We left off the first part (click here if you missed it) of fixing WWE with the end to Wrestlemania 41 and we are continuing from there. This part will focus entirely on John Cena. You can read the full first part here, but here is a recap of John Cena’s Road To Wrestlemania:
The booking stays the same until Royal Rumble with Jey Uso winning the rumble. At Elimination Chamber, Drew McIntyre wins the match after kicking Cena in the nuts and hitting the Claymore Kick.
Grayson Waller and Austin Theory mocked Cena for not being able to win any singles match since 2018 which leads to Cena Vs Theory at Wrestlemania. It looked like Cena was winning that match but a run in from Waller helps Theory beat John Cena.
Now coming to the next part of the story:
John Cena’s Post Wrestlemania
John Cena is on the Raw after Wrestlemania. He shows his disappointment over losing the final Wrestlmania match of his career and being unable to remove the stigma of his losing streak. But he promises that he is going to hunt down Grayson Waller this coming Friday on Smackdown and he is going to teach that son of a bitch a lesson.
On the coming Smackdown, Cena calls out Grayson Waller to open the show but Waller doesn’t show up. Cena says that he is going to hunt down Grayson Waller backstage and if Austin Theory tries to protect his boy, he’s gonna get it too. We then see Cena throughout the show looking for Grayson Waller backstage.
At one point, he did manage to spot Waller but Theory stopped Cena from getting to him but Cena did manage to take out Austin Theory before going back on his search. On his search, Cena meets R Truth backstage who is all excited to meet his childhood hero and offers to help him find Grayson Waller.
They both agree to split up so they can find him quicker. R Truth, however, ends up confusing someone else to be Grayson Waller. The show ends with Cena finally bringing Waller to the stage, giving the live audience a beatdown to witness first hand. However, Theory has recovered by this point and rushes to the ringside to attack Cena from behind. Waller and Theory beat down Cena and stand tall as we go off air.
Tagging
Next week on Smackdown, we find out from the announcers that John Cena has requested a match against Grayson Waller at Backlash. We later find out that Grayson Waller has told Nick Aldis he isn’t facing Cena. Him and Thoery are going to focus on the tag team division.
Aldis says if that’s what they want, he’s got nothing to say and puts them in a tag team match for later tonight. Austin Theory and Grayson Waller won the tag team match and right after, gets attacked by John Cena. Waller manages to escape but Cena gets the hold of Theory and puts him in the STF.
Cena screams at Waller that the only way he’s letting Theory go is if Waller agrees to face him in a one on one match. Theory grabs a mic and announces that he agrees to the match. Cena has got Waller at Backlash.
The go home edition of Smackdown sees Grayson Waller preparing himself for the match against Cena with Theory helping him. They have no intention of letting Cena end his losing streak at Backlash.
Drew
After winning the WWE championship at Wrestlemania, Drew’s first challenge came in the form of Randy Orton. There is no personal animosity but the story is build around the fact that Randy ended Drew’s first title reign.
Drew’s counter argument is that back in 2020, Randy faced a young and naive Drew McIntyre. But he is more ruthless and more cunning now and he is going to decimate Randy. Drew proves his point at Backlash when he defeats Randy convincingly after a hard fought battle.
Drew’s next challenge came in the form of crowd favorite LA Knight. Drew managed to retain his title against Knight at Money In The Bank after kicking him in the balls when the referee’s view was obstructed and hitting him with the Claymore. Drew and Knight went head to head one more time at Night of Champions but with the added stipulation that if Knight loses, he cannot challenge for the title again as long as Drew was champion.
At Night of Champions, Knight had Drew’s number but gets screwed by Aliester Black, who Knight had a minor altercation on during the build up to Night of Champions. Black keeps Knight busy going into Summerslam and Drew is now free to take on new challengers.
Backlash
Just like Wrestlemania, this time Theory runs in for Waller. But this time Cena’s got backup as R-Truth comes out and sends Theory running. Cena then hits the AA on Grayson Waller and finally picks up his first singles victory in 7 years with the help of R Truth.
