Description

The event features John Cena's final match in his 26-year wrestling career, and his opponent was determined by a tournament, which was ultimately won by Gunther. It also feature matches between NXT wrestlers and members of WWE’s main roster, as well as one wrestler from TNA.

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Transcription

• Speaker #0

  what up ladies and gentlemen welcome to faces and heels your podcast for professional wrestling here on the kb radio network i am your host kevin reed and i'm not crying i'm just uh slicing some onions over here as we recap and react to saturday night's main event john cena's final match he has left his boots or shoes i should say in the middle of the ring this was it as he faced gunther in his final match on this ple it really felt like a uh premium premium live event today but it it really was just a saturday night's main event, you know, but really good matches. Ending, not so much, but we'll get to that in a few minutes. Before I start diving into this, let me just say, been watching wrestling my entire life, of course. Love it, love WWE. Recently haven't been really enjoying it, you know, as much as I have in the past. I'm not the only one. Many others feel the exact same way. It's the booking has been horrible in WWE. The PLEs have been lackluster. It's just been bubble gum and it's not, it doesn't have that same vibe. And this retirement tour for John Cena has been nothing short of horrible. Nothing short of just bad booking after bad book. How can you fumble a. retirement tour that was announced a year ago a year ago and you still just it just felt like everything was thrown together at the last minute you know for every ple for every appearance of the man who truly was the face of this country for the better part of 20 years uh to be exact 26 years but it's sad that john cena kind of went out this way now with that being said There have been great moments throughout this retirement tour. The heel turn at Elimination Chamber was amazing. One of the greatest heel turns in the history of professional wrestling. Everything after that, a complete dumpster fire. Nothing worked in this heel run for John Cena. We get the turn, the babyface turn at SummerSlam. Great. He put on a banger with Cody Rhodes at Survivor Series. I like the pipe bomb that he dropped on CM Punk. The exact same pipe bomb that CM Punk dropped on him many years ago, but he reversed it. I love that segment on SmackDown. I like the match with him and Logan Paul. The match with him and AJ Styles probably goes down as one of his best matches, greatest matches in his career. uh the match with dominic mysterio was awesome and we get to this one we get to the final match with gunter and you know gunter doesn't have bad matches so i was confident that they would carry this match and like i said we'll get to it when we review the match didn't have a problem with the match the match was fine borderline great but the ending destroyed it all and so this event Saturday Night Main event, to be exact, was John Cena's final match in his 26-year career. A match that his final opponent was determined in a last-the-last-time-is-now tournament where we saw Gunther earn the right to become John Cena's final opponent. Along with that match, we had three other matches on this card. We had Cody Rhodes, the undisputed. WWE Champion. Going up against Oba Finney. The NXT Champion. Also, Sol Ruka from NXT. Going up against Bayley. And the tag team match between the WWE Tag Team Champions. AJ Styles and Dragon Lee. Going up against Javon Evans and Leon Slater. Javon Evans of NXT. Leon Slater of... TNA? But how does... card was structured and this is uh a john cena uh idea this was his plan to have the young guys go over or not so much go over but be showcased on the show and that's why you saw a lot of nxt on this show and these these people were basically hand-picked by john cena for obvious reasons they are the future over finney uh so ruka uh up Javon Evans and Leon Slater, ironically enough, even though he officially isn't a part of WWE, but you see a lot of him on NXT and whatnot. But due to the partnership with WWE and TNA. But yeah, man, and that is probably the best thing to come out of all of this tour or this this run that John Cena was on. this final year that he really wanted to give back to the business because he is truly a a lover of the business man and i can't take that away and he wants to go out with the young guys on top and or putting them over and i i commend him for that uh let me start off by saying before we get into the reaction and review of this card Up front and honest, I never was the biggest John Cena fan. Never was. When he started off with the Thuganomics thing, and it just didn't work for me. I was like, oh, he's going to be nothing but a jobber. You know what I'm saying? He only has about five moves in his arsenal. There's nothing really appealing about him. Yeah, he can cut a good promo and whatnot, but aside from that, I really wasn't a John Cena fan. And then when we switched to... super baby face John Cena with the uh uh Fruity Pepple shirts and all this here yeah it was like okay he's he's entertaining he was in some really good feuds with Randy Orton and CM Punk and The Miz and then later on with The Rock uh really good you know but I still wasn't a fan you know he wasn't my favorite wrestler by no stretch of the imagination. But tonight, it really hit me. It really hit me tonight. I got emotional all over the place because even though I'm not the biggest John Cena fan, I enjoy John Cena and for what he's done throughout