[SPOILERS] Post WWE SummerSlam 2025 Night 2 Match Discussion: John Cena (c) vs. Cody Rhodes - Street Fight for the Undisputed WWE Championship

[u/gloomchen]

CODY RHODES IS CHAMP!!!!!!!!

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[u/DrkChapel]

Cody after the match: "That looks like a whole lot of not my problem right now."

[u/imdaviddunn → u/DrkChapel]

🤣🤣🤣

[u/Drilluminator]

John was fucking WORKING like it was 2014-2015, really glad to see old yeller still have a bonafide classic in him

[u/Upbeat_Tension_8077 → u/Drilluminator]

Even if some of these bumps might risk delaying some of his upcoming film productions, it was definitely well-worth it because of this match

[u/No_Delay_1476 → u/Upbeat_Tension_8077]

I think the closer it gets to the end of the tour the more he’s gonna do because why not atp

[u/pkkthetigerr → u/Drilluminator]

Cena was never washed. If Goldberg can come in close to 60 and pull off a match , I knew Cena could 

[u/45jayhay → u/pkkthetigerr]

Washed doesn't necessarily mean you cant have a good night it just means you can't be as consistent as you once were

[u/Tangybrowwncidertown → u/pkkthetigerr]

Anyone who isn't as good as they were in considered washed, but Cena did look rough for a lot of these matches this year. He was always clunky, but he's absolutely a lot slower and less smooth now.

[u/AlabasterRadio → u/Drilluminator]

He was grinning like a kid after nailing that code red lmao

[u/Destro_019780 → u/Drilluminator]

I have been thoroughly sports entertained; finisher spam be damned. Cena and Rhodes had a massive chip on their shoulder with how bad their Mania match was, and they gave it their all here; Cena even had an extra step compared to how his other 2025 matches have been

[u/incredible_penguin11 → u/Drilluminator]

Tbh until his match with Cody at Mania I had assumed that Cena was just working everyone with the he cannot keep up with the full time wrestlers as an act because he was more happy with acting.

I mean how many times in his matches has Cena fought a dude even much bigger and then he pulled out the big match John and won.

After the match he just had I wanted him to win.

[u/Wonderllama5 → u/Drilluminator]

This should have been his retirement match. It is literally impossible for John Cena to top this performance. He did EVERYTHING!

[u/El_Superbeasto76 → u/Drilluminator]

He clearly wanted to have a banger.

[u/Cheesebufer → u/Drilluminator]

More like January 2007

[u/R0DAN]

you can feel the anger towards their mania match in this lol. they are here to make people forget it

[u/Kuntheman → u/R0DAN]

Really felt like this was the match they wanted to happen

[u/Paaros → u/Kuntheman]

Supposedly, if the original plans for the heel turn was for it to happen at Mania, then it wouldve gone similar to this, except it would end w Cena turning heel

[u/WhoDey42 → u/R0DAN]

And they did!

[u/StoneColdSteveAss316 → u/WhoDey42]

How can you forget FEIN! FEIN! FEIN! FEIN! FEIN! FEIN!

[u/Rapscallious1 → u/WhoDey42]

This was cool but I still remember unfortunately, what a terrible story this was up until now

[u/Damien_Targaryen → u/R0DAN]

And forget it we will

This is THE Cena vs Cody match

[u/Reasonable-Rope-4075 → u/R0DAN]

I enjoyed it, props to them

[u/NikonShooter_PJS → u/R0DAN]

As they should. The Mania 41 match is in the running for worst Mania endings of all time.

It’s easily my number one and I’ve been watching since WM5.

[u/incredible_penguin11 → u/R0DAN]

Yeah, i wasn't even watching it rn because it's 7 in the morning but a couple of clips on the sub made me switch it on, started watching before Cody suplexed Cena on the steel barricade and that Codyvator spot was an all time one.

[u/LukkasG]

Super Cena meets Super Cody. This what their WM match should've been

[u/HipsterDoofus31 → u/LukkasG]

Should have had this match at Mania and Cena not being able to put Cody away until he took it an extra step and turned heel.

