John Cena on his WrestleMania 41 match with Cody Rhodes: “We stunk up the joint, we failed”
While speaking to Uncrowned, John Cena reflected on his retirement run with in 2025. Here is what Cena had to say in regards to his WrestleMania 41 match with Cody Rhodes…
“I think it’s a great template for when I talk to young talent — and I try to do this all the time, I remind them to swing big and don’t be afraid to fail. A lot of them think I’m talking from a glass house of like, ‘Yeah, sure, it must be easy for you, because you, you never fail.’ And then I’ll look back, especially on that last year because the retirement tour did have a lot of eyes, and I’ll say I took a big swing at WrestleMania and we stunk up the joint. We failed. But what did I do? I got back up, we dusted ourselves off, course-corrected the ship, and we culminated with a fantastic finishing of the story, as Cody would put it, at SummerSlam.
As far as the last match goes, gosh, there were a lot of easy routes we could have gone creatively and I appreciate the bold swing at the end. So, it’s authentically me. I didn’t leave anything in the tank physically. I gave it my all, got to work with a great opponent. I thought we had an ending that surely everybody talked about. Regardless of whether it was acclaimed or criticized, it sparked conversation and thought, which I think is really cool.”
— NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW news (@nodq.com) November 10, 2026 at 12:44 PM