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USA Today
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Not clickbait: John Cena mastering farewell tour with WrestleMania 41 victory
Not clickbait: John Cena mastering farewell tour with WrestleMania 41 victory Show Caption Hide Caption Damian Priest explains how Bad Bunny took WWE training seriously Damian Priest recalls how Bad Bunny took his WWE appearance seriously and how he raised the bar for other celebrity cameos. LAS VEGAS — WWE commentator Joe Tessitore was right. It was a softball question. After John Cena defeated Cody Rhodes in the main event of WrestleMania 41 to capture his record 17th WWE Championship, he didn't give an answer to any questions about the victory. Questions about The Rock or whether he'll smile were met with "that seems like clickbait." So in the final question, a USA TODAY Sports reporter asked Cena about what was going through his head as he made WWE history, if he felt reminiscent of everything he's accomplished over his storied career and what it's like separating himself as the most decorated WWE star. Simple enough right? Think again. "You know, that seems like a clickbait question," Cena told USA TODAY Sports. "I'm beginning to sense a pattern here that you guys are just looking for headlines. "Keep in mind you are now talking to the last real champion. Step your game up next time," he added. Well then. It's a response good enough to hurt the ego, but it's a reminder that in his final act, Cena is still at the top of his game. If we're discussing the WWE title match itself, it didn't really live up to the expectations. While there was plenty of electricity inside Allegiant Stadium as Cena and Rhodes delivered signature moves, there were some slow spots. It wasn't a finish people anticipated. Travis Scott came out when people expected The Rock, and even though the rapper was part of the beatdown of Rhodes at Elimination Chamber, it just felt odd to have him involved in such a big spot. The match ending with Cena knocking Rhodes with the title felt anti-climatic, almost as if the audience was robbed of that signature moment the bout called for. Whether you were happy or mad at the result, the match felt like it failed to live up to all the hype. Tessitore and fellow commentator Big E admitted the match wasn't one of Cena's greatest nor would it be seen as a five-star match in the future. But in between all of that, the brilliance of Cena's heel era was on full display. WrestleMania 41 takeaways: Mixed feelings on main event WrestleMania is all about elaborate entrances, and no one knows that better than Cena. From mobsters at WrestleMania 22, driving the car through glass at WrestleMania 23 or the several clones at WrestleMania 25, Cena knows how to make a spectacular entrance on the grandest stage of them all. His final WrestleMania gave him the chance to have one more iconic entrance. But as he feuds with the fans he says have asked so much from him, he made sure to deny them of that moment. His entrance was just a black screen that read his name. It was the perfect touch for this current iteration of Cena. He's in such a peculiar spot because since he was so popular and loved for the majority of his career, people will still cheer him on for anything he does. That's a tough assignment for any star to balance, because Cena could easily crack. He almost did when the fans thanked him as he made his way out of the stadium. But instead of letting this character fall apart, Cena has used the constant support to his advantage, swaying the audience in whichever way he desires. "I love where John's head is at," said WWE chief content officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque. "The funny thing is that people were flipping the coin for him before. Now he's flipping the coin, right? They booed John. They were relentless on him. They pushed him to be great in some ways, but it was not easy for him sometimes. "Now he gets to be the puppet master, and he gets to flip that coin for them and be the polar opposite of everything that he was before." When Cena announced his retirement tour last year, no one saw this coming. When he made his first appearance at the Netflix debut of Monday Night Raw, people still didn't see as he didn't think a championship would be obtainable. But he did make a promise. "I will give you everything I got. You got my word, I always have. I've always given you everything I have," Cena said on Jan. 6. It's not exactly how people envisioned it, but Cena is in fact giving everything he has into the final run. It's been captivating, and every move he makes has become a must-watch moment, somehow upping the importance of what was already going to be stellar last year. What's next for the John Cena farewell tour? Other than belittle reporters, Cena did say on the Raw after WrestleMania he will show how he plans to ruin wrestling. There's no telling what those plans entail, but it certainly will be something that has the attention of every WWE fan. And even better, there isn't just Raw for him to do. As champion, Cena will be making plenty of appearances in the final seven months of his career, and the race begins to dethrone Cena from the title before he walks away as the "last true champion." The end of WrestleMania signifies the end of WWE's year, and the "new season" begins after the flagship event. It's anyone's guess what happens from now until the end of the next season and the clock on Cena's career is up. But it certainly will be something that has the attention of every WWE fan. Levesque said there will be "a lot of holy (expletive)" moments coming, and it's a safe bet a good many of those will come from Cena. He's already orchestrated a masterpiece, and there's no doubt the momentum is ending soon. "As somebody else says all the time, 'just hang in for the ride.' He's driving now, and he's having a blast doing it," Levesque said. So yes, Cena may not have hit the slow pitch, softball question. But he showed he still has his fastball, and he's proved it's a farewell tour that will be remembered for all of wrestling. (This story was updated to add a video.)