his career. I respect what he's done throughout his career. The matches that he's put on, the fact that he truly was the face of this company. The man who put WWE on his back for 20 years, you know, 20 years before he went off to Hollywood week in and week out, you know, Raw, SmackDown, PLEs. He was on every show, the hardest working man in WWE. And I can't take that away. I never took that away from him. I remember being at WrestleMania when he faced The Undertaker, even though it was a I don't know how to describe that match. I forgot what WrestleMania it was, but it was in New Orleans. But it was just a thrown-together match during the show. But it was fun to see him in the ring. It was fun to see him at Elimination Chamber, which was in New Orleans years ago. That was the Elimination Chamber when The Rock came back. He beat CM Punk. Before the WWE Championship. I remember seeing him at that show. You know, it was just so much that I got to see in person with John Cena. That I do remember. And I do remember all of the great matches that he did have in his arsenal. He was able to pull out some of the best matches in the last 20 years. And for somebody who only has literally five moves. he pulled out some of the best matches you would see in the last 20 years, whether it's AJ Styles or, you know, Randy Orton and whatnot. He brought it. He brought it. And I would never take away that he left it all in the ring. You can never say that about John Cena. And so, yeah, man, I got emotional tonight. I really did. And then I got mad. It was a different type of emotion. But again. But let's start off with this card. The opening match of the night was the two champions, champion versus champion, with the undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes. going up against the nxt champion oba finney oba finney was somebody i thought was going to be you know pop up in the the tournament and and possibly be john cena's last opponent but he didn't appear in the tournament and i was i was a little disappointed by that but at least he was able to get showcased or at this event tonight oba finney is over he is super super over i didn't realize he was that over you know i watch nxt and of course you know he's over there but uh i didn't think it would translate over to the main roster boy was i wrong man that crowd was hot for oba fenn they didn't care about cody rose yeah they cheered him you know everybody like Cody, but man, they wanted over the wind. Like me, this was a. a banger of a match and once again it was kind of a precursor to what we got later on in this uh uh saturday night main event but it ended bad it was so good uh obafemi he brutalized i mean i don't even know how to describe the beating he put on cody rhodes cody rhodes got maybe three good moments in the match the rest of it was all oba femi he destroyed the cody roads now with all that being said i went into this knowing neither one of these two were gonna win i knew it was gonna be a funky finish which what we got because you gotta keep both of them strong you know you can't you can't have oba femi defeat the undisputed wwe champion No, that wouldn't translate well on television and vice versa. You don't want Cody to beat Oberfinney and kind of, you know, demolish, not demolish, but take some of the steam out of the NXT championship. So I knew it was going to be funky, and I knew Drew McIntyre was going to come in. But unlike the final match, which we didn't have any influence, uh or interference not influence but we didn't you know this didn't bother me it didn't bother me the part that bothered me is i wanted this match to go on a little longer it was only nine minutes but i wanted the match to go on maybe another two three minutes you know because i was enjoying it this was a really really good match uh obafemi like i said he is super over Expect to see him on the main roster very very soon uh drew mcintyre we know that they have this uh ongoing beef uh him and cody roads he comes in and beats up on cody roads gets the dq cody wins by disqualification but uh what was intriguing about all that obafemi mad because he lost you know so he he goes at Or Stairs Down Drew. And Drew is a big guy. Drew is a huge human being on the main roster. And then when Obafemi was standing in front of him, I was like, my God. He made Drew McIntyre look like Cody. That's how big he is. I mean, that is an un... Real human being, Obafemi, to be that big and to move like he moves. He is a freak of nature, man. But he got in some good shots on Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes, got some shots in on him. Ultimately, they were able to stand tall in the ring, both holding their championships as Cody puts over Obafemi. the end result was Cody Rose defeating Obafemi by disqualification this was a good match you know I'm not going to grade these matches like I normally do I'm just going to say if they were good or bad and spoiler alert they were all good and so really nothing much to say about them other than the fact that I wish this would have went a little bit longer uh that's my only critique about this match but overall it was really good uh our second match on the card was so ruka taking on bailey so ruka is another nxt superstar who is quickly on the rise she's being featured on the main roster a lot lately for obvious reasons she she's a uh talented talented young lady i think that she's gonna make some noise on the main roster whenever they pull the trigger on that uh zaria um who came out with her also another star who i'd like to see uh possibly be on the rise on the main roster but uh so aruka