John Cena defeated Logan Paul at Clash in Paris yesterday evening, and the 17-time WWE Champion shocked everyone when he hit the YouTuber with a Styles Clash.
That's AJ Styles' finishing move, and the Phenomenal One was one of Cena's main rivals in the second half of the 2010s. Unfortunately, with Brock Lesnar—who didn't appear at Clash in Paris, despite speculation to the contrary—taking aim at Cena, there's unlikely to be time for one last Cena vs. Styles match when the Leader of the Cenation only has 8 dates left before retiring.
Following his win, Cena explained why he utilised the Styles Clash. "I'm trying not to reflect on it too much because there's always another match to have," he said. "My favourite match is always my next one, and thanks to your perspective that I seem reinvigorated out there."
"I've had a lot of opponents over the years, and with eight appearances left, I know I'm not gonna be able to wrestle everybody who was influential in my career," Cena said of Styles. "But I think you saw tonight, the best way I can say thank you to some of those people who affected my career is to kind of pay homage by maybe taking some risks and doing some stuff that I don't normally do out there."
He added, "I gotta shout out AJ," seemingly confirming that he won't be among his final opponents before his WWE career reaches its end.
It seems WWE decided to pit Cena against the returning Lesnar, as he said last month:
"I’ve been doing this for 23 years, and I’ve never once chosen my opponent. I’ve always lived by the philosophy that life will give you opportunities every single day, and you have to do the best you can every single day with what life gives you. So whoever challenges me for that last match, I’m going to give it my best shot."
You can see some highlights from Clash in Paris, along with Cena's comments in full, below.