Forbes
20-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
WWE WrestleMania 41 Results: Jade Cargill Destroys Naomi In Grudge Match
Jade Cargill finally got her revenge on Naomi, and as an added bonus, she did it in resounding fashion on the grand stage of WWE WrestleMania 41. The bout made history, too. Before WrestleMania 41, the last non-title women's match at a WrestleMania happened all the way back at WrestleMania 22 in 2006. Even then, that bout, a Pillow Fight between Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle, hardly qualified as a legitimate singles match. Prior to that, the lone other women's singles match without a title involved was at WrestleMania 16, a 'Cat Fight' between The Kat and Terri Runnels. Women's wrestling has, thankfully, come a long way since then, and the WrestleMania 41 bout between Cargill and Naomi was proof positive of that. En route to WWE's flagship show, Cargill vs. Naomi was one of the best built rivalries on the entire two-night event. Begun with a classic 'whodunit?' angle when Cargill was attacked last year, the revelation that Naomi, Cargill's supposed friend, was the attacker set the stage for a heated grudge match at WrestleMania 41. That's exactly what WWE fans got inside Allegiant Stadium, with a short but sweet bout that ended in decisive fashion when Cargill demolished Naomi with a massive Jaded finisher. Clearly, WWE decided to go with the most obvious possible outcome. Cargill, after spending months on the sidelines, returned at Elimination Chamber and took out Naomi with an unforgettable beatdown. Then, inside Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, the former AEW star enjoyed the sweet taste of revenge when she quickly disposed of Naomi in a heat-filled grudge match. In a rare twist, WWE was able to do a better job of making Cargill vs. Naomi a must-see rivalry than it did with its two women's title bouts. The three-way feud between Bianca Belair, Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley always felt a tad paint-by-numbers while Charlotte Flair vs. Tiffany Stratton was a complete disaster from the jump. But Cargill and Naomi demonstrated why sometimes simple stories are the best ones. After all, it's not as if Naomi being revealed as Naomi's attacker was some revolutionary storyline. It was obvious from the get-go that Naomi, who took Cargill's spot as Belair's partner and one half of the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, would ultimately be revealed as the one who took Cargill out. The feud hit is peak during an intense segment on SmackDown in early March, one that received rave reviews from those within WWE. Naomi herself has spoken openly about wanting to have a long-term, layered storyline to sink her teeth into, and when she finally got one, she consistently knocked it out of the park. Naomi has been elevated as a villain for the first time in nearly a decade while her tremendous heel work has also helped Cargill become one of WWE's most popular stars. From Cargill's epic Elimination Chamber return to the memorable SmackDown segment to their WrestleMania 41 match, these two stars showed why more women deserve a chance to tell a story without a title involved. At WrestleMania 41, they proved that they should remain focal points of WWE SmackDown moving forward, whether or not their feud continues beyond the show.
