WWE history
John Cena's Final WWE Match: December 13, 2025
John Cena closed his announced farewell tour against Gunther at Saturday Night's Main Event in Washington, D.C.
When Did John Cena Retire From WWE?
John Cena competed in his final match on December 13, 2025. WWE announced that the bout would headline Saturday Night's Main Event at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., closing out one of the promotion's longest farewell tours.
Gunther won the match by submission. Cena left his boots in the ring and addressed the audience directly as his year-long farewell tour came to a close. The result added Cena to a growing list of legends Gunther has faced in career-closing matches, a stretch covered in the site's Gunther WWE career update after three retirement matches.
The 2025 Farewell Tour
Cena had announced in 2024 that he would retire from in-ring competition during 2025. His final year included matches with Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, AJ Styles, Sami Zayn, Logan Paul, R-Truth, Dominik Mysterio, and Gunther.
That schedule turned the year into a running celebration of Cena's career, with each city getting a version of the tour built around a different opponent. The stretch echoed how WWE later used the same Saturday Night's Main Event platform for Goldberg's own final match against Gunther.
A 17-Time World Champion
WWE promoted Cena's final match after he had reached 17 recognized world championship reigns, tying him with Ric Flair for the most in company history. His career also included five United States Championship reigns and two Royal Rumble victories.
Those numbers gave the farewell tour its emotional weight, since each stop doubled as a chance for fans to see a champion of that stature one last time. A full look at how his championship matches stacked up across his WrestleMania appearances is available in the site's John Cena WrestleMania main-event history.
Is John Cena Fully Retired?
The retirement announcement concerned in-ring competition only. Cena can still appear in WWE programming or public events without returning to active competition. Any future change should be confirmed through WWE or Cena directly.