Veteran NFL writer and Pat McAfee Show contributor Mark Kaboly looks at the final seven months of John Cena’s Farewell Tour.
The setup
John Cena, the 17-time World Champ, has only 24 appearances remaining before his Farewell Tour and in-ring career conclude. If you consider his match-per-month pace since returning to the ring at January’s Royal Rumble, that leaves seven matches left for Cena before he hangs up his boots. That’s not a lot of time nor opportunities to have his unsuspecting “bad guy” turn come full circle. Cena has already beaten Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 41, CM Punk at WWE Elimination Chamber, and Randy Orton at WWE Backlash. Who is next? It could continue down the nostalgia highway or veer off into another direction. Either way, there are not a lot of opportunities remaining. But these matches need to happen.
Five most intriguing (potential) opponents for Cena
1
THE ROCK (THE FINAL BOSS): Sure, Cena sold his soul to “The Final Boss,” but to quote The Rock, it doesn’t matter. Cena and Rock haven’t battled each other many times over their storied careers, but you can certainly make a strong argument that the two times they did oppose each other, more than a decade ago, were spectacular. They had a memorable main event at WrestleMania XXVIII that was tagged as “Once in a Lifetime,” with Rock getting the pin. It was so legendary that they ran it back the following year, with Cena getting his redemption. Two of the most iconic Superstars in WWE history matched up against each other one last time? Sign me up!
2
ROMAN REIGNS: Just like The Rock, Cena and Reigns have met sparingly inside the ring during their careers, mostly because Cena’s heyday didn’t match up with Reigns’ more than three-and-a-half year title reign. Cena is 0-2 against Reigns in one-on-one competition, losing at No Mercy 2017 and SummerSlam 2021. That in itself would be enough for the two to meet during Cena’s Farewell Tour. But it is more than that. It’s great vs. great. I am a sucker for separate eras, specfically, the best of their era going toe to toe to see who’s better. Imagine if you were afforded the opportunity to watch Michael Jordan and LeBron James go one-on-one to settle who is the GOAT? To a degree, that’s what Cena vs. Reigns could be: a 17-time World Champ against one of the longest-reigning World Champions ever. That would have me tuned in.
3
CM PUNK: Nobody, and I mean nobody, has had better matches than Punk and Cena. You can make a pretty solid argument that many of Cena’s best matches over his 23-year career came against Punk, including his very best match at Money in the Bank 2011 in which Punk won the WWE Championship in his hometown of Chicago. You probably couldn’t come up with two more different styles of competitors in the ring and on the mic, making their rivalry all the more interesting. How the flame could reignite would be all the more intriguing. Punk is currently in a full-fledged rivalry with Seth Rollins that doesn’t seem to be cooling off anytime soon, but maybe a Triple Threat Match between Cena, Punk and Rollins brings “Then, Now and Forever” in the ring together.
4
DOMINIK MYSTERIO: Let’s think outside the box a little bit here. No way is “Dirty” Dom Mysterio in the same league as Cena, at least not yet. But he very well could be heading down that path, and what better way to push that along than with one of Cena’s final matches. The reigning Intercontinental Champion, Mysterio appears to be on a rocket ship to stardom with his personality and his in-ring acumen. This is what I’d like to see: “Dirty” Dom vs. Cena at Survivor Series in Mysterio’s hometown of San Diego for both the WWE and the Intercontinental Championships. Imagine, after Cena wins a hard-fought match, he turns his attention to Dom’s “deadbeat” father Rey at ringside, only for the WWE Hall of Famer to be saved by his son. OK, farfetched, but giving Dom Mysterio a chance to take part in one of the few remaining Cena matches is not the worst idea. Oh yeah, and Cena wins the Intercontinental Title to complete his Grand Slam in the process.
5
CODY RHODES: This has to happen, right? The entire story has to come full circle with Rhodes having an opportunity at redemption after what Cena did to him at WWE Elimination Chamber and then again at WrestleMania 41. Rhodes needs to reclaim the Undisputed WWE Championship and send Cena on his way. Regardless of the match’s outcome, it’s destiny. I’m convinced that from the day Cena hit a low-blow on The American Nightmare at Elimination Chamber, it was set in stone that the two would meet at the end of Cena’s Farewell Tour.
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