Express Tribune
19-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
All roads lead to WrestleMania 41
On the road to WrestleMania 40 last year, WWE struck gold with Roman Reigns, The Rock, Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins at the center. The months-long buildup led to a memorable show where Rhodes finally "finished the story" by ending Reigns' almost four-year reign of terror and winning the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. This year's road to WrestleMania 41 has, in comparison, been rockier. Perhaps, 2024 set the bar too high. That's not to say that the buildup has been terrible, but rather relatively lacklustre outside of the main event scene where CM Punk, Rollins and Reigns will close night one and Cody vs John Cena will main event night two. Women's division The two-night event will feature four women's matches: three title matches and one grudge match. This is the first time in 19 years that a non-title women's match will be a part of WrestleMania, with the last one being a Playboy pillow fight between Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle at WrestleMania 22. But Jade Cargill and Naomi's story has been interesting in the last few months. The former partners became enemies once Naomi turned out to be Cargill's secret attacker. Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodiguez will battle Bayley and Women's Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships. Valkyria and Bayley wrestled each other two weeks ago on Monday Night Raw for the former's gold, and put on an absolute clinic. It was truly a WrestleMania calibre match. Since then, their chemistry has developed and the match against the tag champions Morgan and Rodriguez. The only downside would be that the newly established Women's Intercontinental Championship won't be defended at WrestleMania. Unfortunately, the women's world title pictures have been an absolute disaster. The continuous disrespect of the Women's World Champion Iyo Sky who's stuck in a feud between Rhea Rhipley and Bianca Belair has undermined the champion. That is the story WWE is telling, that the champion is also sick of being disrespected on a weekly basis. But it still hurts the champion's image to see the three women in a poorly acted corny story. All three wrestlers are main event players but the story hasn't done them justice this year. Another disaster WWE has on hand is Charlotte Flair. The legendary Ric Flair's daughter has been a liability for over six years and WWE is now beginning to realise it. They still messed up big when awarding her another Royal Rumble win this year, which was an undisputedly undeserving victory over wrestlers who have worked harder all year round. The cycle of Charlotte's stories in the last few years has looked like this: Get injured, return, win a title, get injured and repeat. And no woman has benefitted from wrestling her in years, despite the fact that she is undoubtedly talented in the ring. This year, Charlotte's unprofessionalism and dead-in-the-water character work and mic skills were fully exposed by her opponent WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton and the Chicago crowd a couple weeks ago. After being booed out of the building by the crowd who wouldn't let her speak, Charlotte tried to deliberately bury Stratton by mocking her voice and calling her own choice to fight the champion a 'charity'. But Stratton answered back in an equally personal attack about Charlotte's multiple divorces, which clearly got under her skin. It was a disaster of a promo segment, courtesy of Charlotte, who has acted unprofessionally, onscreen and off, numerous times over the years. There is no choice for WWE but to go with Stratton as the winner as Charlotte's decade-old stagnant shtick is way past its course and the roster doesn't need her anymore. There are plenty of other women ready to shine and build the division. Main Event, World Titles Jey Uso's Royal Rumble victory shocked everyone in February. His road to WrestleMania has been full of doubts, just like ours, over whether he can defeat the monster World Heavyweight Champion Gunther. Their buildup was underwhelming until the champion destroyed Jey's brother Jimmy Uso and bathed in his blood. It's an interesting story where Jey needs to come out on top to solidify his solo run, especially since he has never been able to defeat Gunther before. The most satisfying moment of WrestleMania this year has to be CM Punk finally fulfilling his dream and wrestling in the main event of the show. The man has wanted and deserved this moment for over a decade and there is going to be no better sight than seeing him walk down the ramp alongside his conflicted best friend Paul Heyman and possibly defeat the former Shield members. Cena's heel turn last month shocked the world. However, his limited appearances following the turn and the subsequent promos have been interesting but not exactly earth-shattering as they should have been. In over a month, the turn has already almost been forgotten. That's not to say that it's dead. WWE has plenty of time to slow burn this character, but the threads have been hanging loose and the interest has somewhat waned so far. Still, knowing that it's WrestleMania, the match dynamics will surely be off the charts with Cena vying for his last and record-breaking 17th world title against Rhodes, who's been the champion for a year. Watch out for twists and any new tricks by the Final Boss at 'Mania. Who knows, we might see Cena become the ultimate villain after winning the world title. Undercard The new beast on the block Jacob Fatu fights L.A. Knight for the US title while Bronn Breaker defends his IC title against Penta, Dominik and Finn Balor. The War Raiders defend the World Tag titles against the New Day. Damien Priest vs Drew McIntyre settle their year-long score in a street fight, whereas AJ Styles battles Logan Paul and Rey Mysterio fights it out with El Grande Americano, who is absolutely not Chad Gable under a mask (don't believe whoever says it's Gable). Kevin Owens' unfortunate neck injury took him out of action, which has led to his match against Randy Orton being cancelled. The rumour, however, is that Aleister Black might make a return and be Orton's surprise opponent. Rest assured, it might not be WrestleMania 40, but it's still a stacked card. WWE, as usual, might have a few surprises up their sleeve to make the weekend even more memorable.