over fans lover she gives it in the ring uh today was no exception of course she's in there with another general in her own right bailey who once again i'm not gonna say she doesn't have bad matches because bailey will botch a few you know and i hate her finisher i hate the rose plant i really do but you know she's gonna make uh her opponent looks look good especially a young star she's she is dedicated to putting over young talent and i knew going into this one that soul ruka was gonna to win. Didn't shock me. Plus, Bailey, Bailey is on a losing streak, man. They just, I don't know what happened, bro. I don't know what happened with Bailey and the booking with Bailey that she's been booked as a loser for the past, I don't know, couple of years. But for some strange reason, it still works. You know, it still works. But I would like to see Bailey turn that corner. You know, they completely abandoned. this storyline with her having to make uh you know the the multiple personality thing even though she'll switch it every now and then but it looked like that was heading to something bigger than what it is but no no ultimately her and laura vicaria is our besties who knew but this match was fine this was a fine match had some really good spots throughout it told a good story uh a little botchy at times, you know, because you're going up. When you have a high flyer like that, whenever you have high flyers in a match, which we're going to see in our next match, you know, expect some botch. You're going to, especially when it's a high flyer in a ground and pound wrestler, you know, two different styles clashing in the ring. And that's what you got on a couple of spots. But was it exciting and entertaining? Yes, it was, man. So Rooker. is phenomenal in the ring she she showed a lot that i didn't even see coming from her you know i wasn't expecting much from soruka in nxt when she first popped up i just thought she was a little surfer chick you know uh mid card you're gonna be buried in nxt forever and she still could but i i seriously doubt it after tonight but she she has grown She has grown on the mic. She got better on the mic and still get better. But she's gotten better in comparisons than where she first started. Yeah, this was a good match. So, Soul Rooker defeats Bayley by pinfall after giving her the Soul Snatcher, which is probably the best finisher in wrestling right now. That is a phenomenal finisher. The only problem with that finish, it is not. you can't do that all the time you know what i'm saying it's not it's not gonna help you in certain matches not every match you can win with the soul snatcher and at times it's very very choreographed and it looks kind of phony but it's still beautiful to watch you know very very uh cool to watch it um but yeah yeah it's not gonna work all the time so i would like to see more in her arsenal. as opposed to just the Soul Snatcher. But as it stands right now, I'm going to rock with it. It's still exciting. It was landed beautifully in this match to defeat Bayley. And we move on to this tag team match, which had the promise of being a banger, which had the promise of being the show stealer. And I must say, it did for me. This was the best match on the card. AJ Styles. Dragon Lee versus Javon Evans and Leon Slater. I knew this was going to be a high-flying, high-paced, all-over-the-place, bodies-everywhere type of match, you know, and that's what I got. Very energetic, never, never took their foot off the gas. It was balls to the wall for six minutes. Once again, another match that I wish would have went four to five more minutes. It was that good, you know, but I know you couldn't sustain that. and that gear that pays for that long but they did for six minutes here and javon evans and leon slater they're 21 years old they're still babies you know i can say that now i'm old man i got children older than them which is ah but anyways it's it's crazy that these young stars are we say the future but it's now they are the present man These guys are here, and they're here to stay. Javon Evans, once again, another NXT star who you can see him getting more and more focused on the main roster. Just last night on SmackDown, he beat The Miz. Now, granted, that's not going to win you any trophies beating The Miz, but you beat The Miz. Miz is a former two-time WWE champion, so that does hold a little weight. but Yeah, he's been on the main roster a couple of times. He was in the tournament as well. Had an awesome match with Gunther. And so he is, without a doubt, going to be on the main roster very soon. I still would keep him at NXT because, you know, you don't want to rush it. You don't want to just throw him to the wolves just yet. And he... As exciting as he is, as entertaining as he is, and he's good on the mic as well. He has it. You know, he has that element to be on the main roster. You still want him to work out some things, to be a little stronger. Plus, he's a little scrawny. You know, yeah, my boy is bouncy, but I need him to put on just a few more pounds of muscle. You know, he looks like my pinky, but he is exciting in the ring. Um this was a good this was this wasn't good this was great this was great until the end until the end and it's it's unfortunate because this was a five-star match aj styles who's the veteran of everybody in this match he's the one you wouldn't think he would have been the one to botch and he did and it wasn't his fault i'm not blaming him his foot slipped off the roof He was about to deliver the phenomenal forearm, and he flipped. He misstepped. I think he was amped up, and everybody was so amped up