John Cena Sr. has touched on his son’s match with AJ Styles ahead of his retirement.
On December 13, the illustrious career of John Cena will come to an end, and the 17-time world champion has been revisiting many of his past rivalries as part of his retirement tour. At Crown Jewel in Perth, Cena met AJ Styles in a match which was incredibly well-received by fans, particularly as it drew inspiration from both men’s past. Now, John Cena Sr. has looked back on his son’s clash with ‘The Phenomenal One’ in Australia.
Speaking with Sportskeeda WrestleBinge, John Cena Sr. recalled telling his son how much he enjoyed his match with AJ Styles.
“The one thing young people need to learn in this business is ring psychology. They read their crowd and they performed to what the crowd wanted. They didn’t stop, they listened, and when they did, they just went, ‘Bang, bang, bang.’ They worked so well together, and I think that’s so important in this business. I said, ‘John, it was phenomenal,’ he said, ‘I’m glad you enjoyed it dad. It was a lot of fun.’ Two great men. Styles is all done next year. That’s gonna be another sad day in wrestling, because we’re losing another great performer, somebody who understands the business. You can see the way they both performed. I just sat back and I couldn’t believe, truly, they went 28 minutes. 28 minutes! And they did a lot of moves in there. A lot of moves for both guys.”
-John Cena Sr.
With Styles’ career also coming to an end soon, John Cena Sr. further discussed both men approaching retirement.
“John was always up front with the fans. The one thing I would always hear him say, he’s said it to me, he’s said it to the fans a thousand times, ‘When I can’t go the way I used to and give you what I used to, then it’s time for me to think about retiring.’ AJ Styles made it very clear when he said, ‘I’m retiring because I wanna be able to walk away from this business.’ John, Styles, and the rest of those people in this business, I can’t praise them enough, they always gave 250%. It’s a point now where they can’t go 250. Might go 175. And I think that both of them realize that it’s time now, and he would say this, ‘Dad, it’s time for other people to take the spotlight.’ And I think it’s a good move on both people’s parts.”
-John Cena Sr.
As if writing, John Cena has just four dates left before the curtain falls on his career, though his next in-ring appearance is yet to be announced. With it likely that he’ll compete at Survivor Series, it was reported that WWE have discussed possibly having him chase the Intercontinental Championship before his December retirement. You can read more about that here.
In terms of who Cena will face in his last match, WWE recently announced they’d be holding a tournament to determine his final opponent, but it was recently reported that a recent World Heavyweight Champion is likely to receive the opportunity to face the retiring star. You can read more about that here.
Previously, John Cena Sr. has touched on how he felt his son’s heel run was ruined by The Rock and Travis Scott being absent. You can read more about that here.
H/T to WrestleTalk for the transcription.
