John Cena's Crown Jewel Performance Changes the Conversation About His Future

Exiting an all-time classic encounter with AJ Styles during Saturday's Crown Jewel event from Perth, Australia, it feels like John Cena's retirement tour is only just getting started, not winding down. 

Maybe pro wrestling fans and all onlookers are just in the denial phase, but Cena didn't look close to being a guy ready to officially leave his boots in the ring and call it quits. 

After a heartfelt introduction penned by Cena himself, the two soon-to-retire modern pro wrestling legends authored a classic that went more than 27 minutes. 

A finisher-fest done right in the utmost sense, Cena and Styles threw out endless nods and thank yous to everyone from Undertaker (Tombstone), Randy Orton (RKO), Samoa Joe (Coquina Clutch), Shawn Michaels (Sweet Chin Music), and so much more. 

The match itself was boosted by the very meta fact that Styles will officially retire in 2026, so it wasn't just Cena throwing out his honorary callbacks and move-based salutes to the ether against a random opponent.

The Phenomenal One was right there doing the same thing for the same reasons, all while the two are memorable rivals to each other in their own right, too. 

It felt like Cena was only just getting started, especially when compared to pretty much all that came before this during his farewell tour. 

At most points before this, Cena's goodbye has felt underwhelming, if not outright bad. There are a few exceptions, like quick one-offs with Randy Orton and CM Punk. 

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But the rest was largely a mess. There was the disaster of a heel turn that never worked, topped off by the Travis Scott fiasco during one of the worst WrestleMania main events ever. There was the random R-Truth stuff, a weird Logan Paul match, and the nonsensical, brutal loss to Brock Lesnar. 

These miserable outings ranged from wasteful to outright ridiculous, whether it was sacrificing one of Cena's final appearances ever for someone like Paul, to taking a brutal beatdown to tell a new ESPN audience that a 48-year-old Lesnar is, indeed, a dangerous guy. 

Along the way, though, it was always clear that despite his age (48) and part-time status, Cena could still go in the ring. This was never Undertaker-Goldberg bad, not even close. It was a stunning lack of creative mismanagement by Triple H and Co., likely ruined in part by the likes of The Rock at times, among other problems. 

If there's one thing we've learned about Cena for decades now, though, it's the never-give-up attitude. It's fitting that he's picking himself up now after some horrific stumbles and rebounding in a major way. 

One has to wonder, then, why he would cut it short so soon. He has four dates advertised left and speculation among fans is WWE will get predictable bouts in there against the likes of Dominik Mysterio at Survivor Series before one of the futures of the sport like Gunther gets the final pin. 

If this is how the match quality will be, creating unquestioned positive reactions from fans, though, it feels strange for it to just end. Rather than pay homage to some of these Superstars, why not tack on a few more dates and get in the ring with a few of the references and draw this out to WrestleMania 42 next April? 

Why not let Cena get a Miz match, or an extended feud with an Orton or Punk again, or even a feud with the Mysterio family? If one wants to go off the fantasy booking deep end, why not stretch things a little and see if a guy by the name of Edge hits free agency? 

Wishful thinking, of course, but this is the run that produced the long-awaited heel turn, so who knows? Like that moment, there's a risk that things go south and the quality suffers. 

But sitting in the glow of the Styles match right now, it sure feels like Cena and WWE unlocked the blueprint to create all hits, no misses. NBA greats don't pass scoring records and stop shooting; MLB home run kings don't pass a record and stop swinging. Cena is in that orbit and performing at that level. 

The principled Cena, as we all know, wants to set a definitive end date and stick to it. But one can imagine that even he sees the logic and feels the momentum here.

There will be a time when fans can't see him, but right now, the extension to the retirement run that needs to happen has never been more striking.