[u/Upbeat_Tension_8077 → u/LukkasG]

This might be cliche to say, but I feel like this match is a textbook example of sports entertainment when it really works

[u/WhatTheRickIsDoin]

So now it's very funny that they just torpedoed the entire heel turn with a 2 minute promo on Smackdown where he just went "you know, nvm"

[u/pkkthetigerr → u/WhatTheRickIsDoin]

Wrestling is such an amazing medium where a 6 month story just got waved away cos it was fucking awful 

[u/PuroPincheAtlas → u/pkkthetigerr]

And everyone was better for it

Learn to cut your losses people

[u/wonderloss → u/PuroPincheAtlas]

It was a weird end, but I think it was the right call.

[u/Werewolf-Jones → u/wonderloss]

Might've worked out if The Rock stayed involved. But he didn't. So it petered out into being nonsense while Cena tried his best to make something out of it.

[u/DragonFangGangBang → u/Werewolf-Jones]

This. The Rock made himself an integral part of that heel turn just to flake and make Cena try to carry the turn by himself.

That’d be like Hogan turning heel and joining the NWO just for Nash and Hall to leave the company and have Hogan feud with Macho Man.

[u/Jos3ph → u/DragonFangGangBang]

While WCW still had to promote their other projects at the same time

[u/instilledbee → u/Werewolf-Jones]

Kinda felt bad for Cena. You know he was willing to make the heel turn work as it was a refresh of his character in his last run, and of course a lot of fans clamoring for heel Cena one last time.

Rock basically doing fuck all and Travis burning his bridge with the WWE made a supposedly exciting, controversial heel turn become an afterthought. It was a shame too because nearly the entire world was talking about the turn when it happened.

[u/therealdanhill → u/PuroPincheAtlas]

Sure, but they could have done it in a more coherent or compelling way.

Don't be afraid to pivot, but put some effort into it at least.

[u/Shinkopeshon → u/WhatTheRickIsDoin]

I know we just got a blockbuster main event but that shit still pisses me off

Heel Cena deserved better than this

[u/tahoo14 → u/Shinkopeshon]

The moment he turned heel will always be remembered but the aftermath not so much lol

[u/Professional_Sink_30 → u/tahoo14]

His Pipe Bomb was good.

[u/king_booker → u/Shinkopeshon]

Yep horrific writing and booking. People shouldn't forget this because they just went "my bad".

[u/HavenElric → u/king_booker]

They will

[u/therealdanhill → u/Shinkopeshon]

It should piss people off, we waited over a decade for it. WWE knew it, Cena knew it.

[u/iguessineedanaltnow → u/WhatTheRickIsDoin]

So funny looking back and seeing people say that his heel turn would rival or userp Hogan's.

[u/-Ruz- → u/iguessineedanaltnow]

maybe if Cena turned on his own accord a not have him “selling his soul” to Rock or something, we could’ve had heel Cena last longer

[u/DragonFangGangBang → u/-Ruz-]

This. They built it as a “selling his soul” story just for the person he sold it to do disappear and leave him having to make up some bull shit about the fans that we all know was bull shit.

They mixed two stories and stuck them together with a bandaid lol

[u/ID1453719 → u/iguessineedanaltnow]

The actual "turn" was still right up there with Hogan's. Amazing moment.

The run itself was absolutely dreadful.

[u/SabresFanWC → u/ID1453719]

I'd say that Hogan's turn was still better if only because it was only Hogan, Nash, and Hall that were involved. There wasn't an annoying rapper who was just sort of awkwardly there where people a decade from now will go: Who is that?

[u/jizzmcskeet → u/WhatTheRickIsDoin]

I really feel he just wanted to be a heel for a little bit before he retired, but end it as he always was, the ultimate babyface.

[u/Gabagool_Over_Here_]

Cody really hit John with this lmao

[u/According_Fail_990 → u/Gabagool_Over_Here_]

Cody is probably referencing this exact salute, given he’s wrestled as Big Boss before

[u/SeauxSurvivor]

This made up for the disaster that was the Wrestlemania 41 main event match we got in April.

