Ariel Helwani Thinks John Cena ‘Deserved Better’ In Last Match: ‘I Reject This’

Add Ariel Helwani to the chorus of people who were not happy with the way John Cena went out in his final match. As you know, Gunther made Cena tap out in his final match at Saturday Night’s Main Event this past weekend. The loss has been, much like a lot of Cena’s career, polarizing among fans. Many have expressed the opinion that he should not have tapped out, and Helwani echoed those thoughts on The Ariel Helwani Show.

Helwani’s Twitter account posted a clip of the host being critical of the finish. The tweet was captioned as follows:

“No one wanted to see John Cena go out like that. And to suggest it’s a time-honored tradition for him to ‘do the job’ is such a thing of the past. We live in a different era. Cena deserved better. The farewell tour had so much potential. In the end, it feels like fans were left wanting more. I think it was a mistake.”

Helwani wasn’t happy with Cena, the guy who professed “never give up,” tapping out. He took issue with the notion that Cena losing followed tradition and was what Cena wanted. He called the notion a bygone of an era that doesn’t exist. You can see highlights below (per F4W Online):

On Cena Losing On His Way Out:

“The fan boys will be like ‘No, this is what you have to do, this is what John wanted, this is exactly what he wanted, he wanted to give back to the business.’ And to that I say BS. I say hogwash to that. I say that’s nonsense because that is an ideology from a business that no longer exists. That’s 1970s, 1980s wrestling. That’s not WWE Unreal territory, that’s not the era that we’re living in now.

“Who wanted to see John Cena lose time and again in the last few months? Got his ass whooped by Brock Lesnar, lost to Dominik Mysterio, loses to Gunther. And not only does he lose in his retirement match, the guy who told us for 20+ years never to give up, not only does he lose, he loses via submission. No, I reject this. This is not what those people wanted. This is not what anyone who was a fan of his wanted.”

On Believing the Match Should Have Been Different:

“The match should have never been Cena vs. Gunther to begin with, and the result should have never been Cena losing, and it sure as hell never should have been him tapping.”

No one wanted to see John Cena go out like that. And to suggest it’s a time-honored tradition for him to “do the job” is such a thing of the past. We live in a different era.

Cena deserved better. The farewell tour had so much potential. In the end, it feels like fans were left… pic.twitter.com/9W7k9yH7Eq

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 15, 2025