Watching John Cena’s Final WWE Raw Match Made Me Realize What His Retirement Tour Has Been Missing

John Cena’s retirement tour has been a mixed bag. It’s not as bad as some make it out to be, but it’s also not really that great of a send-off for a wrestler some would call the Greatest of all Time. Over the past 11 months, we’ve seen Cena turn heel, put on one of the most polarizing WrestleMania main events, check off some dream matches, and become a Grand Slam Champion. But after watching his final appearance on Raw, I’ve realized what this farewell tour has been missing.

In case you missed out on the most recent episode of Raw with a Netflix subscription, Cena teamed up with Sheamus and Rey Mysterio to take on the Judgment Day in a wonderful, exciting, crowd-pleasing six-man tag match. Not only did it move along some great feuds, but it was a lot of fun, and I think that’s what this run has been missing.

Watching John Cena Team With Sheamus And Rey Mysterio Was Just So Much Fun

When Sheamus and Rey Mysterio ran into the ring to save John Cena from a beatdown at the hands of the despicable Dominik Mysterio and his Judgment Day buddies Finn Balor and JD McDonagh, I knew we were about to have a fun six-man tag match. However, I didn’t expect to have this much fun watching these three veterans take out the trio of heels by spamming finishers to get the 1-2-3.

This felt like one of those matches you’d see on the WWE Holiday Tour house show circuit to send the fans home happy. I mean, it had the faces doing a “15-Knuckle Shuffle,” a combined 30 chest chops with the heels on the ropes, and Rey Mysterio performing a double 619. Yeah, it was fan service, but that’s the point of wrestling shows.

More Multi-Man Tag Matches Could Have Added So Much To His Final Run

Though I’ve had some fun watching Cena’s final run (I had a blast with my son at the 17-time world champion’s final St. Louis show), so much of it was bogged down by that heel turn that a lot of the enjoyment was sucked out of it. I feel like WWE could have gotten a lot more out of Cena’s availability by having him pair up with or square off against some of his former rivals, allies, and newcomers.

These matches are predictable, but they’re fun. Again, they’re FUN. And with this final run of Cena’s being a celebration of his career and legacy, I honestly think that having him participate in some throwback six or eight-man matches could have accomplished so much. However, if this ends up being Cena’s final multi-man match, at least it was one to remember.

Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Retirement Tour In NJPW Has Been Full Of These Multi-Man Matches

Late last year, I wrote about all the reasons I was excited for wrestling in 2025, and one of the things I was looking forward to the most was watching John Cena and Hiroshi Tanahashi’s retirement tours in WWE and NJPW, respectively. Though Tanahashi is getting ready to take on longtime rival Kazuchika Okada in a highly anticipated singles match at Wrestle Kingdom 20, the Japanese superstar has had so many multi-man matches throughout his final run.

This has allowed him to tag with a ton of different wrestlers in various promotions, which have allowed him to take on new opponents and longtime foes while also conserving his energy and warding off injuries. Looking back, I really wish WWE had taken a similar route with Cena.

With only a few weeks left before John Cena puts an end to his stellar in-ring career, hopefully, we will see more of this at some of the upcoming WWE events before December.