in that match. He was trying to match that energy of the youngsters there, and he kind of overshot his landing on that rope and botched that move and kind of fluffled the ending of that match. But ultimately, you know, they recovered really quick. uh aj styles pinned leon slater to win the match for him and his team look it was a great match and i know everybody would talk about that botch i can live with that botch you know it's not like it ruined the entire match obviously that was going to be the end that was setting up the end of the match that we ultimately got five five ten seconds later anyway so it It wasn't the end of the world, but I enjoyed this, and it was a great showcase for the young talent, which it was intended to do. So before we got to the main event, we got a segment with The Miz. And The Miz, it kind of set it up in the pre-show when he was complaining that he isn't a part of the show. He has been a big part. of John Cena's career with their rivalry, even having a Wrestlemania main event between those two with The Rock being the special referee or something, he was involved sometimes but yeah, he is you know, you can't really get mad at what he said because it's the truth, he really was a big part of John Cena's career and it fit, but he's out there, he's in the middle of the ring and R-Truth comes out who also is a big part of John Cena's career and dressed up as John Cena and they have a back and forth R-Truth tells him that you swindled your way back into the tournament after you lost and you took someone else's spot and the man's spot you took is the name on his paper and he looks at the paper and he says his name And wouldn't you know, he appeared. It was Joe Hendry. Joe Hendry appeared. And once again, another one thought he was going to be in the tournament. So why? Why? But he was able to get on the show regardless. and had a big pop for his appearance, uh, show showing that, uh, WWE universe is hungry for Joe Hendry. And he got the best of the Miz and then unfit unofficial match where he pinned the midge, uh, the bitch, the Miz in a good little appetizer for the main event. You know, this was, uh, this was a uh uh how do i describe it this was a good comedy act that set up the main event of the evening where we saw gunther who recently retired uh goldberg on a saturday night main event a few months ago and now got john cena in his retirement match as well look i know a lot of people online were upset that Gunter was the final opponent I wasn't I really wasn't I actually I didn't understand the tournament it was good to see the tournament but I already knew that it was going to be Gunter Gunter is the is the the choice of them all you know that is a no-bringer yeah Gunter he he's going to bring the best out of John Cena he's going to make John Cena looks look good it he did it for goldberg and we know goldberg don't have any moves we talk about john cena and his five moves of doom but goldberg has what two three is a spear and a jackhammer that's it occasionally he'll do a super kick at least he used to now that he's old he does he never did that uh but he doesn't have any and so he he brought some real uh uh energy to that point and this is where i broke down Because it dawned on me that this was the last time I was going to hear your time's up. My time is now. And, you know, when you really listen to that song and it just didn't fit this show. Because your time is up. Well, I guess it did fit. You know, he was talking to himself and handing it over to the youngsters. Yeah, man. This was the last turn that he came out, ran down a ramp, jumped through the rope, slid in, and gave the three-symbol, man. It was super emotional. And then the match started. And the match was what I expected. It was nothing special. You know, it wasn't a WrestleMania-level match. But it was a PLE level match. You know, I wouldn't say it was a raw level. It's above that. I give it middle, you know, middle of the pack PLEs level main event match. And it was good. Gunter looked strong throughout. John Cena got his spots in. We were able to see all five of his moves of doom a couple of times. You know, we saw about 13. 13 attitude adjustments in this match that Gunther kicked out of. One even went through a table. One was off the second rope. It was all over the place, but Gunther kicked out of them all. I knew John Cena was going to lose the match, okay? I knew he was going to lose because he's going out. Traditionally, that's how you go out in wrestling. You go out on your back. You put the guy over on your way out the door. That's what you do. So that didn't bother me. What bothered me? For 20 years, we've been hearing hustle, loyalty, respect. For 20 years, we've been hearing never give up. Only to get to this match. get put in a sleeper hole for about 16 minutes because this match went about 24 and for john cena to tap and what made it so bad not only did he tap but he smiled while he tapped it was like what is this what is it why why why if If Goulter would have hit his powerbomb, which he hit several times in this match, covered John Cena 1, 2, 3, I would have been happy as a feline. This would have been the best Saturday Night Main event in a long time because we haven't had a Goulter. And so this is still the best Saturday Night Main event, even though they completely botched the ending, not only of this card, of this of this event but of John Cena's career they botched it and I'll go take it further they didn't just botch John Cena's final match they botched John Cena's final run his entire run and I'm sad that's where I got emotional at that point I got