The Case For Brock Lesnar Squashing John Cena at WWE Wrestlepalooza

It's easy to assume that John Cena will overcome Brock Lesnar at Wrestlepalooza on the first-ever WWE livestreaming event on ESPN and move on to the next opponent as his retirement tour comes to a close. 

Assuming anything about pro wrestling booking, though, is how onlookers stumble into shocking moments. 

The sheer obviousness of what will happen between the two longtime foes on ESPN means one thing: Lesnar should squash Cena. 

Quickly and brutally, too. 

There's quite a bit of value in Lesnar and Cena wrapping up in a way that demands a sequel. Some of it is obvious. These two are legendary rivals and lopsided, shocking results, admittedly, have happened before in the past. 

But it goes beyond the simple stuff, too. The match is on ESPN in a hyped event. On paper, that should mean lots of casual fans and even non-wrestling fans could catch the action. 

One option is to show those casual or new fans a Super Cena moment where he overcomes the odds and gets a win in a very scripted-looking way. But the squash option would show that very same group of fans how random, spontaneous and real-life like WWE matches can be. WWE attempted and achieved these feats in the past with UFC-like battles between, for example, the quick classics with Lesnar and Goldberg. 

Why not go for that feel again? There's silly shock-value booking, then there's getting non-wrestling fans going "hey this stuff is cooler than I thought or heard about from friends" booking. 

That's a big part of this, though layers exist, too. Before Wrestlepalooza even happens, Cena has a match with Logan Paul at Clash in Paris. That's an international PLE, though, and figures to be a quick match simply made for maximum eyeballs on the product. 

There's a quick-hitting gauntlet of PLEs and events after Wrestlepalooza to close out 2025, including Crown Jewel in October, November's Survivor Series and multiple Saturday Night's Main Event. Meaning, it's not like there won't be good options for a Lesnar-Cena rematch.

Keep in mind, too, that weekly episodes of Raw and SmackDown could be up for grabs in this scenario. That's one way to bump ratings to mega levels. And given that WWE wasn't even supposed to start on ESPN until April 2026 before the Wrestlepalooza reveal, who knows what other special dates or moments might open up before the end of the year?

Going the rematch route after an initial squash keeps Cena away from the main roster, too. There are only so many opponents worthy of his last matches in the first place and, keeping him off to the side in his own orbit means not disrupting the main-event and title scenes. That's probably another small reason for the Logan Paul match, too. 

There's also the matter of who retires Cena. Will he go out on his back for a younger upstart? Perhaps someone he has a long linkage to, such as Dominik Mysterio? Or will it be a part-timer or career-long rival like Lesnar?

No easy answer to this question exists, but there are a dwindling number of dates to make it happen and only so many Superstars are worthy. Leaving the door open for a rematch, indeed, leaves a door open for the Lesnar route. 

If nothing else, it would just feel nice to get a swerve on Cena's retirement tour, too. The heel turn was horrendous and quickly, awkwardly brushed aside. It was obvious earlier this year that he wasn't going to lose to the likes of Randy Orton or CM Punk. And with his going back babyface, it seemed pretty obvious he wasn't going to retain his title against Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam. Nobody thinks he's losing to Paul, either.

Lesnar returning at all was a shock. Throwing out a fun second jolt with Cena taking an ugly loss on ESPN would be more memorable than simply ticking off the list of sort-of-memorable wins on his way out the door. 

Countless arguments against Cena losing exist. The most understandable and obvious are preserving his final matches as positive moments, plus the desire to see him against other opponents, to name a few. 

But the WWE machine will keep churning out what it wants almost independent of fan wishlists, even in this. And given the history between these two, there's something fitting about Lesnar coming out of nowhere and smashing up what everyone thought about Cena's retirement journey and the greatest of all time himself needing to pick up the pieces and fight back. 

While controversial, this would be a moment that, viewed through the long gaze of hindsight, would be a good fit and likely benefit WWE in this era of attempting to greatly expand its global reach and evolve into something more resembling a real sport. 

Cena being at the center of that, even while taking a loss, only feels right.