Run It Back With Old Rivals

A John Cena retirement tour would feel incomplete if he doesn’t cross paths with the superstars who helped build his legacy the most.

Randy Orton is the ultimate John Cena foe; his pure evil viper character serving as the perfect foil for the Cenation Leader’s virtuous ethos. The duo have won a combined 30 world championships and competed in upwards of 250 matches. The rivalry defined the PG Era, so not pairing the two together in some capacity in 2025 would feel criminal.

Of course, there’s CM Punk, who aired his grievances about the WWE and Cena’s fixed position atop the card in his infamous pipe bomb. The promo—a direct challenge to Cena’s character and the status quo of the WWE—created an anti-hero that fans were craving, and it led to unforgettable bouts and mic exchanges between the two. You’d be hard pressed to find a more anticipated match (with higher stakes) than their Money In The Bank classic in 2011. A couple of years later, their match on Monday Night Raw was arguably just as good, if not better. Reuniting these two polarizing figures–the GOAT and the Best In The World–after a decade writes itself.

Edge no longer works for the WWE, but his AEW contract is up at the end of 2025–around when Cena’s farewell tour concludes. The Rated R Superstar perfectly encapsulated everything that John Cena wasn’t during their mid-to-late-aughts rivalry: conniving, disloyal, disrespectful, selfish. He tried anything and everything to pry the world title from John Cena’s hands, which he initially did by famously cashing in his Money In The Bank briefcase at New Year’s Revolution in 2006 (after a bloodied and battered Cena barely escaped his elimination chamber match with a victory). Their electric chemistry is worth igniting one last time.