WWE’s determination to have John Cena faucet out to Gunther in his retirement match infuriated a big part of their fanbase, however one other plan for Saturday Night time’s Major Occasion would have led to much more controversy. WWE’s chief content material officer, Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque, has acquired many of the blame for the end to Cena’s closing match.
WWE Made John Cena Retirement Match Change
Cena smiled earlier than tapping out, a lot to the shock of most in attendance at Capital One Area in Washington, D.C. There have been heavy boos from followers and debates are nonetheless being held per week on.
WWE seem to have correctly pivoted from a plan to have Cena and Gunther’s match open the present quite than foremost occasion. Dave Meltzer revealed on the Wrestling Observer Publication:
“There was a match order in place the place Cody Rhodes vs. Oba Femi was listed final. That might have been an enormous mistake.”
If Cena and Gunther had opened the present and their match had completed the identical means it did final Saturday, the backlash they might have acquired would have been even worse. These attending the present principally got here to bid farewell to the 17-time world champion, so sitting by means of the rest of the occasion after doing so may have been disastrous for the remainder of the cardboard.
Oba Femi and Cody Rhodes placed on a superb opener, however Drew McIntyre’s interference triggered a disqualification. This did not go down too properly with followers, and ending the present in such a style may not have been a well-liked name.
Cena showcased the youthful technology on the night time as WWE held NXT exhibition matches. Oba confronted Rhodes, Sol Ruca defeated Bayley, Je’Von Evans, and TNA X-Division Champion Leon Slater misplaced to AJ Kinds.
John Cena on Utilizing NXT Expertise on Retirement Present
The choice to have NXT stars compete on the identical night time of Cena’s retirement was his name quite than WWE’s. The corporate have been set to ebook a pure tribute present however he as a substitute needed to current upcoming expertise.
Cena make clear this throughout an interview with Rhodes on the What Do You Wanna Discuss About? Podcast:
“That was a private egocentric purpose of mine; what number of of us can we get across the noise? Lets take our high expertise and put them with new expertise, simply so on this one night time they’ll hear, listening to loud noise is one factor, listening to that degree of noise is one other factor. Now they’ve heard it and so they have one thing to try for.”
Cena visited NXT and the Efficiency Heart throughout the latter phases of his retirement yr and he gave a number of rising stars recommendation. He advised Rhodes that NXT Champion Oba has a “very brilliant future forward of him” and revealed that his final toast in his WWE apparel was with Evans.
