John Cena tapped goodbye to WWE
John Cena’s “never give up” spirit went on a different direction that shocked the audience inside the Capitol One Arena in Washington D.C.
It has been a trademark for Cena to be the “unseen” WWE icon that transpired to the current generation of wrestling fans and even casuals that never watched professional wrestling. Together with this, is the spirit of not giving up to all his matches notably during his babyface run. The best example here is when he faced Rob Van Dam and tried his best to defend the WWE Championship against a hostile ECW crowd at One Night Stand PPV. Many wrestlers these days might fail to withstand a crowd like that, but John Cena gracefully wrestled and did his might to finish the match, that alone earned everyone’s respect and admiration.
On July 17, 2011, John Cena also defended the WWE Championship against CM Punk in Punk’s hometown in Chicago where you can clearly see that “If CM Punk loses, we riot” signage knowing that it is also a hostile crowd for the babyfaced champion. Cena also lost this title match to Punk while running away outside the arena hours before his contract expired but later went back with a new theme song holding the WWE Championship.
John Cena’s retirement special at Saturday Night’s Main Event was indeed special. It was the best platform to introduce and expose new and upcoming wrestlers from NXT and even TNA to a more casual fanbase, but WWE still failed to make the most out of it to introduce more of them to the audience as the match card only consisted of three undercard matches.
If Vince McMahon booked this event, there were more matches and probably include a battle royal match or a Miz TV sort of segment, but of course with a touch of goofiness and cringe-worthiness knowing his “sports entertainment” style. I am confident enough that when John Cena requested to include NXT wrestlers in each match card even to McMahon, it was granted immediately, and I see no problem about that.
The main event became controversial perhaps. Gunther finished the match and the career of John Cena by making him tap out in the middle of the ring. With an illustrious career “never giving up” to several tough opponents, and without the expectation of everyone inside the arena, John Cena did just not sleep to a sleeper hold by Gunther, but submitted his way to a loss, which truly solidifies Gunther as the next big thing to watch out. For the record, all of Cena’s losses through a submission hold is by “passing out” – which makes Gunther an exceptional talent.
John Cena tapped out from the Walls of Jericho AFTER a low blow which made the submit invalid
Many fans hated how the match concluded, but I truly believe since the moment I saw it, it was John Cena’s call to finish it that way. The WWE crowd even booed Triple H when he came out from the gorilla position after the match. It’s also notable that the WWE crowd was 100% in support of John Cena for the first time in his career, but I guess it’s just part of how magical pro wrestling can be. Anything can happen within a blink of an eye, but in this case, however, if this is what Cena wants so we should respect it.
The “never give up” spirit should live forever especially for the modern era of fans, and we all witnessed the end of it. The torch has been passed to Gunther, a future hall of famer to watch out even more. If you’re a long time WWE fan, the way he was treated back in his NXT UK days, is being continued until now. The dominant force of The Ring General grew stronger and better. As Michael Cole said on December 13th edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event, “Professional wrestling killed sports entertainment”. This is now the era of The Ring General.