Cody Rhodes Felt ‘Blessed’ To Face John Cena In Retirement Run

Cody Rhodes recently reflected on his feud with John Cena over 2025, saying he was “blessed” to work with the retiring WWE star. Rhodes battled Cena through much of the year, losing the title at WrestleMania 41 to heel Cena before winning it back at SummerSlam.

In a new appearance on All The Smoke, Rhodes reflected on his matches with Cena. He referred to them as almost one match split in two and talked about what it meant to him to face Cena. You can see the highlights below:

On Winning the Title From Cena At SummerSlam:

“I was very excited about SummerSlam. Because it’s Metife [Stadium] So you’re [dealing with audiences from ] New York, New Jersey, and that’s not an easy market. They’ve seen it all. They’re a special market, and you have to be special for them to care. It’s the same vibe when you’re going into [Madison Square] Garden, almost. It’s just — if you can make it in New York, you really can make it anywhere.

On Working With Cena During Cena’s Farewell Run:

“To wrestle a person who gave me his playbook> Who was the model for how I like to be as a babyface professional wrestler, how I like to do it, how I like to — we were talking off camera, how I would work seven days a week. And the rhythm of wrestling, and going to every town. To be able to stand across from a guy who was your mentor, somebody who talked to you about, ‘Hey, this is why this worked, this is why this didn’t work. You should work on this, you should improve this.’ It’s rare you get the time to actually play the game against them. You might have all those lessons, but you’re playing against somebody else. It’s really rare you can stand across from that guy, look him in the eye — and not just be grateful and thankful. But also hope he sees you and go, ‘Ah, there he is.’ And hope and make him see you.

“The opportunity to do two matches with John. One at WrestleMania, and then one at SummerSlam, where we could really treat them almost as one match in itself. [I’m] very blessed that I got to be in there with him, but in the moment it couldn’t be one of those ‘I’m blessed.’ It couldn’t be one of those. I needed to bring everything I possibly could.

On Cena’s Farewell Tour:

“And he has given — we’re at the tail end of John’s farewell tour. He has given everything as far as you could possibly give, bodywise and mind-wise, to the industry. Especially with the young talent who ask questions. If you’re a young talent, and you ask John Cena a question? Get ready. Because he’s [an open book].”

Cena’s retirement run ends at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13th. He will face the winner of a “Last Time Is Now” tournament that kicks off next week on Raw.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit All The Smoke with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.