At Saturday Night's Main Event, John Cena faced Gunther in his final-ever WWE match. The Leader of the Cenation put up one heck of a fight, but when it became clear that he couldn't defeat The Ring General, Cena accepted his fate, smiled, and tapped out.
Fans were furious that the man who had long preached "Never Give Up" had given up, and those in the building made their feelings known. When WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H headed to the ring, he was met with boos, chants of "You F***ed Up!" and, in a post-show interview, even chants for "AEW."
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE didn't anticipate such an overtly negative and hostile reaction to how Cena's WWE career ended.
"The one thing that I can say is that even though they may say something different publicly, they were blindsided by that reaction," he explained. "The idea that we did it, we knew it was going to get heat, it’s just the price we pay."
"When they’re all chanting, and he’s going, 'Oh, I thought it would be louder,' that was a defence mechanism," Melzter continued. "I was told there was no discussion of a reaction."
By inviting fans behind the scenes in Netflix's WWE Unreal, WWE has killed kayfabe and allowed fans to vent their frustrations more at the creative team than the characters on television. Despite that, last night's RAW saw Gunther faced with overwhelmingly loud boos as he told fans that he made Cena "tap out like a little b*tch."
He continued to taunt fans, though it's not clear what the creative direction for the former World Heavyweight Champion is from here. Anything other than a WWE Championship reign will surely be a huge misstep, though whoever makes Gunther pay for his actions will obviously be cemented as a star.
You can check out some highlights from last night's RAW below.