Will John Cena's Final WrestleMania Match Be vs. Cody Rhodes? Probably Not

WWE has positioned this weekend’s WrestleMania as John Cena’s last before he fades into retirement. 

Nobody is actually buying that, though, right?

For the sheer purpose of promoting Cena’s match against Cody Rhodes and drawing as many viewers as possible to ‘Mania, sure, tabbing this as his goodbye to the major event makes sense. It even throws some unpredictability into the outcome—he’s going to lose if this is farewell, right? 

But zooming out and looking at the bigger picture provides a different story. 

It feels like Cena only just started his so-called retirement tour. He only just turned heel for the first time after a decade-plus of fans wanting to see it. And he’s hardly made any appearances during the build to ‘Mania as it is, which plays smartly into the heel character. But fans want more Cena for the next year, not less. 

If Cena loses to Rhodes at ‘Mania and goes out on his back like all the greats, then does the whole “raise Cody’s hand” thing, it would feel incredibly anticlimactic. Going heel for like a month, losing and then never having another ‘Mania match would make this all look pretty rough in hindsight, too. 

Much better from a storytelling standpoint would be Cena winning, then going on a mini-run of dominance when his Hollywood/corporate heel persona does decide to show up on weekly programming. 

There’s a long line of feuds and matches Cena should probably have before he officially hangs up the boots, too. Think, rekindling rivalries with Randy Orton, CM Punk and others, to touch on the possibilities very lightly. 

In an ideal world, Cena does that with a belt around his waist to create some major stakes. It would move those matches from simple feel-good stories on a retirement tour to heavyweight bouts where anything can happen. 

A smooth ripple effect from this would be the impact on Rhodes. He needs to be in chase mode, not reigning champion mode. It’s not unfair to say his run since dethroning Roman Reigns has simply been fine. He took down the Tribal Chief’s historical run and finally losing to someone like Cena makes sense. 

And if we’re on the topic of Cena taking the title off Rhodes, one has to wonder when he might eventually lose it, too. If his reign lasts into the summer, are they really going to take it off him at SummerSlam? Or an even lesser PLE? Why not stretch it out another five months and change to the 2026 ‘Mania?

Given that timeframe, Cena could go on a dominant heel run for a long time while WWE builds up a next-generation star to get the rub from taking Cena down. Maybe that’s Bronn Breakker or somebody else, but it’d be the best way to use this scenario for the future. 

As has already been established, Rhodes doesn’t need that rub. He’s there at the very top. Using Cena as a tool to get someone else up to that level before he fades to retirement would make a lot of sense. 

In fact, one could suggest the heel turn is specifically designed to do this over time. WWE could have easily gone with the morally gray area for both Cena and Rhodes in this feud and been just fine. But a fan-hating, corporate Cena emerged and it doesn’t feel like it was just to create a babyface-heel dynamic for this one-off match. 

But sure, let’s say Cena loses to Rhodes and signals it’s the end of his ‘Mania matches for good. In a world where even Stone Cold Steve Austin eventually returned to the ring, are we really going to pretend that John Cena won’t lace them back up at least one more time? Doubtful. 

Fans might bemoan reverting back to a part-time champion if Cena wins and carries things until ‘Mania in 2026. But it wouldn’t be all that different from Reigns’ run and there are creative ways to work around the issue weekly. Think, Cena (with backing from a board member Rock) calling in Superstars to do his dirty work vs. fan favorites while he’s away filming movies or something. 

Regardless, what has been a stunted retirement tour to date for Cena doesn’t feel like it’s close to winding down anytime soon.

It will be fun to suspend the disbelief during the match itself for the sake of entertainment, sure, but Cena’s headliner against Rhodes feels extremely unlikely to be his last WrestleMania match ever.