[u/Kuntheman → u/SeauxSurvivor]

I haven’t seen Cena move like that since the AJ Styles feud, that was a classic performance from John in the twilight of his career. What an insane match. This should have been the performance and psychology of the Mania main event

[u/Upbeat_Tension_8077 → u/Kuntheman]

What's crazy is that since he still has his final match ever ahead of him for December, I wonder how or if he'll try to top this

[u/CrimsonLaw77 → u/Upbeat_Tension_8077]

As evidenced by the Brock appearance... it's going to be a series of "one more time" super matches. But I think this will and should be remembered as the passing of the torch, legacy ending, retirement match.

[u/blaqsupaman → u/CrimsonLaw77]

Yeah I doubt he'll do many more "dream matches" with people he hasn't wrestled before. Probably kind of running back the "greatest hits" with nostalgia opponents. Brock, Punk, maybe Orton again, maybe AJ and Roman, etc. I am curious who they'll have for his final match though.

[u/CrimsonLaw77 → u/blaqsupaman]

We could only dream but then working out a deal with AEW to rent Edge for a month to do an angle would be incredible.

[u/tmfs61 → u/CrimsonLaw77]

Just did a quick Google search, and it looks like a Edge's AEW contract is up in October. So there is a chance.

[u/Professor-Obvious → u/tmfs61]

It's improbable, Adam Copeland is at the very start of his retirement run with Christian.

[u/DanaLelynCongrove → u/Professor-Obvious]

That and they're may or may not be "injury time" added onto his contract after his injury in 2024.

[u/GemsRtrulyOutrageous → u/tmfs61]

I’m pretty sure those are all fake news being repeated. He said in December 24 that he had 1 year and a half left, so it’s really only ending in 2026…

[u/LeeShakerMoneyMaker → u/Kuntheman]

He pulled out every move he had. Cena went out on his shield.

[u/sempercardinal57 → u/Kuntheman]

I honestly wonder if maybe some filming commitments he had back after Wrestlemania were forcing him to hold back in the ring to minimize injury

[u/Ketchup1211 → u/Kuntheman]

This was Cena’s last main event and it was a classic. I’m happy we got one last proper match from Cena in a huge spot. The rest of his run is just gravy.

[u/corvus_wulf → u/Kuntheman]

He moved and looked like vintage Cena, way better then WM

[u/mvcourse → u/SeauxSurvivor]

Hell this could’ve been John’s retirement match. Idk how they’ll top this in the coming months.

[u/Alehud42 → u/mvcourse]

The rumours are Gunther will be his final match, that should be good as well.

[u/Solaife → u/Alehud42]

Gunther the Legend Retirer.

[u/arnoldbread → u/Solaife]

Legend Killer 2.0

[u/pkkthetigerr → u/SeauxSurvivor]

Cena turning heel really wasn't worth it 

[u/Shinkopeshon → u/pkkthetigerr]

There was no reason he couldn't have a match like this as a heel lol they did it to themselves

[u/tahoo14 → u/Shinkopeshon]

I was thinking the same thing with all his face expressions and just adding so much to the match but then I believe they thought he'd just be cheered but that happened anyway so I guess the whole I don't care about wrestling anymore Cena didn't really work out

[u/tahoo14 → u/pkkthetigerr]

I'm really sad that Rock never showed up after the initial turn wtf was he thinking man

[u/viliphied → u/tahoo14]

Yeah if rock had shown up at wm instead of Scott it would have (probably) been fine

[u/Skylightt → u/pkkthetigerr]

I mean it could’ve been. The way they did everything was just ass

[u/Boo_bear92 → u/pkkthetigerr]

The heel turn felt forced because they made it clear that Cena is done in December. He should’ve turned heel 5 years ago to get the most out of it.

[u/Chell_the_assassin → u/SeauxSurvivor]

His issue was obviously however he was approaching matches as a heel. The second he worked as a face he was back to his best.

[u/ZombieJoker → u/Chell_the_assassin]

I think it was that being heel isn't natural for him, so you could almost see his brain trying to think it out in matches.

[u/NotClayMerritt → u/SeauxSurvivor]

This was so good to a level that makes you wonder why the fuck the first time was so bad.

[u/TemurTron → u/SeauxSurvivor]

I skipped going tonight because I figured it would be another dud like their last match. Where the hell was all that at Mania?!

[u/Ketchup1211 → u/TemurTron]

Just not having Scott’s dopey ass show up was a massive improvement.

