On April 20, “Wrestlemania 41” Night 2 was hosted in the Allegiant Stadium, the home of the Las Vegas Raiders, “The American Nightmare” and Undisputed WWE Champion, Cody Rhodes, faced 16 time WWE champion, John Cena, in his last “Wrestlemania” match ever.
Cena and Rhodes’ rivalry started at the end of the 2025 Elimination Chamber. Cena prevailed over five other superstars including CM Punk, Seth “Freakin” Rollins, Logan Paul, Drew McIntyre, & Damian Priest to earn a shot at Rhodes’ title at “Wrestlemania.”
Cody Rhodes came out to congratulate Cena on his victory, The Rock and Travis Scott then made their way to the ring, with Rock asking for Rhodes’ soul. Cody denied Rock’s request vehemently, Cena then attacked Cody at Rock’s signal, turning John Cena heel for the first time in his career. He shocked the entire WWE universe from this betrayal.
The tension could be felt through any device that people were watching from, the story of Rhodes with his family’s legacy and the potential record breaking night from Cena gaining his 17th title, over taking “The Dirtiest Player in the Game,” Ric Flair.
Drama Teacher and longtime WWE watcher, Jonathan Cohen, made his thoughts known about the heel turn by Cena, “I was surprised, I didn’t think they’d pull the trigger now especially so late in his career. They had the opportunity 8, 9 years ago to do so.”
Cohen continued, “His character has always been the good guy, baby face his entire career. His reputation was very valuable as a good guy, and I didn’t think WWE would risk that.”
Ethan Freire, who stopped watching WWE in 2017 before picking it back up in 2022, said, “It felt very disappointing compared to previous years, Wrestlemania 39 & 40 had the story of Rhodes and Reigns. This year didn’t have as much time to build the rivalry, making it underwhelming.”
Taft senior, Oliver Rosendo, talked about the title reign of Cody Rhodes, “It was an alright title reign, it wasn’t bad but wasn’t good either, just meh. His rivalries needed more spice, it was promising with AJ Styles but then kind of fell off after that until his match with Kevin Owens at The Royal Rumble.”
This new champion and record breaking title reign will hopefully bring about a final chapter to Cena’s career, facing old rivals and living up to the Cena he once was.
