John Cena is set to close out his legendary career by the end of this year. The 17-time WWE World Champion will wrestle at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, for his final match.
Cena announced his plan to retire from professional wrestling at the 2024 Money in the Bank Premium Live Event. This year, he competed in his final Royal Rumble Match, finishing second last to the winner, Jey Uso, but did win his final Elimination Chamber Match. In his final WrestleMania, Cena became a 17-time WWE World Champion by dethroning Cody Rhodes, and he did so as a heel after selling his soul to The Rock at the Elimination Chamber: Toronto PLE.
According to WrestleVotes, Cena’s retirement match is set for Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13th. The show will take place at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC.
Check out the report on X:
John Cena will appear on this week’s WWE SmackDown
John Cena’s next WWE appearance is set to take place in less than 24 hours, as he is set to appear on this week’s SmackDown. He is on the back of a win over Logan Paul, whom he defeated at Clash in Paris.
Cena’s next opponent is likely to be Brock Lesnar, who made a shocking return to WWE television at SummerSlam. Lesnar attacked Cena right after he lost the Undisputed WWE Championship to Cody Rhodes.
Cena and Lesnar could cross paths one final time at the upcoming Wrestlepalooza Premium Live Event. However, WWE hasn’t confirmed any plans regarding Cena’s next opponent. The company also hasn’t confirmed Cena’s final opponent.
Throughout his retirement tour, Cena has shared the ring with major names, including Randy Orton, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, and even Drew McIntyre. It remains to be seen what plans WWE has in store for The Last Real Champion for tonight’s SmackDown.
Soumik Datta is a professional wrestling journalist who has been following the business for more than a decade.
In 2017, Soumik joined the Sportskeeda Wrestling team and is best known for his work with the WWE team. He has previously contributed to the Sportskeeda AEW, MMA, and the football team where he specifically covered the Major League Soccer.
In 2024, Soumik crossed 50 million reads for Sportskeeda WWE. While working under Sportskeeda MMA, he interviewed prominent UFC fighters, including Justin Gaethje, Sean O’Malley, and Cory Sandhagen, among others. He is also being followed by John Cena on X (formerly Twitter).
In 2025, Soumik became an Assistant Content Manager at Sportskeeda, but continues to cover and write about the hottest and trending news topics.
Apart from his love for professional wrestling, Soumik also watches Football and has been a lifelong follower of Liverpool FC and Mohun Bagan. He has also been following the Indian Super League and remains the only content creator to have traveled across India to watch 7 ISL Matches in 7 Days, a video which currently sits at 26K views on his YouTube channel. His channel currently amasses over 120K views.
As aforementioned, Soumik also likes to make content for his YouTube channel and travel to various places either with family, friends, or solo, or go on road trips.
(Go SUBSCRIBE to his channel while you’re at it): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfkg4VnUC7sLNc5jEzVYgOQ