John Cena Explains Brock Lesnar Squash Loss at Wrestlepalooza After WWE Fans' Backlash

Many fans were taken aback when Brock Lesnar scored a one-sided victory over John Cena at Wrestlepalooza in September, but Cena explained the rationale during an interview this week.

Appearing on Insight with Chris Van Vliet (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), Cena suggested that Lesnar may soon be entering the final stretch of his career, so he had no problem putting over the Beast Incarnate and making him look strong:

"So what do you do? You gotta figure out who gets the shine that night," Cena said. "From my perspective, if the idea is that we're building him up again before he rides into the sunset—maybe in Minnesota—then creatively, yeah, it's going to happen fast. To give someone a mountain to climb, you gotta build that mountain. I'm on my way out. It's not going to hurt me. I'm still a viable draw. It's a great main event. Two titans—see them collide one last time. Sometimes your team gets blown out."

Cena also made note of the fact that he has often been the one tabbed to elevate a high-profile opponent, saying, "I've been in this seat before. It's always me—Brock's return? I'm there. Rock returns after Miami? I'm there. SummerSlam with Roman [Reigns]? Yup. After he beats Taker at WrestleMania? Again, I'm the guy."

At SummerSlam back in August, Lesnar made his first appearance on WWE programming in two years, as he attacked Cena after Cena dropped the WWE Championship to Cody Rhodes.

That led to a match between Cena and Lesnar at Wrestlepalooza. Cena got limited offense in during the bout, leading up to a convincing victory for Brock.

There was plenty of internet discourse about the match being a waste of one of Cena's final dates and a bad look on WWE's part, but Cena has undoubtedly bounced back since then.

One month later, he beat AJ Styles in a classic at Crown Jewel, and he later went on to have a brief run as intercontinental champion after beating Dominik Mysterio.

As for Lesnar, the win re-established him as a force after two years away, and he carried that momentum into Survivor Series where he helped his team win a WarGames match.

The loss has seemingly done little to hurt Cena's credibility, as there is a ton of intrigue surrounding the final match of his career this weekend against Gunther at Saturday Night's Main Event.

Based on Cena's willingness to put over Lesnar, it is fair to wonder if he will do the same for Gunther given that a win over Cena could help The Ring General reach another level.