John Cena’s farewell tour has been one of the biggest stories of 2025, highlighted by his heel turn and, more recently, a turning face once again. He may have lost the WWE Championship to Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam, but the surprise return of Brock Lesnar, who promptly dropped Cena with an F5, demonstrated that the now-former champion’s time in the spotlight is far from done.
John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar lacks some of the appeal of previous Cena matchups this year. While Cena squaring off with Randy Orton, R-Truth, and CM Punk carried some fun novelty of reversing face-heel orientations while revisiting famous rivalries, Cena and Lesnar find themselves in their most familiar roles. Cena is a face again. Lesnar is, by all indications, a monster heel.
One wrinkle to make this match more intriguing than it otherwise might be is the prospect that it could mark not only Cena’s last match with Lesnar, but Lesnar’s last WWE match ever.
The Reactions To Brock Lesnar’s Return Show He’s, At Best, Polarizing
Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. Photo: WWE.com
When Brock Lesnar made his surprise appearance at the end of SummerSlam 2025, he drew one of the biggest pops of the weekend. Indeed, there’s no denying The Beast is a huge name, besides which fans sincerely didn’t know he’d be there. Lesnar hasn’t shown up on WWE television since being implicated in Vince McMahon’s scandal with Janel Grant.
After the initial shock of seeing Lesnar, the reaction died down and, particularly on social media, things took a turn. While some fans were hyped to see The Beast again after an extended absence, a louder chorus of naysayers were offended at WWE featuring him again despite the allegations, not to mention that there’s a real case Lesnar’s character felt played out by his last major feud with Cody Rhodes in 2023.
The popular theory circulating right now is that John Cena personally requested to work with Lesnar, which makes sense given the overarching impression is that Cena’s has called most of his own shots along his retirement tour. For the sake of nostalgia and “playing the hits” it does make some sense for Lesnar to be back in the fold in this very specific context. That said, it doesn’t seem as though many fans would be all that disappointed if Lesnar were gone from WWE after one more bout with Cena.
John Cena Is A Fitting Opponent For Brock Lesnar To Go Out On
John Cena after SummerSlam. Photo: WWE
Like him or not, Brock Lesnar is a unique spectacle of a professional wrestler. He’s huge, he’s a legitimate athlete, and top to bottom he was well-protected throughout his WWE main roster run. As such, The Beast really only makes sense in the ring opposite other top guys. For marquee value, John Cena fits that bill.
More importantly, Lesnar and Cena have extensive history. When Lesnar won his second world championship at WrestleMania 19, his first as a babyface, the first major challenger to chase him, and his first legitimate rival who wasn’t already an established veteran was fellow OVW Class of 2002 graduate Cena.
When Cena made his big babyface turn after the mid-card heel run that got him over and prepared him to ascend to the main event—he did so to stand up to Lesnar going into Survivor Series 2003.
When Lesnar returned to WWE after eight years away and a foray into mixed martial arts, Cena was his first rival back. Then The Beast infamously squashed Cena in the main event of SummerSlam 2014.
So, with well over a decade of history between them, and as a Mt. Rushmore pair of WWE’s last twenty-five years, it’s hard to think of a better rival for Lesnar to tie up his WWE career against than Cena.
John Cena Could Achieve A Career First
Image credit: WWE
One of the interesting aspects of John Cena’s farewell tour has been the question of what firsts, records, or other milestones he still might hit. In February, he fell one spot short of tying Stone Cold Steve Austin’s record as a three-time Royal Rumble winner. In March, he shocked the world with the heel turn no one saw coming. In April, Cena became the first ever seventeen-time world champion (at least as far as WWE’s records are concerned).
There aren’t very many meaningful milestones left for Cena. He didn’t even enter the King of the Ring tournament, so that possibility passed him by. He could still win that elusive Intercontinental Championship, and thus complete his tour of winning every title he’s been eligible for. There are still a handful interesting first-time matches for him opposite the likes of Drew McIntyre or Gunther.
One achievement well within Cena’s reach would be to finally pick up a decisive victory over Brock Lesnar. Cena has just two one-on-one victories over Lesnar across eighteen documented bouts. Night of Champions 2014 saw Cena win by disqualification. Extreme Rules 2012 saw Cena’s biggest win over Lesnar, but it’s telling that match saw The Beast violently dominate Cena for the overwhelming majority of the match before Cena stole the pin after clocking Lesnar with a chain to turn the tide at the end of the match, before hitting an Attitude Adjustment on the ring steps to pick up the win.
While some might call that Extreme Rules victory decisive—and it is a subjective point—it was largely erased by how handily Lesnar squashed Cena in their next match, the main event of SummerSlam 2014 for the WWE Championship. What better way could Cena gain redemption than, 11 years later, not just surviving Lesnar, but soundly defeating with a clean pin or perhaps even a tapout victory?
Many big-name wrestlers gave Brock Lesnar a lot, with stars like The Undertaker and Kurt Angle going out of their way to cement Lesnar as “the guy” in his first WWE run, and who’s who major talents putting him over between 2014 and 2019. John Cena ranks toward the top of that list for the variety of ways in which he put over Lesnar at the highest level.
Maybe WWE could officially bill their showdown as Lesnar’s last match. Maybe the match could be career vs. career with Cena going home early if he loses and Lesnar leaving forever if he does. Or perhaps the end of Lesnar’s career could go unrecognized as he more quietly rides off into the sunset. Regardless, There’s no more fitting final chapter to their story than The Beast putting over Cena as not only a stop on Cena’s farewell tour, but the end of Lesnar’s own pro wrestling journey.
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