2025 is being advertised as John Cena’s last year in the ring. Cena appeared at 2024’s Money in the Bank to announce that his retirement tour will extend from January to December and feature a series of “lasts” for the future Hall of Famer. So far, WWE has confirmed three dates: the first “Raw” of the year on January 6, Royal Rumble on February 1, and Elimination Chamber on March 1. These dates might suggest a once-a-month schedule, but Dave Meltzer of the “Wrestling Observer Radio” is suggesting that many more will be added.
“He’s gonna be working most of the big shows this [upcoming] year,” Meltzer said. “I think it’s 35, 40 dates. … Probably he’s going to run 35 different markets during 2025. And every one — or every one maybe except for New York, maybe he’ll do multiple shows — but most of those 35 are going to be ‘John Cena’s last time in…’ San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas, whatever. That’s what the year is going to be — a whole bunch of farewells.”
Meltzer predicted these shows will be big draws, even bigger than what WWE is already drawing in one of its best fiscal periods in company history. He mentioned that Elimination Chamber, normally a second tier PLE that would fill a 20,000-seat arena, is being held at the 41,000-seat Rogers Centre this year. WWE is banking on Cena’s name value to justify the larger venue.
Meltzer then mentioned that AEW might’ve left money on the table by not doing something similar with Sting. Although Sting’s retirement match at AEW Revolution was largely praised, Meltzer said AEW could’ve boosted attendance at lead-up events if they advertised them as “Sting’s last time in [City X].” Cena will kick off his retirement tour on the Netflix premiere of “Raw” on January 6 from Los Angeles’ Intuit Dome.
