WWE’s John Cena Reacts To Tribute From Top AEW Star

17-time WWE world champion John Cena has reacted to AEW World Champion Samoa Joe’s tribute to him on Wednesday’s edition of Dynamite.

Samoa Joe retained his AEW World Championship on the December 10 Dynamite: Winter Is Coming show, defeating Eddie Kingston in his first title defence of this reign.

The AEW World Champion gave a nod to John Cena during the match, locking in the STF submission hold which John Cena also used throughout his career, and saluting to the camera.

John Cena has now taken to social media to react to this moment, posting a photo of Joe saluting to Instagram, which you can view below.

As always, Cena didn’t include a caption with this post, but showed that he could definitely see Samoa Joe.

While John Cena and Samoa Joe shared the ring several times in WWE in 2017, their relationship goes a lot further back, with the duo notably both training at Ultimate Pro Wrestling in the early 2000s.

The duo last shared the ring at Survivor Series 2017, with Cena representing Team SmackDown in the 5-on-5 elimination match alongside Bobby Roode, Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura and Shane McMahon, against Team Raw’s Samoa Joe, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Kurt Angle & Triple H.

John Cena will wrestle his final match this Saturday (December 13) at Saturday Night’s Main Event, against GUNTHER.

The latest John Cena updates and news stories ahead of his retirement match can be found right here.

John Cena has given a nod to Samoa Joe, following the AEW World Champion saluting while using the STF submission hold on Dynamite: Winter Is Coming 👇 pic.twitter.com/nvxKQOKSgF

— WrestleTalk (@WrestleTalk_TV) December 11, 2025