John Cena Says He Was Supposed To Win 17th World Title At WWE SummerSlam 2021, Finish Changed When Brock Lesnar Was Secured

It was a clash of generations at WWE SummerSlam 2021 when John Cena challenged Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship.

Reigns was victorious in the bout, and Cena was attacked by a returning Brock Lesnar after the match.

According to Cena, that wasn’t the original plan.

“In the last moment, we had a surprise guest booked, he came out after the match was over. Brock. They didn’t secure Brock until 5 PM that day. I was going to win 17. We were going to have someone come out and restart the match, Roman was going to take it back. This is creative. The way we were going to put together the match, we were going to give them a hell of a match. Everything out the door. No rules, no nothing. Tons of finishers because I was going to win, and then Roman was going to take it back. You have this hard fought battle, and through a nefarious set of rules, match is restarted. Then, we secure Brock. [Talent relations] comes and says, ‘I need to see you. We’re switching the finish.’ ‘To what?’ ‘Roman over. Clean.’ ‘Okay. Let me talk to Roman and Paul.’ We go in, ‘You got the news? What do we do?’ I said, ‘One spear. That’s it. Whatever match you want to have, that’s fine. You beat me with your finish once.’ I love Paul, Paul Heyman has been a great mentor. He gets it and he recognizes somebody who sees it’s not about them, it’s about the story. This is going to make Roman better. It switched. Right there. An hour before. It happens to everyone. I didn’t flip out. It happens all the time. I was supposed to win 17 that night,” Cena told O’Shea Jackson Jr & TJ Henderson on No-Contest Wrestling.

Cena didn’t win his 17th World Title until WrestleMania 41 when he defeated Cody Rhodes.

Cena retired in December 2025, losing to Gunther in his last match.

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