Some will call it a sincere apology, others will call it an attempt at a retroactive fix. After defending his title against Punk at Night of Champions, Cena was due for a WrestleMania rematch against King of the Ring winner Rhodes, but after a few weeks of blacked-out entrance titantrons and “you people” promos, Cena faced the music regarding his failed heel persona. His babyface reversion did what he had attempted to do during his villain arc: it sparked interest in his career. Cena dropped the title to Rhodes in one of the best matches in his retirement tour, amidst a sea of fans chanting his name.

The sky was the limit for a born-again Cena, but a certain “Beast Incarnate” looked to drag his career rival down. Brock Lesnar’s program with Cena was a draw on paper, given their history together, but their feud saw plenty of online discourse regarding Lesnar’s name in a deeply troubling sex trafficking lawsuit, and not enough live television appearances featuring both men to drown it out. Lesnar and Cena’s “feud” was built on fragmented broadcasting segments, and when they finally clashed at Wrestlepalooza, WWE’s ESPN streaming debut, fans watched in horror and outrage as Lesnar squashed Cena in a sub-10 minute match.

From here, Cena’s appearances were reserved for premium live events. Cena was forced to take to social media to build with feud with AJ Styles, and while his and Styles’ match was one filled with love for the professional wrestling business, any hopes of a full-fleshed feud were in vain. GUNTHER only became the man to retire Cena after winning “The Last Time is Now” tournament, and the two hardly interacted against their match at “Saturday Night’s Main Event,” which saw Cena tap out in D.C..

With a catalogue of Cena’s retirement tour, in all of its successes and shortcomings, now established, the question remains: just how did an explosive, high-profile, mournful goodbye to professional wrestling has been labeled one of the biggest missed opportunities of the year?

Cena’s heel turn was a viral moment, but moments, however great they are, cannot constitute entire storylines. Cena originally turned heel to appease “The Rock” and celebrity Scott’s evil plans, but whatever plans Johnson and Scott had never came to fruition, as the two big names almost immediately pulled out of the storyline, either by choice or by force. Cena was left to scramble for the pieces, and his floundering “abusive relationship” promo could be seen as a result of his attempts to scrounge up what parts of his heel storyline be salvaged. It was fanciful and intelligent, but without anyone to bounce off of, Cena was destined to give “you promo” peoples from the very beginning — promos that, for someone of his caliber, are not groundbreaking.

His extremely exclusive retirement tour dates did not help Cena’s efforts. While Cena was originally scheduled for more than 36 dates, WWE restricted him to his very limited number of appearances, out of what seems to be consideration for Cena’s ring rust. Limited tour dates can still be impactful, however…if they’re not wasted on five-minute matches with R-Truth. Cena was given arguably pointless matches with little narrative (or career) impact. With those dates gone and done, Cena was forced to turn to social media and tournaments to sustain his final two “feuds —” respectable mediums in their own right, but nothing compared to in-person segments.

His narratives were shallow, and his dates shallower. While Cena seems content with the “art” that he released as part of his retirement tour, fans remain — perhaps, justifiably — unsatisfied.