WWE President Nick Khan IMAGO / MediaPunch

Nick Khan Comments On John Cena's WWE Retirement

Originally posted on Wrestling on SI | By Zack Heydorn | Last updated Dec 3, 2025 5:12 PM ET

Nick Khan has been in a leadership position within the WWE since 2020, and in that role, he's changed a lot.

Khan spearheaded the organization out of the WWE Network era and into the era of billion-dollar television rights deals. He also helped navigate the company through Vince McMahon's departure from the company he built, the sale of WWE, and the merger of WWE and UFC under the Endeavor banner as TKO Group.

As mentioned, a lot. As of December 13, Khan will have to navigate his company through another transition, the in-ring retirement of John Cena. Cena will have his last match on that date at Saturday Night's Main Event in Washington, D.C., marking yet another new era for the company.

Nick Khan says it's an honor to retire John Cena the right way

WWE

Cena has been an in-ring fixture for WWE for nearly 25 years. He's synonymous with the brand, and in a new interview with Pat McAfee, Khan not only called him the GOAT, but said it was the company's honor to send him off into retirement the proper way.

"It (Cena's retirement show) is gonna be a great show. You talk about people who work their behinds off, who never say that they're tired. Cena — you never hear him say, ‘I’m so tired, I can't believe this, I have to do this or that.’ He just does it. That's GOAT mentality. He deserves everything that he's earned in his life and it's our honor to help see him out.”Nick Khan

With LA Knight and Gunther winning their respective 'Last Time Is Now' semifinal matches on WWE Raw this week, Cena now knows he'll face one of the two in his final match. Gunther and Knight will collide in the finals of that tournament on this week's episode of SmackDown, and the winner will appear on Raw to discuss what it means to potentially retire John Cena.

Cena announced his retirement at SummerSlam in 2024, and 2025 has seen him win the world championship for a record 17th time, wrestle old foes like Randy Orton, CM Punk, R-Truth, and Brock Lesnar, and turn heel for the first time since he became the top star in WWE.

Cena has announced that not only will his final match take place at Saturday Night's Main Event on December 13, but that night will also showcase NXT stars against main roster WWE talent in an effort to get some young acts a shot at a big opportunity.

Cena has maintained he would not get physical in a WWE match after December 13.