The news that John Cena would retire this year was met with excitement and upset from fans in equal measure. While everyone agreed that saying goodbye to the Leader of the Cenation was nothing to celebrate, all signs pointed to his final 365 days in WWE being a special send-off.
Now, with only a handful of dates left, it's fair to say the whole thing has been a tad hit or miss. Cena's heel turn, for example, was an internet-breaking moment that fell flat quite quickly.
Some great matches followed, including those with CM Punk and Randy Orton, and Cena soon returned to being a babyface. His loss to Brock Lesnar at Wrestlepalooza has received a mixed response, and all eyes are now on his final match.
Talking on the latest edition of his 83 Weeks podcast, WWE Hall of Famer and former WCW boss Eric Bischoff shared his assessment of Cena's retirement tour.
"I'd give it a C. Now, if you take the heel turn, whatever that was, take that out and just look at the rest of it? Probably a B or C — excuse me — a, maybe an A minus or a B," he said. "Just give everybody what they want, is to see the guy go... everybody would love to see Babe Ruth hit his last home run; nobody wants to see Babe Ruth strike out!"
"People want to see... It's the hero's journey! It's the easiest story, it's the story that's been told more often than any and the one that always works," Bischoff continued, sharing his disappointment with Cena's heel run. "It's like, yeah, maybe the end of the movie ended up being pretty good but you got up and walked out — mentally or emotionally — during the first 15 minutes of the movie because it didn't make any sense and you kinda opted out."
Bischoff makes a lot of very good points here, and there's no denying that there's plenty of room for improvement with how things have played out for Cena this year. Would it have been any better under Vince McMahon's watch? Let's not forget how he handled Kurt Angle's farewell!
How would you rate Cena's retirement tour? Let us know in the comments section.