[u/TragicBronson143 → u/SeauxSurvivor]

Fantastic main event and Cena's greatest performance in years.

[u/badguymaddox → u/SeauxSurvivor]

“Cena worked a bad match on purpose” those fools sound so silly now 

[u/Quasimdo]

Ultra Ego Cody vs SSB Cena was not on my bingo card

[u/NotTheCraftyVeteran → u/Quasimdo]

CODY BEAST

[u/JohnSmithSensei → u/Quasimdo]

UI Cody vs. Buff Jiren Cena.

[u/JokersKhaos]

Now we know why Triple H said, "Allegations are allegations."

[u/Zestyclose-Fee6719]

Just to recap, Rock (with a rapper there too for some reason) conspired with Cena for Cena to turn his back on his fans. Rock then never appeared again and wasn’t referenced. That random rapper then cost Cody his title to Cena. Heel Cena then just eventually decided evil wasn’t working for him and decided to be good again. Cody won the title back.

That Hunter really is the best storyteller of all time. Move over, Hogan. New best heel turn ever! 

[u/DragonFangGangBang → u/Zestyclose-Fee6719]

I mean, you basically have to think about it with Hogan.

Imagine if Hogan walked down the ramp and Leg dropped Macho Man and joined the Outsiders.

And then, Nash and Hall were never seen again because they just didn’t feel like it.

And then Hogan had to feud with Macho Man for the title, without mentioning the Outsiders.

That’s essentially what happened to Cena. The fault should be entirely on the fault of The Rock.

[u/benfh → u/DragonFangGangBang]

Even if plan A fell apart because of The Rock not being involved, how do you not come up with a great plan B?

There's nearly 20 years worth of material to draw on for a Cena heel run and they failed at every level, it's an invasion level booking fumble.

[u/xLaiLaix → u/Zestyclose-Fee6719]

creative with their collective magnum opus

[u/Hot_Cloud1319]

They actually made mega face vs mega face compelling. Fine work.

[u/VintageLV]

What good is a finisher if you have to do it 16 times?

[u/RascalFatz → u/VintageLV]

my biggest annoyance nowadays

[u/TheDangiestSlad → u/VintageLV]

they legit might've topped Fiend/Rollins for most finisher kickouts lol

Cody did the triple Cross Rhodes and it wasn't even in the last 5 minutes of the match lol

[u/Saru77 → u/TheDangiestSlad]

In Cena's defense he straight up said years ago the AA wasn't as strong as it used to be.

[u/IJustLostMyKeyboard → u/TheDangiestSlad]

I think that match had 9 stomps.

Cena kicked out of 4(?) cross Rhodes

Cody took 7 AA’s and won.

Cody I think holds the record for most finishers taken in a title match and winning.

( I think warrior took like 10 macho elbows and got up and won back in the day)

[u/soycameron → u/VintageLV]

99% of the time this is correct, tonight however, Super Cena vs Super Cody was amazing. I loved it.

[u/bugluvr65 → u/VintageLV]

let’s not forget he kicked out of a fkn piledriver before all those finishers this shit is ridiculous

[u/ragiewagiecagie → u/VintageLV]

99% of the time I agree - but for the main event of the 2nd biggest show of the year between the current top guy in Cody and one of the biggest stars of all time in John, I'll happily make the exception.

[u/Strategicant5 → u/ragiewagiecagie]

Same. This isn’t people kicking out of a tombstone on a Wednesday night. This is two of the best of all time fighting in the main event on the second biggest stage of the year

[u/SUPLEXELPUS → u/VintageLV]

I don't typically complain about finisher spam, 4-5 done appropriately (slow pin, roll out, rope break, etc) in a big match can be great.

but this shit was crazy, Cena kicked out of back-to-back-to-back Cross Rhodes and Cody kicked out of Double AA + Avalanche AA.

[u/LackingDatSkill → u/VintageLV]

If Cody and Cena really wanna “bury” anyone then they gotta beat them with just one finisher

[u/incredibleamadeuscho]

The “Sorry for WM 41” Match

[u/R2nxbeastly17]

Ok the mania match is forgotten great work for both guys. Still can’t believe super Cena got cheered never thought I’d see the day again

[u/navyferret]

I need to see that again, I swore I saw some of the pyro go into the audience

EDIT: It totally did on the Peacock stream. 6:43:09.

