-Crown Jewel 2025:
Cody Rhodes vs John Cena:
On the Raw after Bad Blood, Cena would appear to talk about his current situation. He has about two months left of his storied career, and he feels like the opportunity to win another world title is starting to dwindle. Regardless, he promises he will be competing at Crown Jewel, he just doesn’t know who his opponent will be.
As he says that, we hear “wrestling has more than one royal family”. Cody Rhodes makes an appearance on Raw, and it seems like he’s coming down to the ring with a purpose. By this point, Cody has already dropped the WWE title, and he is currently on a path to regain it. Cody reminds John that around two years ago, he asked him if he could just give him one match between them. John told him he didn’t know how many he had left, but it’s now clear he still has at least a few to give.
His pitch is simple, he needs an opponent for Crown Jewel, and Cena needs one as well. He’d like to face Cena, and he knows John wants to face Cody as well. Cena then asks the crowd if they want to see it happen, which is met with a raucous ovation. John and Cody then shake hands to make the match official.
The build really hypes the dream match aspect to this, with the idea of it possibly being a passing of the torch moment for Cody. This match is pretty high intensity, as you’d expect, with both men evenly matched at a technical level. The story of the match sees both men go to massive lengths to avoid getting hit with the other’s finisher.
The end sees John Cena catch Cody as he goes for a cross-body, allowing him to transition it into an AA. Cody slips off his shoulders though and instead hits the Cross Rhodes trifecta to score a big win! Cena looks disheartened in defeat, but still gets up and shakes Cody’s hand as he simply exits the ring.)
-Survivor Series War Games 2025:
War Games Match: Team Cody vs Team Randy:
After getting the big win, Cody would begin feuding with his former mentor, the guy who turned on him a year prior, and the current WWE Champion, Randy Orton. They’d have a title match on SD, but it’d end in scrutiny. As a result, Cody and Randy would be told to find three partners to help them in WAR GAMES!
Cody would recruit Carmelo Hayes, & Kevin Owens to his team, but would lack a third member. Randy would recruit Jacob Fatu, a heel LA Knight, and to top it off Bron Breakker to his team, all with the promise of a future title shot if they help out. With hope running out, we’d see Cody make an ominous call to someone on the go-home edition of SD.
At the end of the show, Team Cody would be beaten down in a 4 on 3 assault, when those iconic trumpets would start to blare. John Cena is Cody’s last member as he helps the group clean house. Cena is the last entrant of a chaotic War Games match, as he immediately runs in super fired up. He has showdowns with Fatu, LA Knight, and even a reignited feud with Breakker. Cena would also have a stare-down with Randy before they’d go to blows as well.
The end of the match would see almost every man taken out in some capacity, with only Randy and Cody left to fight it out on the top turnbuckle. A table is strategically placed in the middle of the ring, and both are trying to put the other through it. Cody tries to knock him off the top, but Orton manages to gain control. Randy tries to do the same to Cody, but instead both men wind up going through the table.
As Randy is incapacitated on the floor, a beaten-up Cena manages to crawl over and rest his arm over his chest to get the victory for team Cody. Not only has Team Cody won War Games, but Cena has just pinned the WWE Champion.
–Armageddon 2025:
John Cena’s Last Match for the WWE Championship:
John Cena vs Randy Orton:
In early 2025, WWE would announce that they were going to host a PPV event for the month of December, titled Armageddon, that would be held in Boston, Massachusetts. Think about it, Armageddon, the term that describes the final battle between the forces of good and evil. What can be more fitting for an event centered around John Cena’s retirement?
On the SD after Survivor Series, Orton addresses his loss at War Games. He’s not just mad at his team, but he’s mad at himself. He let his arrogance go to his head, and it allowed Cena to pick up a fluke victory. Because nobody actually definitively beat him, and because his team didn’t come out on top, Randy states that he is not granting anyone a title opportunity.
As he tries to leave the ring, he’s interrupted by John Cena. Cena jumps straight to the point, his career is going to end next month, and Randy is in the way of the one thing he still wants to do. At this point he’s done asking, he tells Randy he will challenge him at Armageddon in his own hometown.
