John Cena Competes In His Final WWE SmackDown Match, Pays Homage To Past Rivals
John Cena competed in his final match on WWE SmackDown, taking on Sami Zayn on the September 5th episode.
The match came together after Zayn came out during Cena’s opening promo and wanted Cena’s blessing to start the WWE US Title Open Challenge. Cena gave his blessing, and Zayn suggested that Cena be the first man to answer the challenge. Cena accepted, and the match was on.
During the match, Cena used a pop-up powerbomb in homage to Kevin Owens, an Angle Slam and Angle Lock in homage to Kurt Angle, a GTS in homage to CM Punk, a spear in homage to Edge (Adam Copeland), and a clothesline from hell in homage to JBL.
The match ended in a no-contest after Brock Lesnar interfered.
John Cena does an Angle Slam on his last night on Smackdown pic.twitter.com/RCGZQMiyB8
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) September 6, 2025
JOHN CENA WITH THE ANKLE LOCK
ANOTHER SHOUT OUT TO @RealKurtAngle #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/OuvvoUV3d3
— The Movement – Pro Wrestling (@TheMovementXx) September 6, 2025
Cena made his WWE debut on the June 27, 2002 episode of WWE SmackDown, answering Kurt Angle’s open challenge. Cena slapped Angle and said that he has ruthless aggression.
John Cena has had 147 matches on SmackDown during his WWE career.
Fans can find Fightful’s coverage of WWE SmackDown here. Check out the post-show podcast for a full review here.
