His time is (almost) up — the time to say thank you and farewell to a Mt. Rushmore pro-wrestling legend is now. And last night, in New York City, U could C him one final time.
John Cena kicked off his last-ever WWE Raw Monday in a fitting forum, Madison Square Garden, the mecca of what we now call sports entertainment (as well as real combat sports), to an extremely hot crowd. The 20,000-plus in attendance, including me, were not disappointed. No surprise there — we’ve rarely been disappointed by Cena, whose true passion for wrestling and his respect for the WWE Universe has shone through with 23 years of hustle and loyalty.
With all due respect to CM Punk, Cena is still the best in the business on the stick — especially when real emotions are on display as they were last night. Opening the show with Cena, as opposed to making fans wait for hours, worked. The building erupted, and the “Thank You Cena!” chants probably could have continued for the entirety of Raw’s runtime. WWE had more in mind.
Cena did not defend his shiny, new Intercontinental Championship, which he won for the first time ever last week in his native Boston. Usually that would disappoint an audience, but the six-man tag team match concocted in its place was surprisingly satisfying. After an uncool beatdown at the hands of heel faction the Judgment Day, Cena, Sheamus and Rey Mysterio took Finn Bálor, Dominik Mysterio (Rey’s son and the man Cena defeated for the title) and JD McDonagh on in an official, sanction capacity. The good guys won, of course, and their combined 15-Knuckle Shuffle (and all of the choreographed chaos that took place immediately before and after) was perfectly executed by all.
Watch the highlights below:
MSG often brings out the celebs, though last night was more packed than usual. Eric André, Brandon Marshall, Gabriel Iglesias, Sam Jay, AZ, Lin-Manuel Miranda, The Kid Mero, Chris Bauer, members of the New York Giants (Cam Skattebo and Abdul Carter) and stupid Philadelphia Eagles (Cooper Dejean and Dom Disandro) were among those presented to the midtown Manhattan crowd. (Side note: What the hell are we doing letting Skattebo, fresh off season-ending ankle surgery, participate in a scuffle across the barricade? Let Carter have at it — at least he’s now hit somebody this year.)
The show itself saw the exciting returns to WWE of crowd favorites Dolph Ziggler and AJ Lee (who is married to Punk). Ziggler did the thing he does best — sell big for his opponent — in a loss, whereas Lee distracted Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch just enough for Maxxine Dupri to take advantage and win the white belt.
The evening ended with an epic, unexpected face off between old rivals Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns, two men at the absolute top of the WWE food chain. Lesnar hasn’t been on WWE TV since September; Reigns since early October. WarGames at Nov. 29’s Survivor Series, set up by the night’s final segment, is gonna be absolute bedlam. Dom Mysterio’s Intercontinental Championship rematch with Cena will (finally) take place there as well.
Cena’s WWE tenure will officially come to an end on Dec. 13 on new Peacock PLE (premium live event) Saturday Night’s Main Event. His final opponent is still being decided via a tournament.
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