WWE Star Doesn’t Believe He Was Originally Planned To Face John Cena During Retirement Tour

WWE

A WWE star has revealed that he doesn’t believe he was originally supposed to wrestle John Cena during the retirement tour of 2025, although they did face each other.

WWE Crown Jewel in October of last year saw John Cena face AJ Styles in Perth, Australia, marking the last time either star would compete at a PLE in the region.

With the match seeing Cena victorious, Styles would note the importance of the many callbacks throughout the encounter during a recent appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet.

Styles would also suggest that he wasn’t meant to face Cena at Crown Jewel, which Van Vliet described as the “best match” of the retirement tour, with the WWE star explaining:

“Well, it was the opportunity to throw back to every guy that we ever wrestled that meant a lot to us, and that’s all it was. I mean, we didn’t have much of a story, so we had to tell one in the ring.

“I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to wrestle him. I don’t care what anybody says. I don’t know who called it, but I know that I wasn’t in the picture. Something else needed to happen.

“I don’t know what that was, someone’s gonna have to tell that story, because I don’t know. I’m just positive that I wasn’t the guy that was supposed to wrestle him.”

Styles would go on to note that he hadn’t heard of any plans for him to face the 17-time world champ during John Cena Retirement Tour earlier in the year, stating:

“Nothing, never a talk of me having a match with John. Listen, I just assume I’m not that guy. I’m not that guy again.

“Sometimes I feel like even though I’ve been in WWE for 10 years, I’m not a WWE guy. So, and that was just one of those times.”

Cena would retire at the hands of GUNTHER at Saturday Night’s Main Event in December of last year, with Styles seeing the same outcome for his own career at the Royal Rumble.

Styles would comment on the decision to retire to GUNTHER, noting that it wasn’t his choice, and that he questioned the Ring General competing in the men’s Royal Rumble match later that evening.

Card Subject To Change

AJ Styles not being in the plans for John Cena’s Retirement Tour is, perhaps, not that much of a surprise given the direct of travel for the story which saw a first-time heel turn, 17th World Championship run and “tons of pivots“.

In Cena’s final year, there were likely many stars as potential opponents, yet there were limited opportunities to fulfil such a hypothetical list, and changes to the plans were inevitable. Styles suggests as much when he says that he wasn’t “in the picture”, yet found himself facing the star at Crown Jewel.

Triple H has previously discussed the hurdles that WWE creative faces when it comes to making changes to storylines that they have created due to reasons beyond their direct control. It’s unlikely that a name will be revealed as to who Cena was supposed to face to Crown Jewel and it will go on to be one of those unanswered “what if?” mysteries for many fans.

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• wwe
• John Cena
• AJ Styles

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