Did John Cena Wrestle His Last Match at No Mercy?

Will Cena be invisible to us for real now?

Warning: Spoilers for WWE's No Mercy PPV from Sunday, September 24th

At No Mercy, following his pinfall loss to Roman Reigns, 16-time world champ John Cena lingered in the ring for a while, in solemn reflection, acting as if it was his retirement match. He slowly gathered himself, consoled some children at ringside, and took that long walk up the aisle. Fans even chanted "Thank You Cena!" as the moment certainly felt like a farewell.

We know Cena's getting old, his body's worn out, certain factions in Hollywood are calling - was this his last match? Like Undertaker, did Cena go out in a match with Roman Reigns that was not advertised ahead of time as a career-ending final bout?

The headline is a question: Did John Cena Wrestle His Last Match at No Mercy?

Short answer: No. But something certainly happened. It was all staged to signal that something had come to an end. Let's find out what that was.

Cena spoke to what it was during No Mercy's RAW Talk after show, remarking that he wasn't gone but that, for sure, his role within the company had now changed. Which makes sense, given that WWE's currently even rolling back its rhetoric on Undertaker's retirement, making sure Cole and the other announcers say "May" and "Maybe" when speaking of the Deadman's exit from the business.


But might Cena be gone until - say - WrestleMania? With Roman taking over his spot, will Cena take over Taker's once-a-year position?

Cena, tearing up, speaking to Renee Young and Jerry Lawler, said "It's cool. Transition is tough, but it's wonderful. It's beautiful. I'm proud to be able to say that I lost to a better man tonight and that the company's future is in unbelievable hands." Cena then acknowledged that Roman may have a ways to go with getting the WWE Universe in his corner but that the Big Dog basically showed him what he wanted to see from him during the match and in their month-long build to the PPV. That thing being an extra bit of personal something.

"I think it's no secret that I was particularly hard on Roman Reigns for the duration of our interactions," Cena said, "and that's by design. I feel that my job here in WWE is to either be the best or be a vehicle for the best and I think Roman shares the same vision. I wanted to try to bring something out of him so I said some things to him a few weeks ago that I don't think anyone else has the courage to do."


Why was Cena looking for that little bit more from Reigns? "When I said 'I'm still here because you can't do your job' it resonated because it was a very genuine comment," Cena added. "If you look at the span of a WWE marquee star, they don't last that long. It's an anomaly. So for me to be here, you have to start asking deep down why that is. At the same time, it's me throwing a shot across the bow at my competition for them to prove that I do need to go on vacation."

When Lawler finally asked if Cena had just said goodbye in the ring, at Staples Center, Cena clarified. "Regardless of if I have outside opportunities or not, I'm 40 years old and I have 15 years of track experience here in the WWE," he explained. "And not at a normal level, at an elite level. I don't know how much longer I can keep it up. If I had opportunities outside? Great. If I didn't, I have to know when to say when at that point. And I'm not done, but I don't know that I can keep going at the pace I'm going. And that's a major thing I have to consider."

Cena's words were a fine-line mix of the truth and corporate jargon. There have been moments that you can look at where guys haven't been able to move up because of Cena, sure, but Cena will claim that he never left because no one proved they could supplant him. Consider that Cena's now only moving aside, for a superstar even more polarizing than he is, because his body simply can't weather the storm anymore. It's not like a 35-year-old Cena was ready and willing to step aside if someone else was hungry. I don't think anyone truly believes that Cena would have stepped down after only main eventing for five or six years if someone else had shown they were ready.

At the same time, Cena did help make stars. Like Edge, Randy Orton, Sheamus, Daniel Bryan (who could have succeeded Cena had it not been for injuries), and - more recently - AJ Styles (well, a star within the context of WWE). Bottom line: Roman's the WWE's top guy right now, but he can't carry the company the way Cena did - with the talk shows and Make-A-Wish appearances and the like. He just doesn't have the charisma. He's built, right now, to be a heel and so everything he's currently doing is bumping up against some serious jagged edges. It's hard to buy Cena really thinking that Roman's the right dude for the spot. But, as mentioned, would he ever see anyone as the right person?

"I guess I'll be like a weird Batman character," Cena said of his future in WWE. "When they shine a light, I'll come a running."

While it's not really possible that this was Cena's final match, this might have been his final main event match (or high profile match, since it went third-to-last on the card). Cena has sat in the ring before and reflected on clean losses, but this was set up to feel like a form of closure. All in all, it's possible we'll be able to look at Sunday night as the official end of the Cena Era.


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