Last night, John Cena’s career officially came to an end after he tapped out to GUNTHER during their match at Saturday Night’s Main Event. As the show came to a close, Cena was met with many of the biggest names on the roster, including Triple H, as they all spent time basking in the glory of his farewell alongside him.

Once everyone left him in the ring, Cena proceeded to bow towards each segment of the crowd, while they all chanted “Thank you Cena,” and the WWE locker room, who stood around the ring, all clapped as he proceeded to leave his sneakers, arm band, and wrist bands in the center of the ring, as retiring wrestlers traditionally do. While some fans jokingly chanted for him to leave his ‘jorts’ in the ring as well, Cena simply slid out of the ring and emotionally walked up the ramp to the stage, touching the hands of the fans on the way. Once he reached the top, Cena simply took the cheers in, one last time, and faced the crowd to bow to them one more time before saluting the crowd. 

“It’s been a pleasure serving you, all these years. Thank you,” he said.

And with that, Cena turned his back and walked down towards the entrance, making his way backstage for the last time after a match. While other retired wrestlers have continued the trend that retirement isn’t permanent in wrestling, Cena has maintained that he’ll be the first to stay retired. Because of this, his final moment walking off stage is far more bittersweet, because if there’s any wrestler who will keep his word, it’ll be John Cena.

It’s been an interesting decade for Colt Cabana, given his falling out with CM Punk years before both wound up in AEW can be argued as being the catalyst behind why Punk’s AEW tenure ultimately ended in disaster. But for Cabana himself, he’s largely kept out of the limelight, instead wrestling in AEW and ROH in a lower midcard level before eventually transitioning into his current role as a producer and occasional performer.

Appearing on “Close Up with Renee Paquette” three weeks ago, Cabana talked about that transition, admitting that though he has grown to love his producer role, “the performer in me will always want to perform.” He then explained how he has been able to successfully transition from wrestler into producer; by finding other outlets that allowed him to explore the performance side of his personality, something that he believes has prepared him for life after being a wrestler.

“I like performing, I really do,” Cabana said. “And if I’ve found anything in this journey of my wrestling, I like to perform. So as my wrestling career will eventually, and probably has kind of started to wind down, I get a lot of knowing I can go on a stage at the Lincoln Lodge in Chicago, and do a set or do a comedy show. I get a lot of joy of knowing even at the end of it, at the very least, I can jump on Twitch and perform in some kind of way. Or I can go on podcasts. I can do podcasts. So I do love the performing aspect of it. Nothing is like wrestling. You’ve heard that a million times. It’s so magical, and all different aspects formed into one. But it has taught me that performance is something I really enjoy.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Close Up with Renee Paquette” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription