John Cena has revealed that he was due to face Drew McIntyre on the home straight of his retirement tour before WWE pivoted.
The Scot, who is now the WWE Undisputed heavyweight champion, was in line to face Cena at Crown Jewel back in October 2025.
Speaking on the Rich Eisen Show, Cena revealed that the nostalgic AJ Styles matchup was a late change.
“AJ was supposed to be Drew [McIntyre]. But it pivoted. We wanted to give them a feel good moment because we they were listening to the data points. Like they listen to you guys. They do, it’s real,” he explained.
“So you have the Brock moment, people are p****d off. Then you have the AJ moment, things are great.
“And then you have this three appearance run with Dom [Mysterio], which is fun. Hometown boy wins in his hometown, gets the hits for the cycle. Like you can’t write it better than that … and then ‘The Ring General.’
“Like Yeah. They make you have so much fun and this thing is going to be awesome and man we’re going to go, no, he ain’t going out like this. F**k. Darth Vader’s born.”
McIntyre lobbied hard to face Cena, it’s a shame it didn’t work out for him.
But, in January, he did defeat Cody Rhodes for the world title and is running through WrestleMania season as the top champion in the company.
Alls well that ends well!
