Saturday's Wrestlepalooza opened with John Cena going one-on-one with Brock Lesnar. The 17-time WWE Champion only has a handful of dates left, so the fact that he was taken apart and beaten by The Beast in just under 10 minutes has not sat well with many fans.
While it wasn't a squash match in the same vein as SummerSlam 2014, this is yet another decision by WWE during Cena's Retirement Tour that has not been particularly well-received.
Yesterday, there was chatter on social media about Cena being booked to win the bout right up until Saturday morning. Now, we have some additional details from Dave Meltzer. Talking on Wrestling Observer Radio, the insider claimed that Cena made the call to be beaten by Lesnar.
"There’s no plan for a rematch," he stated. "I don’t wanna say it was John’s idea, but what I was basically told is, John is very unselfish, and he knows on the way out, he wants to make people. He wants to make big stars. So he felt that was...it’s his call. And that was his call."
"A lot of guys, when they’re on their way out, their call is to lose and to put the other guy over. And that was John’s call," Meltzer continued. "At the end of the day, it’s Paul Levesque’s call, but if John says that, it’s not like Paul Levesque’s gonna go, 'No no no, you have to win.' Especially when Brock is the one staying and he’s the one leaving, and whatever they have planned for Brock."
With no Cena rematch planned, Meltzer went on to speculate about who is next for Lesnar (in what's widely believed to be his final year in WWE before he retires at SummerSlam in 2026).
"They got to put them against Cody Rhodes, or somebody like that, right? I mean, if you’re going to beat John Cena, who, if you beat John Cena, you got to set him up for him up for something big," he pondered.
So, if Cena isn't going to slay The Beast on his way out the door, what will his final match be? For now, it seems we'll have to wait and see.
Check out some highlights from Wrestlepalooza below.