How Did WWE Stars React to John Cena's Historic Retirement? Latest Backstage News

After John Cena ended his legendary wrestling career in his retirement match at Saturday Night's Main Event, his fellow WWE Superstars couldn't help but let their emotions flow out.

WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry revealed the backstage reaction to Cena's final match, describing a touching scene.

"I walked through the back — and there was a line of about thirty or forty people trying to get to John, hugging him and consoling him. We gave a salute," Henry said on Busted Open Radio (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News). "I mean, people were emotional. It's been a while since — the last time I saw people crying like that was when somebody passed away."

Cena lost to Gunther by submission in the main event of Saturday's show, tapping out for the first time in over two decades. The match solidified Gunther as WWE's top heel, and Henry shared his thoughts on the visceral reaction the Ring General received from the live audience at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

"All I know is this, Dave, they better get the dump button ready for every show because they said, 'f--k you, GUNTHER' throughout the whole match," Henry said.

"There were mixed opinions backstage regarding the finish of John Cena's final match, though most on the creative and booking side supported it," reported Fightful Select (h/t Mukherjee). "Several talents said they would have liked to see Cena win, but understood the decision to have GUNTHER go over and how it fit into plans moving forward."

Despite the negative fan reaction to the end of the match, Cena received praise from his peers for elevating another wrestler before ending his career.

"If you want to talk behind the scenes, he will put over somebody on the way out," WWE head of creative Paul "Triple H" Levesque said during the post-show. "He will leave this better than he found it. That's what John does and has always done."

Cena will now turn his attention to his acting career full-time. While he has a lot coming up in Hollywood, Henry went on to add that he expects the 17-time World Champion to make his way back to WWE at some point, even if he won't be wrestling in a match ever again.

"John is still alive and well — he's going to Hollywood. You're going to keep hearing him every day — he's not going away," Henry said. "He's just going away from the ring."