WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event Results: Did John Cena Win His Last Match?

WWE Saturday Night's Main Event John Cena Last Match (Photo by Rich Freeda/WWE via Getty Images)WWE via Getty ImagesThe match was as brutal as you might have expected, and the emotions were just as high. In typical John Cena fashion, he did it for the business. Cena tapped out to Gunther after a wild match. The action was back and forth and while we know that all the greats usually lose their final match, there were several moments that made us believe that maybe Cena’s last dance would be different.It wasn’t. Cena tapped out as Gunther said he would.Cena allowed himself to take the L in his final match, and it is more a testament to what he’s given the business than anything else. Immediately after the match, the crowd erupted with a profane chant.They wanted badly to have him go out on a win, but Cena again put wrestling first. A long line of the past and present came out to pay their respects. CM Punk and Cody Rhodes presented him with honorary titles. That stopped the boos and more chants toward Triple H, like “you f***** up.” After the initial outpour of anger, the Washington D.C. crowd mostly cheered. It was an amazing ending to an unmatched in-ring career.Here’s all the results from the event and my take on Cena’s career. MORE FOR YOUWWE Saturday Night Main Event ResultsCody Rhodes def. Oba Femi via DQ (Drew McIntyre interrupted the match)Sol Ruca def. Bayley AJ Styles and Dragon Lee def. Je’Von Evans and Leon Slater Gunther def. John Cena via submission John Cena is the GOAT And It’s Not DebatableNEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 17: John Cena in ring during Monday Night RAW at Madison Square Garden on November 17, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Rich Freeda/WWE via Getty Images)WWE via Getty ImagesCena walked into Saturday Night’s Main Event XLII with the numbers already settled: a record 17 world title reigns, a completed Grand Slam, more than two decades at the top of the card, and literally thousands of WWE matches across TV, pay-per-view, and live events. As impressive as those stats are, they only tell part of the story. What made Cena different was the combination. Nobody else married that kind of output to the microphone genius, work ethic, and wrestling IQ that defined his run.On the mic, Cena was the complete package. He was the master of improv and fearless. Despite a constantly changing WWE universe, Cena looked the same, but he stayed adaptable. He could roast an opponent one night and carry an entire building through a vulnerable, emotional promo the next. He made weekly TV feel must-see because you never knew which version you were getting—punchline Cena, big-match narrator Cena, or the guy who’d cut straight through the character and talk to the audience like a locker-room leader.In the ring, he was the "tireless worker" cliché made real. He was never Styles, Will Ospreay, prime Seth Rollins and Keny Omega or Ricochet, but he improved steadily even when critics didn’t give him credit for the in-ring strides he made.The crazy thing is, he didn’t even need to get as good in the ring as he got. He was already over. Still, he didn’t rest on his laurels. He constantly added counters and sequences, leaned into hostile crowds, and dragged era-defining performances out of everyone from CM Punk and AJ Styles to Umaga and Kevin Owens. Often, he did it on grueling main-event schedules that would have broken lesser headliners. I once asked Edge what trait is necessary to be a great WWE Superstar that some people might overlook. He told me, “stamina.” Edge was referring to the capacity to work crazy hours and days. Nobody did it better than Cena.Fort Worth, TEXAS - APRIL 25: John Cena enters the ring during SmackDown at Dickies Arena on April 25, 2025 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Eric Johnson/WWE via Getty Images)WWE via Getty ImagesEven the much-debated heel stretch looks different in hindsight. When Cena leaned darker, there was a sharp, uncomfortable edge that proved he could have been an all-time villain if the company had ever fully pulled the trigger. That abbreviated run—cheap shots, smug punchlines, flashes of real cruelty—feels underappreciated. It was a glimpse at another GOAT-level lane he was never truly allowed to explore. Instead, he carried the burden of being the face of the promotion through boom years and backlash years alike, absorbing every "Cena sucks" chant while still hitting his cues, protecting his opponents, selling tickets and setting Make-a-Wish records.The only good part about saying goodbye to Cena the active wrestler is that it probably isn’t saying goodbye to Cena the wrestling mind. Everything about his late-career interviews and behind-the-scenes stories points to a guy who thinks about character arcs, promo cadences, and match structure the way Paul Heyman thinks about booking: big-picture, long-term, and talent-first. If he moves into a creative, agent, or mentor role, there's every reason to believe he can become a modern mastermind—helping shape the next generation's voices and stories the same way Heyman shaped entire eras in ECW and WWE.Calling Cena the GOAT isn't just about the belts, the main events, or the farewell tour graphics. It's about the totality of what he brought to the business and how many different ways he elevated it. He was the loudest voice in the room and still the first one back to work. A supposed five-move meme who quietly built a Hall of Fame highlight reel. If he was so basic, how does he have so many classic matches? The critics missed too much of his brilliance.Cena was a perennial babyface who showed he could go dark when the story demanded it. And now, potentially, the kind of off-screen architect who will give future headliners the tools he had to invent on the fly.SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 29: John Cena enters the ring during Survivor Series at Petco Park on November 29, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Georgiana Dallas/WWE via Getty Images)WWE via Getty ImagesFrom that perspective, this last match isn't just a curtain call. It's the moment the greatest all-around performer in WWE history steps off the stage and starts deciding where the stage goes next. And that's exactly why, for a sincere Cena admirer, "GOAT" feels less like hyperbole and more like the only label that fits.Mr. Cena, you are one of my son’s childhood heroes and thereby, someone I also loved. I have nothing but respect for your hustle and loyalty.