The 2026 TV schedule is off to a great start, and something that many WWE fans have been looking forward to recently debuted to those with a Netflix subscription. WWE: Unreal Season 2 is now available and delivers some behind the scenes secrets for major events that happened in the ring last year, one of which was the first ever two-night SummerSlam. That PLE included a match between Cody Rhodes and John Cena, and Rhodes just revealed what Cena said right before he stomped on his ankle that he’ll “never forget.”
What John Cena Told Cody Rhodes Right Before He Stomped His Ankle At SummerSlam
Wrestling fans will likely always have many strong opinions about John Cena’s year-long retirement tour, but SummerSlam 2025 saw him have a match with Cody Rhodes that many have called one of the best of the Peacemaker star’s that year. It saw Cena (after a somewhat poorly booked heel-turn led to him winning the Undisputed Championship from Rhodes at WrestleMania 41 in a much-hated match) going back to his long-time babyface ways and the duo just beating the crap out of each other for the championship rematch.
One of the cool things about that contest was how fiercely the two babyfaces went after each other, with one spot seeing Rhodes get the legend down on the mat and then stomp the shit out of his ankle. While speaking with the WWE: Unreal team in a clip posted to Instagram, the Street Fighter star opened up about something his opponent said to him right before that will stick with him. As he tells it:
I will tell you something that John Cena told me in the ring that I’ll never forget. They were booing, this was right before I stomped on his ankle. And he just looked up and said, ‘Be yourself.’
Most professional wrestlers have personas that are basically them, but with their personalities dialed way up. This means that simply being themselves when performing can require some careful balancing acts, but that is something that a vet like Rhodes is certainly used to. However, with the goal of that particular match being to have the fans on his side enough that they want to see him beat Cena and take the title back, having the crowd booing him wasn’t ideal, which seems like it may have led him to yell, “This is what you want!” at Cena before punching him in the face and then taking out that ankle. Rhodes continued:
This is very John, because the moment was there [for me] to be a bad guy; to beat him up with malice, to beat him up and be that heel. John can figure that out and realize, ‘No, just be yourself.’ Because the story that we wanted to tell was two characters being virtuous. Let them go through absolute hell knowing, I’m not going to stab you in the back, but I will stab you in the front.
He goes on to explain that they wanted to get to the “very real” nature of the match behind Cena refusing to hand the torch over to Rhodes, and him doing everything possible in return to “take it by force.” For that to come across, he said:
If you’re a babyface you have to stick to those virtues. Even if it’s not something that’s making [the crowd] happy, if you’re beating up someone that they really love, I don’t want to do that with any dishonor.
In the end, Rhodes got his title back (for a few months) and Cena retired (in another match that angered fans), but this will still go down in history as one of the most memorable matches of his final year in the ring.
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