Express Tribune
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
All roads lead to 'WrestleMania' 41
On the road to WrestleMania 40 last year, WWE struck gold with Roman Reigns, The Rock, Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins at the centre. The months-long buildup led to a memorable show where Rhodes finally 'finished the story' by ending Reigns' almost four-year reign of terror and winning the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. This year's road to WrestleMania 41 has, in comparison, been rockier. Perhaps, 2024 set the bar too high. That's not to say that the buildup has been terrible, but rather relatively lackluster outside of the main event scene where CM Punk, Rollins and Reigns will close night one and Cody vs John Cena will main event night two. Women's division lacklustre The two-night event will feature four women's matches: three title matches and one grudge match. This is the first time in 19 years that a non-title women's match will be a part of WrestleMania, with the last one being a Playboy pillow fight between Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle at WrestleMania 22. But Jade Cargill and Naomi's story has been interesting in the last few months. The former partners became enemies once Naomi turned out to be Cargill's secret attacker. Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez will battle Bayley and Women's Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships. Valkyria and Bayley wrestled each other two weeks ago on Monday Night Raw for the former's gold, and put on an absolute clinic. It was truly a WrestleMania calibre match. Since then, their chemistry has developed and the match against the tag champions Morgan and Rodriguez. The only downside would be that the newly established Women's Intercontinental Championship won't be defended at WrestleMania. Unfortunately, the women's world title pictures have been an absolute disaster. The continuous disrespect of the Women's World Champion Iyo Sky, who's stuck in a feud between Rhea Rhipley and Bianca Belair, has undermined the champion. That is the story WWE is telling, that the champion is also sick of being disrespected on a weekly basis. But it still hurts the champion's image to see the three women in a poorly acted corny story. All three wrestlers are main event players but the story hasn't done them justice this year. Another disaster WWE has on hand is Charlotte Flair. The legendary Ric Flair's daughter has been a liability for over six years and WWE is now beginning to realise it. They still messed up big when awarding her another Royal Rumble win this year, which was an undisputedly undeserving victory over wrestlers who have worked harder all year round. The cycle of Charlotte's stories in the last few years has looked like this: Get injured, return, win a title, get injured and repeat. And no woman has benefited from wrestling her in years, despite the fact that she is undoubtedly talented in the ring. This year, Charlotte's unprofessionalism and dead-in-the-water character work and mic skills were fully exposed by her opponent WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton and the Chicago crowd a couple of weeks ago. After being booed out of the building by the crowd who wouldn't let her speak, Charlotte tried to deliberately bury Stratton by mocking her voice and calling her own choice to fight the champion a 'charity'. But Stratton answered back in an equally personal attack about Charlotte's multiple divorces, which clearly got under her skin. It was a disaster of a promo segment, courtesy of Charlotte, who has acted unprofessionally, onscreen and off, numerous times over the years. There is no choice for WWE but to go with Stratton as the winner as Charlotte's decade-old stagnant shtick is way past its course and the roster doesn't need her anymore. There are plenty of other women ready to shine and build the division. Main Event and World Titles Jey Uso's Royal Rumble victory shocked everyone in February. His road to WrestleMania has been full of doubts, just like ours, over whether he can defeat the monster World Heavyweight Champion Gunther. Their buildup was underwhelming until the champion destroyed Jey's brother Jimmy Uso and bathed in his blood. It's an interesting story where Jey needs to come out on top to solidify his solo run, especially since he has never been able to defeat Gunther before. The most satisfying moment of WrestleMania this year has to be CM Punk finally fulfilling his dream and wrestling in the main event of the show. The man has wanted and deserved this moment for over a decade and there is going to be no better sight than seeing him walk down the ramp alongside his conflicted best friend Paul Heyman and possibly defeat the former Shield members. Cena's heel turn last month shocked the world. However, his limited appearances following the turn and the subsequent promos have been interesting but not exactly earth-shattering as they should have been. In over a month, the turn has already almost been forgotten. That's not to say that it's dead. WWE has plenty of time to slow burn this character, but the threads have been hanging loose and the interest has somewhat waned so far. Still, knowing that it's WrestleMania, the match dynamics will surely be off the charts with Cena vying for his last and record-breaking 17th world title against Rhodes, who's been the champion for a year. Watch out for twists and any new tricks by the Final Boss at 'Mania. Who knows, we might see Cena become the ultimate villain after winning the world title. Undercard The new beast on the block Jacob Fatu fights LA Knight for the US title while Bronn Breaker defends his IC title against Penta, Dominik and Finn Balor. The War Raiders defend the World Tag titles against the New Day. Damien Priest vs Drew McIntyre settle their year-long score in a street fight, whereas AJ Styles battles Logan Paul and Rey Mysterio fights it out with El Grande Americano, who is absolutely not Chad Gable under a mask (don't believe whoever says it's Gable). Kevin Owens' unfortunate neck injury took him out of action, which has led to his match against Randy Orton being cancelled. The rumour, however, is that Aleister Black might make a return and be Orton's surprise opponent. Rest assured, it might not be WrestleMania 40, but it's still a stacked card. WWE, as usual, might have a few surprises up their sleeve to make the weekend even more memorable. Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.
