WWE Changed Controversial Plan For John Cena's Last Match

Cena smiled before tapping out, much to the shock of most in attendance at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. There were heavy boos from fans and debates are still being held a week on.

WWE appear to have wisely pivoted from a plan to have Cena and Gunther's match open the show rather than main event. Dave Meltzer revealed on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

"There was a match order in place where Cody Rhodes vs. Oba Femi was listed last. That would have been a huge mistake."

If Cena and Gunther had opened the show and their match had finished the same way it did last Saturday, the backlash they would have received would have been even worse. Those attending the show mostly came to bid farewell to the 17-time world champion, so sitting through the remainder of the event after doing so could have been disastrous for the rest of the card.

Oba Femi and Cody Rhodes put on an excellent opener, but Drew McIntyre's interference caused a disqualification. This didn't go down too well with fans, and ending the show in such a fashion might not have been a popular call.

Cena showcased the younger generation on the night as WWE held NXT exhibition matches. Oba faced Rhodes, Sol Ruca defeated Bayley, Je'Von Evans, and TNA X-Division Champion Leon Slater lost to AJ Styles.

John Cena on Using NXT Talent on Retirement Show

The decision to have NXT stars compete on the same night of Cena's retirement was his call rather than WWE's. The company were set to book a pure tribute show but he instead wanted to present upcoming talent.

Cena shed light on this during an interview with Rhodes on the What Do You Wanna Talk About? Podcast:

"That was a personal selfish goal of mine; how many folks can we get around the noise? Lets take our top talent and put them with new talent, just so on this one night they can hear, hearing loud noise is one thing, hearing that level of noise is another thing. Now they've heard it and they have something to strive for."

Cena visited NXT and the Performance Center during the latter stages of his retirement year and he gave several rising stars advice. He told Rhodes that NXT Champion Oba has a "very bright future ahead of him" and revealed that his last toast in his WWE attire was with Evans.