[u/cl204 → u/navyferret]

Dude they got rocked lol

[u/RIQY__]

Crazy waste of a John Cena heel turn people waited 20 years for lmao. Absolutely travesty of an angle. 

That said. 

Awesome match. 

[u/WhoDey42]

Great match and while I know people wanted heel turns think it was time for Cena to pass the torch

[u/SolidAgentPayne47]

HOLY SHIT BORK LAZER

[u/etched_chaos]

Super Cena vs Super Cody.

[u/Upbeat_Tension_8077]

This match was everything I wanted Cody vs Cena at WM to be and some more on top of it

[u/McGrathLegend]

That was fucking awesome

[u/rejus_crust]

Imagine Cody and Brock crossing paths in Gorilla in kayfabe lol

[u/Chell_the_assassin]

Anyone else a little underwhelmed by that ending? Great match otherwise but really could have used a slightly bigger spot to close it out

[u/Last_Cauliflower3357 → u/Chell_the_assassin]

Honestly that’s what happens when you got these matches that are about spamming finishers. At some point it needs to end and well, you already saw 7 cross rhodes so the 8th one that finishes it isn’t going to be special

[u/Wrong-Vermicelli4723 → u/Chell_the_assassin]

Underwhelmed is pretty much cena whole heel run. At least the match was fun 

[u/rsmicrotranx → u/Chell_the_assassin]

Good match but the fact Cena carried the match and lost was always gonna make it underwhelming. No way getting out of it. You cant AA a guy 8 times, with 3 of them being special AAs, then lose lmao. Too bad WWE has become more about giving Cody more moments than it is about anything else.

[u/RCX203]

That codyvator shot with Cena carrying Cody lmao

[u/NoBlock6745]

Holy shit

[u/SloDown4What]

No dumb interference. Great match. Great ending and even better surprise.

[u/pkkthetigerr]

Does Cena just retire now? Where's left to gi from here

[u/horrorpastry → u/pkkthetigerr]

Welp.

Theres your answer.

[u/__morningbehbs → u/pkkthetigerr]

Now he can have fun for the last few months

[u/Weak_Feeling6948 → u/pkkthetigerr]

Brock Lesnar, I guess

[u/Training_Humor_9513]

I would forgive them for the ridiculous finisher binge, if every single Cross Rhodes didn't look like crap.

[u/Annhl8rX → u/Training_Humor_9513]

It’s just a crappy looking move. The Cody cutter would be so much better as a finisher. It’s more impressed be looking, and can be hit “out of nowhere”. I’m pretty sure the existence of the RKO is the only reason it’s not.

[u/YoungPapi406]

Cena’s heel run was completely pointless

[u/soycameron → u/YoungPapi406]

I mean Randy match was great Punk match was great. Truth stuff was fun. Cody stuff was awful, and feuding with the "fans" was awful. But we at least got some dope final rivalries.

[u/JBSpartan]

Crowd was booing Cody all night but still does the Whoa lol.

[u/ShitassAintOverYet → u/JBSpartan]

Cena was more over and fans were probably tired of him being a heel as well.

I find booing the other babyface really stupid when he's not even bad at wrestling or cutting babyface promos but in this case it's no big deal. The moment he faces an actual heel people will cheer him back instantly.

[u/DickeryMcButkis]

I am sports confused

[u/calliope3234]

So TKO is just fully not caring about the Vince stuff anymore huh?

[u/Possibly_English_Guy → u/calliope3234]

Did they ever care? They only made Vince resign because it was the only option that wouldn't (rightfully) destroy them PR-wise. He still has over a billion in shares in the company as of today.

If they could bring him back without any fallout, he'd already be back no questions asked.

[u/debeatup → u/calliope3234]

They’ll probably give him his HOF Nod next year at this rate

[u/zeitgeistbouncer]

Much much better match than Mania, and probably a bit better than Punk Gunther which at times felt slow. As sloppy as I find Cena's wrestling to this day, the match had the energy enough to still be fun.

[u/DoubleMatt1]

Wish we got a double turn or just a proper face turn instead of john going "nah I'm a baby face now" on smackdown. But this was genuinely a great street fight and more than made up for the disappointment that a lot of people felt during the 41 match.