Saturday Night Night Event
Towards the end, it ends up being a tornado tag as ref gives Team Cena the leeway. Theory runs away after Cena shows he has still got Ruthless Aggression. This leaves Waller to fight on his own and he gets destroyed by Cena and R Truth. Cena hits the 5 knuckles shuffle and R Truth hits the AA. Cena lets R Truth get the pinfall.
Road To Riyadh
Cena’s next goal is to defeat Austin Theory who has got 2 victories over Cena at Wrestlemania. Theory at first ducks the challenge from Cena but eventully is forced to accept the match by Nick Aldis. Grayson Waller makes it clear that he won’t help Theory in this as he left him high and dry at SNME.
During a face off, Thoery tells Cena that one victory in 7 years doesn’t mean shit. He shouldn’t even be celebrating that because he got that victory because of a mentally deranged dude getting involved. Theory later defeated R Truth, who took offense to that statement, in a singles match.
Theory continued the beatdown on Truth, causing Cena to come out and start a brawl with Theory. The feud gets so intense that the match ends up getting scheduled to be a Street Fight. Cena let’s us know that he’s going to show us at Night of Champions that he has still got Ruthless Aggression.
Night of Champions
Before the match, Cena tells R Truth not to get involved no matter what because he doesn’t want any excuses when Cena gets the win. R Truth makes a promise not to get involved.
Cena absolutely beats the hell out of Austin Theory and hits him with the 5 knuckles shuffle for good measure. He then sets up for the AA but Grayson Waller attacks him from behind with a steel chair to the back. It was all a ruse to bait Cena into a false sense of security. Theory and Waller beats down Cena.
They continue their beating for a while but at one point, Cena ducks an offense from Theory which hits Waller. This gives Cena the opening to make a comeback and take out both men. Cena then hits a double AA on Thoery and Waller and pins Thoery to pick up the win.
Title Aspirations
Next Friday of Smackdown, Cena comes out to open the show. He says that the match at Night of Champions, it was kinda special. That match made him realize that deep down, the John Cena people came to know through most of his career is still alive.
He still has the passion and the determination to win, to never back down from a fight, to always get back on his feet. He still has what it takes to be the franchise player. He still has what it takes to make history. And with Summerslam approaching, he is aiming to make history.
The goal is to become a 17 time world champion and make history. So the challenge is issued – John Cena Vs Drew McIntyre at Summerslam for the Undisputed WWE Championship.
Following this promo, Drew let us know in a backstage interview that he will be out at the end of the show to address the challenge. Later on in the night, Drew McIntyre comes out and asks John Cena to come out to the ring. John Cena shows up.
Earning it
Drew says that John Cena used to be someone he wanted to headline a PPV with. John Cena is someone he wanted to defeat. But this isn’t that John Cena. He is not interested in an old washed up has been who is here for one last nostalgia run.
The guy he wants to face is the guy everyone in the locker room aspired to be, the guy who used to take down every challenge put in front of him, the guy people used to call Super Cena. That’s the guy he wants to beat. The John Cena that is unbeatable.
So for John Cena to EARN a shot at the title, he has to prove that he still got it, that he is worthy of Drew’s time, that he still got the heart and resiliency. So in order for John Cena to prove it, he has to run a gauntlet next week. If he runs through all of Drew’s hand picked opponents, he gets the match at Summerslam. John Cena just smiles and accepts the challenge.
Next week, we see pre-recorded videos of John Cena working on his cardio and endurance as we gear towards the gauntlet match in the main event. The first opponent is Carmelo Hayes who John Cena takes down easily. Up next is JC Mateo who puts up a good fight and almost manhandles Cena.
But Cena shows heart and manages to lock in the STF as Mateo passes out. Up next is Austin Theory who is looking for retribution. Theory manages to take charge of an already beaten up John Cena but in the end, he mounts a comeback and hits the AA to pin him.
