While it would be wrong to say that John Cena's retirement tour has been a disappointment, it hasn't hit many of the notes fans wanted. Much of it was wasted on a hit-and-miss heel run (derailed by The Rock, of course), and many dream matches have simply failed to materialise.
Following a disappointing loss to Brock Lesnar at the recent Wrestlepalooza PLE, the 17-time WWE Champion took to social media to make it clear that he wanted one final match with AJ Styles.
The Phenomenal One was arguably Cena's greatest rival in the mid-2010s, and the prospect of them not squaring off again upset fans. However, while it seems like the Leader of the Cenation took matters into his own hands to get a match with Styles at Crown Jewel in Perth, Australia, Dave Meltzer has disputed that.
According to the pro wrestling historian, this was "always scheduled for Australia," while the narrative surrounding the bout was meant to increase interest and demand from fans. In other words, there's a good chance we've all been worked!
"The idea was they’d tell people 'you’re not going to get this match' — so to create a demand for the match, they basically told the story that Cena is paying tribute to him because he’s only got limited dates, and AJ ain’t getting it," Meltzer explained, with Styles recent off-air promo venting his frustrations said to also be part of the story.
Regardless, we're expecting this to be a great match. Their clash at the Royal Rumble in 2017, which saw Cena win his record-tying 16th WWE Championship, is still considered one of the best matches of the last decade.
Cena's time in WWE is winding down; after Crown Jewel, he's only scheduled for two episodes of RAW in November, Survivor Series: WarGames on November 29, and Saturday Night's Main Event on December 13.
As a reminder, here's how Cena vs. Styles at Crown Jewel came to be: