John Cena’s Unselfish Call Led to Quick Loss Against Brock Lesnar at Wrestlepalooza – John Cena’s WWE retirement tour took a surprising turn at Wrestlepalooza when he suffered a decisive loss to Brock Lesnar in the opening match of the September 20 premium live event. Lesnar defeated the 17-time world champion in under ten minutes, a booking decision that left many fans questioning why Cena would take such a lopsided defeat with only five dates left before he retires.

According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, the result was largely Cena’s own decision. Meltzer explained that Cena wanted to elevate others as his career winds down and made the call to put Lesnar over in dominant fashion. “There’s no plan for a rematch. I don’t wanna say it was John’s idea, but what I was basically told is, John is very unselfish, and he knows on the way out, he wants to make people. He wants to make big stars. So he felt that was… it’s his call. And that was his call,” Meltzer reported.

He added, “A lot of guys, when they’re on their way out, their call is to lose and to put the other guy over. And that was John’s call. At the end of the day, it’s Paul Levesque’s call, but if John says that, it’s not like Paul Levesque’s gonna go, ‘No no no, you have to win.’ Especially when Brock is the one staying and he’s the one leaving, and whatever they have planned for Brock.”

For Lesnar, who was wrestling his first match in more than two years, the dominant win re-establishes him as a major threat heading into the final stretch of 2025. Meltzer speculated that the victory sets Lesnar up for a top-tier program, noting, “They got to put them against Cody Rhodes, or somebody like that, right? I mean, if you’re going to beat John Cena, you got to set him up for something big.”

Cena’s farewell tour continues with five appearances remaining, including the WWE Crown Jewel event at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, on October 11. His opponent for that show has not yet been revealed, but this latest loss reinforces his commitment to using his final matches to help elevate WWE’s next generation of stars.

John Cena’s Unselfish Call Led to Quick Loss Against Brock Lesnar at Wrestlepalooza

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