly sad, but I love professional wrestling and the machine keeps on turning. So, in the years since Cena’s peak at the top, I’ve become fans of other professional wrestlers, like Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Roman Reigns, and Cody Rhodes, as well as delighting in the blossoming of — and just due finally given to — women’s wrestling with stars like the Four Horsewomen (Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, and Bayley), Bianca Belair, Rhea Ripley, and Stephanie Vaquer.
But nostalgia is a helluva thing, and ultimately, what nostalgia comes down to is nostalgia for the good times of that coming-of-age period. Which is to say, those years growing up with John Cena feel like yesterday to me, but they were 20 years ago. Even so, the nostalgia carries through, and when John Cena announced last year that 2025 would be his retirement tour — a year-long farewell to him — it was hard to grapple with. That that nostalgic chapter would be coming to a close. That the “constant” would finish. That he would … give up. Not because he had to due to injury or because he didn’t love it anymore, but because all things, even the best of things, come to an end eventually. So it was with John Cena and his career.
He ended his career tonight, Saturday, December 13, 2025, in Washington D.C. at WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event in a barnburner match against Gunther, one of the most dominant heels, or villains, of the modern era. Going into the match, it seemed like a lot of folks were expecting John Cena to win and end his career triumphant, primarily to leave fans in attendance and watching at home happy. However, John Cena’s part-time run the past half-decade or so, much to my chagrin, has been marked by losses. Moreover, John Cena, the person, always struck me as the type to do the so-called time honored tradition in professional wrestling and lose his last match. Indeed, I expected Gunther to live up to his claim to make John Cena, the man who “never gave up,” give up by tapping out. Would John Cena, the character, who hasn’t tapped out as a top main event-level act in his 20-year run, tap out? Probably not, if you’re keeping to kayfabe, the fictional world of professional wrestling. But would John Cena, the person, tap out to ensure the business, that constant, continues on? That the machine keeps churning? That whomever is able to beat Gunther down the line benefits from beating the guy who retired John Cena, and made him tap out at that? Absolutely.
All of which is to say, I thought WWE, who hadn’t handled John Cena’s overall retirement run this year pitch perfect, certainly handled his last match and its presentation in pitch perfect fashion. More importantly, I thought the D.C. crowd lived up to the moment, with their enthusiasm, chants, and energy given to John Cena, the match, and the aftermath. They treated Gunther like the mega heel that he is, and Cena like the mega baby that he is.
True vindication for longtime fans of John Cena is that throughout this farewell tour, including tonight, fans have been vociferously cheering for John Cena. That had not always been the case. Particularly during that aforementioned 2006-2007 period and beyond, Cena was routinely booed or at least faced the dual chants of, “Let’s Go Cena,”/”Cena Sucks!” So, to see him full-on cheered, rightly, in his farewell tour and in his last match brings such warmth to my heart. Better yet, as Gunther persisted in applying his dreaded sleeper hold to John Cena, I said in my head, “I hope the crowd chants, ‘Never Give Up!’ to John Cena.” They did start chanting, “Don’t give up!” It was one of the most beautiful moments I’ve ever seen in my time watching professional wrestling.
While the D.C. crowd, and I’m sure those watching at home, were flabbergasted that John Cena tapped out, with reactions reminiscent of Brock Lesnar ending the Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak at WrestleMania 30 in 2014 — and booing and chanting, “You fucked up!” at HHH, the creative booker, upon his arrival ringside afterwards — I had no problem with the ending. No exists animus here, just happiness that I got to witness John Cena’s final match. That he left with a lot left in the tank instead of as a shell of his former self. That he got to leave on his own terms and in his own way.
To cap it all off, as Cena reached the top of the stage, he did one final salute, and stated, “It’s been a pleasure serving you all these years.”
Thank you, John Cena, for being so giving of your body, your mind, and your heart these past 20-some years. The machine will march on, as it always does and as you wish it does, but your mark will be indelibly felt forever.
Milam's Musings 
One thought