Solo
The final opponent of John Cena arrives who is none other than Solo Sikoa. Solo has previously destroyed Cena in a one on one match back in 2023 and that was when Cena was in his 100 percent. Solo toys with Cena and has an arrogance on his face.
Solo goes for a splash off the top rope but Cena moves aside and Solo hits hard on the mat. This gives Cena time to recover as he hits the shoulder blocks, followed by the side-release spinout powerbomb and the five knuckles shuffle. He then goes for the AA but Solo gets out of it and hits the Somoan Spike.
This one is over…or that’s what the people thought.
Cena kicks out! Super Cena is back! Solo is frustrated and takes a while to regain his composure. Solo picks up Cena and goes for another spike but Cena ducks it and rolls up Solo. ONE! TWO! THREE! Cena has done it. John Cena has survived the gauntlet.
Solo is however furious as he hits Cena with another Samoan Spike. He then goes on to hit Cena with multiple spikes. Drew McIntyre comes out to the stage and just laughs at the carnage as we go off air.
Next week, John Cena doesn’t show up as he is still recovering from the assault last week. Drew McIntyre comes out and says that Cena might’ve proven last week that he still got the heart but sooner or later, his body is going to give up.
At Summerslam, what John Cena is facing is a ruthless and cunning Drew McIntyre. He is facing the man at the top of the mountain. And John Cena is going to learn that sometimes, it’s better to give up. We later see a backstage segment between Solo and Drew. Drew praises Solo for his actions.
Solo just smirks and says that Drew should be worrying about him because sooner or later, he’s coming for that title.
The following week, John Cena is back. He says that if Drew thinks the hell he went through 2 weeks ago is going to make him question his decision, all it did was solidify the thought in his mind that he is ready to be the franchise player once again. And at Summerslam, he is going become the WWE champion once again.
No amount of punishment that Drew dishes out on him is going to keep him down. He is going to fight and crawl and he is going to make history. Drew comes out to the stage but shows no intention of getting inside the ring. He says that Cena might think he has the answer to everything he is going to put him through but at Summerslam, the reality is going to sink in.
And the reality is that Drew McIntyre is more vicious, more ruthless than anyone Cena has faced before. Cena likes to talk about Ruthless Aggression but come Summerslam, John Cena is going to find out what Ruthless Aggression truly means.
The go home episode for Summerslam shows a hype package for the title bout between John Cena and Drew McIntyre. We also see bites from multiple WWE legends talking about this match as well as the legacy of John Cena.
Summerslam 2025
This was a signature John Cena match. Cena takes a beating for most part of the match and Drew is relentless in his attack. However Drew couldn’t finish Cena off as he kicks out after a future shock DDT and later after a claymore kick. This infuriates Drew as he starts mounting punches to a downed Cena.
Cena starts bleeding at some point and he could barely get back to his feet. Drew has a grin on his face as he sets up for another Claymore. As Drew charges at Cena, Cena sidesteps and hits Drew with a clothesline. Cena immediately falls back down but so does Drew.
This gives Cena some time to recover and he hits Drew with the shoulder blocks and follows up with the sitout hip toss (his original setup move for the 5 knuckes shuffle). He then hits the 5 knuckes shuffle and looks for the AA but Drew rolls out of the ring.
Cena follows Drew outside and a brawl breaks out outside the ring. Drew tries to send Cena into the ringpost but Cena reverses and sends Drew into the ringpost instead. Drew hits the ringpost hard and Cena tosses him back into the ring.
Cena then hits the AA on Drew to pick up the win and make history as the 17 time world champion. The show goes off the air with a bloodied John Cena celebrating his victory and this historic moment. R Truth comes out to celebrate with him, followed by Randy Orton, Nick Aldis and Triple H.
TO BE CONTINUED…
[The next part will go all the way up to December where Cena wrestles the final match of his career. Then we might also take a look at Raw side of things where we got the likes of CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Gunther and OTC Roman Reigns]
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