emotional at the end because I was sad that this this is how he went out the door his final year He didn't really have a big moment to me. Yeah, it was cool when he turned heel. Yeah, it was cool at SummerSlam when he turned face. Yeah, it was cool in the AJ Styles match when he was paying homage to all of the wrestlers that influenced him in his career. AJ Styles as well. Awesome. But those were just moments. There was never any big. you know nothing about this year let's put it in perspective nothing about this retirement run will go down in the annals of history aside from that heel turn i'm gonna give credit where credit's due because it was unexpected it was something people were waiting for for 20 something years or a little less than that because let's let's not get it mistaken people when john cena was thugonomous john cena he was a heel he was a heel And so I always laughed at folk when they talked about, oh, man, John Cena has never been a heel. He never had a heel turn. He started off as a heel. He was a heel. But he was so great as a babyface, you know, and kept that going for so long, you forget that he was actually a heel for a short time. But aside from the heel turn at Elimination Chamber, nothing else about this run. is memorable will go down in the hall of fame that you will go back and watch is nothing and this final match is no exception it it could have been but that last three seconds killed it the fact that he tapped it is just i don't know man it just kind of pooh-poohs on his entire career you know you've been saying don't give up you don't give up and you gave up You gave up. If he would have passed out like Goldberg did, you know, like that, just passed out, didn't respond to the referee, fine. That would have been cool. That's cool. Still wouldn't have been 100% with it, but I would have felt better about that than him tapping out in the manner that he tapped out. So Gunther defeats John Cena in his final. match in WWE in his career he's on to bigger and better things you know he's peacemaker for god's sake yeah he can't he can't do this forever and like he said in an interview he can't keep up with these young guys anymore and he couldn't he couldn't I remember a match he had a couple of years ago with Solo Sokoa I can't remember what PLE it was but Uh... They had a match, and it was horrible. Solo tried to carry as much as he could, but he couldn't. I mean, John Cena was so slow and so bad. That's why I was so impressed by a couple of matches he had this year, you know, with Logan Paul and AJ Styles and Cody Rhodes. Those were some great matches. He dug into the chest for that, you know. I was shocked. but yeah he know he couldn't do it like he used to do it so he he's walking away and on his terms so kudos to him but uh this is it this is it for john cena and man i'm gonna miss him i'm gonna miss him you know even though he's his appearances has been scarce over the last you know what 10 years you know since he got into hollywood but he always had time to come back Make an appearance. Give us a couple of matches, whether it's with Roman Reigns, he'll pop up on or whoever. It was great, man, to block Brock Lesnar stuff and all these other things. It was great, you know, and he will be missed. This was a decent, decent card, decent night, decent event. Could have been great, but some of these booking decisions, I still scratch my head. I still scratch my head with Triple H. I don't get him. I don't know why he's doing what he's doing, but they need to get better. the overall picture, not just John Cena, you know, but the overall WWE, he needs to get better, but we'll leave off like this. Uh, thank you, John Cena for an amazing career for all he's done in and out of the ring. You know, it's been, if you watch the pre shows and you know, interviews and all this other good stuff with John Cena. uh some of his co-workers there in wwe you know all of the good works he's done the make a wish foundation you know uh uh charities that he's done you know being there to help young talent and stuff like that this dude is truly he's the goat you know now he isn't the greatest of all time in my humble opinion but if you call him the goat i'm not going to argue with you I'm not going to be mad, you know, but bad. Cheers to you. Never seen 17. The greatest of all time. The last real champion, John Cena. But I would like to know, what did you think of this? Not only this match, but this entire car. Did you did you enjoy the show? Overall, I enjoyed the show. I'm not mad at the show. mad at a couple of outcomes uh but overall i was thoroughly entertained i would like to know your thoughts on this show and your feelings about john cena and uh what you're gonna miss or are you like sayonara but glad you're glad you're going uh i want to know your thoughts email the show kbradiopodcast at gmail.com you can also search for the show on all social media platforms just search for the kb radio network also don't forget about YouTube subscribe to the KB Radio Network channel and like this video if you don't mind don't forget about the five stars the reviews and sharing if you're listening on Apple Podcasts Spotify iHeartRadio wherever you are currently listening to Faces and Heels here on the KB Radio Network everybody thank you for joining me as I recapped and reviewed John Cena's final match Saturday night's main event. Can't wait to catch you on the next go around. Everybody, I don't think we have one. I think this is it for the year as far as PLEs and stuff. So with all that being said, have a Merry Christmas, have a Happy New Year, and I will see you in 2026.