John Cena’s farewell stretch has turned every entrance into a small ceremony. WWE has already locked the destination, as Cena will headline Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13, 2025, at Washington D.C’s Capital One, closing a year-long goodbye run promoted with major tentpoles like WrestleMania and SummerSlam. However, the identity of his last opponent is a mystery, which has prompted other wrestlers to throw out a few names.
The final match is about Cena’s meaning, not just his opponent
Cena’s career is a marker in WWE: the superhero standard-bearer who carried the brand through one era and then evolved into the special-attraction name who can still make any show feel bigger. That’s why we’ve seen his face in different WWE-related products, such as the slot WWE Clash of the Wilds present in Kiwi’s Treasure and other online casinos. His popularity has made the organization bigger. Even other wrestlers have become bigger thanks to fighting against him, as for years, “Can you hang with Cena?” was the simplest test to know if someone belonged in the main-event picture.
He’s also one of the rare performers who lived inside a split reaction. Those “Let’s go Cena” arenas weren’t a footnote; they were the environment that shaped him. He didn’t try to silence the noise; he worked through it, and in doing so made his comebacks feel louder and his losses feel meaningful. That push-and-pull is part of why the last opponent matters so much.
WWE leans into that scale when it promotes the closing chapter. The official event materials describe Cena as a 17-time World Champion and highlight career markers like multiple U.S. Title reigns and two Royal Rumble victories.
So, the final opponent becomes a symbol. A familiar rival makes the night a reunion. A dominant current star makes it a statement about what’s next. Either way, the opponent is a mirror held up to Cena’s legacy, what WWE chooses to underline as the last image.
WWE also made the selection itself a part of the narrative. “The Last Time Is Now” tournament is designed to make the last opponent feel earned rather than gifted: win through the bracket, and you win the right to be the final name on Cena’s WWE résumé.
CM Punk’s call: not “perfect,” but “probable”
This situation has prompted certain voices inside WWE to give their own take about who will be Cena’s last rival. Now, CM Punk has shared his thoughts in an interview setting with host Kay Adams, and he answered in two layers. First, the fan-service layer: Punk said the “perfect” last opponent for Cena probably would have been Punk himself, a wink at the rivalry that helped define the 2010s and still sits high on many fans’ “best of” lists.
Then came the competitive layer. Punk noted that he isn’t part of the on-screen process WWE is using to decide Cena’s last opponent, so he shifted from what he’d like to what he thinks will happen. His prediction leaned on a simple claim: he’s been in the ring with Gunther, and based on what he knows about his level and what he sees in the current field, Gunther is the favorite.
WWE has made that “field” very literal. The company is running a 16-man “Last Time is Now Tournament,” and WWE’s official bracket page states the winner will face Cena in his final match at Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13, 2025. CBS Sports’ tracker echoes the same premise and lays out the weekly path there, with the tournament unfolding across Raw and SmackDown before the final showdown in Washington, D.C.
In the early rounds, WWE sprinkled in nostalgia alongside current stars. WWE lists surprise entrants Zack Ryder and Dolph Ziggler (Nic Nemeth) as part of the 16-man field, a reminder that Cena’s career intersects with multiple eras and rosters. The bracket has also already been shaped by turbulence: Sheamus was pulled due to injury, forcing WWE to name a replacement for the quarterfinals.
Gunther, meanwhile, has advanced in a way that feeds Punk’s “it’s looking like” line. In WWE’s bracket, Gunther defeated Je’Von Evans in the first round and then beat Carmelo Hayes in the quarterfinals, setting up a semifinal clash with Solo Sikoa. CBS Sports lists that semifinal for Dec. 1 on Raw, with the tournament final scheduled for Dec. 8, also on Raw. It’s hard to make a stronger “final boss” case than wins plus momentum, especially when the story you’re chasing is “who can credibly retire John Cena?”