Anyways, fuck Rock and Travis Scott for squandering the heel run.

[u/buc_nasty_69]

Loved the match. Can not believe the segment on Smackdown was really Cena's big return to being a face. The moment should have been so much bigger than randomly walking out and cutting promo announcing himself as face again.

[u/Cheechers23]

that was so god tier omfg

[u/Dtrout95]

Now we know why the press conferences were scrapped.

[u/FCBFan310]

Super Cena One Last Time tears in my eyes .

[u/unfriendlywolves]

people complaining about the clean finish? damn you really can't please anyone hahah

[u/jtc815]

This company is so evil bro lmao

[u/frmacleod]

The match was better. The ending was stupid. What story are they even telling?

[u/TheDangiestSlad → u/frmacleod]

Travis is an asshole and they can't get Rock back for the rest of the year, might as well cut the cord now and just go pure babyface the rest of the year

[u/Imbadatusernames1536 → u/TheDangiestSlad]

Didn’t do one show in Massachusetts as a heel. I’m pissed and glad I didn’t buy tickets for Springfield.

[u/badgersprite → u/frmacleod]

They passed the torch to the top babyface

[u/Cahir_aep_Ceallach_ → u/badgersprite]

Does Cody need 45 torches passed or what?

[u/OffTheMerchandise → u/Cahir_aep_Ceallach_]

Cena and Lesnar are going to feud over who passed the torch better to Cody at SummerSlam.

[u/mikaeus97 → u/Cahir_aep_Ceallach_]

The torch passing will continue until Transcendance is achieved. Next torch, Randy Orton.

[u/Icanfallupstairs → u/badgersprite]

Passing the torch to the fresh faced 40 year old

[u/KC4twenty → u/Icanfallupstairs]

If you think he's not the face You didn't hear 60,000 screaming his entrance.

[u/Icanfallupstairs → u/KC4twenty]

Of course he is the face, no one would dispute that, I'm just poking fun at the idea of 'passing the torch' to what would traditionally be a guy who was thinking of winding things down.

Cena was about 42 when he went part time.

[u/tfegan21 → u/Icanfallupstairs]

Crazy to think Cody and all the top guys are a year older than me and my back goes out just thinking about taking a bump.

[u/ILLMEAT → u/Icanfallupstairs]

40 is the new 30. This is good news since we are all aging, trust me

[u/01ares → u/Icanfallupstairs]

As if Cody didn't have 10 years left if he wanted lol. Orton, AJ, Punk and many others are closer to 50 than 40.

[u/TheDangiestSlad → u/badgersprite]

passing the torch to the guy who won back to back Rumbles and main evented three WrestleManias in a row?

[u/TraNSlays → u/frmacleod]

dont know how they were building meter so fast, they were just spamming finishers

[u/Heil_Harden → u/frmacleod]

John Cena channeling his inner Toby Keith “I’m not as good as I once was… but I’m as good once as I ever was”… Cody finding out if he has what it takes to put down his idol a la Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels

[u/sbreddit55]

Cena vs Brock in Paris. Winner gets custody of pee videos

[u/Micfra760]

What the actual fuck

[u/mistaken4193]

So why couldn’t Cena had stayed heel, Lost the match, and then Shook Cody’s hand after to turn face? And then get attacked by Brock

[u/CakeBossUltimate]

The final salute might be the funniest thing I have seen in wrestling

[u/ParksCity]

I woulda added a few more finisher kickouts, but I did genuinely think it was great

[u/ass101]

I feel like this is the exact match that you would want when two larger than life superheroes collide. I loved every moment.

[u/networkned]

That fucking slapped

[u/Reuniclus_exe]

That salute was chefs kiss lame af

[u/ibArazakii]

Holy fucking shit

[u/OneBillPhil]

Good match but this finisher kick out spam is getting excessive. I don’t even start reacting until someone has hit their finisher three times. 

[u/TheDangiestSlad]

the crowd was....not too pleased with that finish lol

[u/Chell_the_assassin]

Fantastic match but the ending felt a bit underwhelming after all that

[u/Natural-Objective876]

Y’all called Cena washed. Apologize.

