"He made him quit"- WWE Hall of Famer makes major statement regarding John Cena's final match before Royal Rumble 2026

The wrestling world bid farewell to John Cena's in-ring career, who wrestled his final WWE match at Saturday Night's Main Event in December 2025. However, the highlight of the match was the ending, when his opponent, Gunther, forced him to tap out, which drew a lot of negativity from fans. WWE Hall of Famer and current Chief Content Officer Triple H finally addressed the backlash.

In an interview with ESPN's Get Up, The Game spoke about the finish of the match and acknowledged that the people took it badly. He said, “Yeah, John Cena retiring at the hands of Gunther, and not only retiring, but Gunther made him do the one thing John said he would never do, which is he made him quit, he made him tap out. A lot of people took that badly.”

Furthermore, Triple H also addressed Gunther battling AJ Styles in a career-threatening match at the WWE Royal Rumble 2026, a feud that started after The Ring General bragged about retiring The Never Seen 17. “Gunther’s been bragging about it. AJ Styles took that as disrespect, and Styles put his own career on the line if he cannot beat Gunther this Saturday at the Royal Rumble. So the stakes could not be any bigger. AJ Styles’ legendary career on the line if he loses, that’s it,” said Triple H.

John Cena is exploring life outside WWE

John Cena had a remarkable farewell tour in WWE that started in January 2025. He battled some of his iconic foes like Randy Orton and CM Punk, while also squaring off against young talent like Dominik Mysterio. He had marquee moments like winning his 17th World title at WrestleMania 41 and completing the Grand Slam by winning the WWE Intercontinental Championship.

However, his final match broke millions of hearts, and a lot of heat was directed towards Triple H for booking Cena to finally give up after not doing that during the prime of his career. After losing his retirement match, Cena appeared for an interview on Cody Rhodes podcast and is busy with his Hollywood commitments.

While the career of The Cenation Leader came to an end, WWE is moving ahead with the upcoming Royal Rumble Premium Live Event, taking place in Riyadh on January 31. So it will be interesting to see if Gunther will end AJ Styles' career the same way he did to Cena at the event.

Also read: “Isn’t that 2 jobs?'- John Cena responds to top WWE star who had a major moment at his expense

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