Orton refuses, and tells him his time is up. It’s not that Randy doesn’t respect him, it’s that he respects him so much, and he knows what he will do to him in a match with so much on the line.
That’s why Randy asks Cena to back off out of respect. John then questions if it’s out of respect, or if it’s out of fear? Fear that John might be able to do the thing Randy wants to do himself, and that is to break Flair’s record. That one strikes a nerve, and Randy very violently tells Cena he accepts!
The weeks leading up to the event would see them air multiple tribute packages, focusing on different stages of Cena’s career. No matter who wins or who loses, it will be Cena’s final match. On the go-home edition of SD, Randy and Cena would have a contract signing for their match. After trading personal shots back and forth, they set it up, so the match is anything goes, and that there must be a winner.
It ends with Randy getting the upper hand by RKO’ing Cena through the table. Would that be a sign of what’s to come at Armageddon, or can Super Cena overcome it one last time? The match itself sees Randy make his entrance first, getting an insane amount of boos from the audience.
Cena then makes his final, triumphant, and very extravagant entrance, receiving a huge ovation from the Boston crowd. After introductions, the bell rings and history is about to be made.
It’s John Cena vs Randy Orton one last time for the WWE title. Can Cena earn his 17th world title win, or will he have to retire empty-handed? The forces of good and evil are set to do battle, and those questions will be answered one way or the other. This is more of a character study for Cena than it is a match. Similarly to the Punk match, both men know each other extremely well, and are seen as equals throughout.
Unlike Punk, Randy likes to play dirty, and he uses cheap tactics to gain control often, but it’s all considered legal. In the early stages, both men go for their big offense often, but it’s consistently countered. Near the end, Cena would be thrown to the outside, allowing Orton to set up the announce tables. He places Cena on the Spanish announce desk and tries to hit a RKO, but Cena counters and instead slams him through the English announce table.
John throws him back in the ring for the cover, but earns a near fall. He then goes for an AA, but Randy counters it with an RKO mid-move. Both men are exhausted, and slowly get to their feet, allowing Orton to hit a second RKO for another near fall. Undeterred, Orton tries to lift Cena up again for an RKO, but Big Match John just crumbles.
Randy then gets an idea and backs into the corner for the Punt. Cena gets to his knees, and Randy hits his kill move. He goes for the pin, gets the 1, the 2, and then Cena kicks out at 2.999!!! Nobody has ever, ever kicked out of Randy’s punt kick, but Cena found his last ounce of strength in his final match to power through.
Randy is absolutely stunned and irate, and decides to end it just then. After a flurry of grounded punches, he sets Cena up on the top rope and goes for an avalanche RKO. Cena fights out of the attempt, though, and manages to hit the avalanche AA instead. Cena then picks Orton back up and hits another AA. Finally, he rolls through, positions himself to the center of the ring, and with one last “U Can’t See Me” at the camera he hits his final Attitude Adjustment. John then collapses into the cover to get the three count.
On the last night of his in-ring career, John Cena wins his record-breaking 17th world title. The show ends with Cena holding the title up high as pyro goes off and confetti rains down from the ceiling.)
On the Raw after Armageddon, Cena gives his retirement speech. He recaps his entire career from start to finish, thanking the fans and the WWE for the constant support. He says he’s content with handing over the reins for the future generation, and will always be a part of the WWE family, no matter what. After he’s done, the entire locker room comes out on the stage to show support.
Cena’s soon joined in the ring by his close friends, allies, and even some former adversaries. The last to enter the ring is Triple H, who informs Cena that he will be the first inductee in the 2026 Hall of Fame. The two shake hands, and the ring starts to dissipate. All that’s left is Cena standing in the ring, as he takes everything in one last time.
He then grabs a pair of his jorts, his iconic green t-shirt, and a pair of his sneakers and lays them in the center of the ring. Finally, he grabs his WWE Championship and lays that in the center of the ring as well, before making his own exit, thus ending his in-ring career. The title is then vacated, allowing a new face to step up and lead the company going forward.
Credit to Kanenums88
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