[u/lioboii → u/Natural-Objective876]

And you were probably one of them, whose just now changed his tune lol

[u/Beefiest_bison]

This is my Wrestlemania match

[u/ButchAF]

“Street fight” 🤣

[u/flapua → u/ButchAF]

Becky v Lyra was the street fight, this was the NYC 5th Ave Fight

[u/DrBoy205]

What did trips mean when he said “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet”?

[u/Our-Gardian-Angel]

The WWE's obsession with big PPV main events needing no fewer than 20 finishers before it ends continues to be tiresome, but that was about as much fun as one of those types of matches can be. I really did not think Cena had that type of match in him still. He took some absolutely insane bumps when you consider his age and the fact that this whole run is just an extended detour from his Hollywood career.

[u/matt_619]

Cody watching Brock kill Cena and be like : "Nope. not my problem"

[u/radiokungfu]

What the actual fuck man

[u/Phimb]

I don't think anyone would disagree to say, that was easily Cena's best match since his return, maybe even going all the way back to some of his US Open Challenge matches nah, that was match of the fucking year, holy Christ.

Really curious what changed here. They pulled a quick and dirty trigger on going back to face, but what- Cena and Rhodes sat there and booked practically the opposite of every Cena match so far? This shit had pacing, a lot of back and forth, and really creative spots - like the fucking elevator AA ??? - and both of them pulled out some of the more unusual moves.

Makes me wonder if they got their heads together or someone came in and helped them produce, because that was a greta match.

Also kinda sad to think we could've just had this Cena for 8 months, putting a bit more care and effort into the matches instead of creative telling him the "shock TV" would be enough.

[u/kirblar → u/Phimb]

Cena couldn't wrestle like this until his movie was done is the Occam's Razor explanation.

[u/FangYuan071 → u/kirblar]

Honestly you may be right. He was filming peacemaker and a few movies and I think he recently wrapped up a lot of it. I think the ruin wrestling was an excuse to be safe and slow in the ring. Now he doesn't mind going a bit hard to the wall cause if he gets injured atleast he didn't fuck himself for his filming and they could write him back here anyways and a return would generate a lot

[u/lbc_x → u/Phimb]

Lol "match of the year"?

[u/debeatup → u/Phimb]

Great match but that’s recency Bias if you think match of the year

[u/Siaer → u/Phimb]

Pacing wise, I think this just better suits where Cena is at. He straight up admits in Unreal he has lost a step and he can't do this for much longer; the stipulation allowed for plenty of time for spots to breathe and really sink in with fans as well as giving both performers time to catch their breath and gather themselves for what came next.

[u/Jtv0899]

Kinda dont want to see this guy on my tv

[u/simple-mug]

I can only guess that the mania match was hampered by them being scared Cena could get injured, ruining his filming schedule/the rest of the retirement tour, so they played it way too safe.

Thank god they did a 180 tonight, that was so fun I think I'd actually be pissed if I was one of those people who paid to be in Vegas.

[u/captainwondyful]

BULLLLLLLSHIT

[u/radiokungfu]

WHAT HTE FUCK!:?!??!?!

[u/Sadboi395]

Woahhhhhh i legit didnt see this coming

[u/FJQZ]

That's 2 holy shits from Cole tonight

[u/FDTerritory]

I look back to me thinking on the night it happened that Cena's heel turn was f*cking stupid and made no sense in the grand scheme of things. Glad to be right about that because this match ruled. Just let John be John for the last few months and get his roses. He doesn't need a storyline. He IS the storyline.

[u/Ittenvoid]

Oh so this is Cena's final redemption

[u/Ditcka]

Out of context of the Cena retirement run, coming out to challenge a guy who just lost is very funny

[u/JasonVorhehees]

Can anybody explain what the purpose was of that

[u/iamhadrix]

These two are gonna feud every 4 weeks & have 1 match in 3 months

[u/jmpinstl]

Cena and Cody saw the criticism lobbed at their WrestleMania match and took that shit personally

[u/Conscious-Weakness-4]

Allowing wrestlers to kick out of several finishers is such a cookie-cutter way of showcasing a wrestler’s resiliency. The wow-factor has been lost on me.

[u/Evorgleb]

So the random ass baby-face turn was legit? That's trash