WWE star Gunther will have the honor of facing John Cena in the final match of the latter’s career on Saturday, but the hard hitting Austrian is letting fans know now not to get their hopes for Cena up too high.
“It’s going to be a great day where everybody’s going to tune in and show up and bring all the love for John Cena,” Gunther told Variety ahead of the match. “But at the end, they’re going to get their hearts broken. So I’m looking forward to that.”
Cena has been on his retirement tour since the start of 2025, with his final match set to take place during this week’s “Saturday Night’s Main Event” on Peacock originating from the Capitol One Arena in Washington, DC.
Gunther emerged as the victor of the Last Time Is Now Tournament to determine who would be Cena’s final opponent. In his quest to become that opponent, he had to fight his way through WWE stars like Je’Von Evans, Carmelo Hayes, Solo Sikoa, and LA Knight. When asked which of those matches he enjoyed the most, Gunther settles on Sikoa.
“I like a good heavyweight match,” he said. “I’m not sure if Solo was in a situation like that many times, like a really long singles match. And he performed very good as well.”
Interestingly, this will not be the first major retirement match on a “Saturday Night’s Main Event” Gunther has taken part in this year. He previously faced WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg in his retirement match back in July. But Gunther said the pressure of taking part in such high-profile moments does not phase him in the least.
“I know what I can do, and I know I can rely on that,” he said. “It’s never negative pressure. It’s always very positive pressure.”
During an appearance on “Monday Night Raw” earlier in the week, Gunther also promised that he would not only beat Cena, but that he would beat him by submission. “He has been beaten before many times,” Gunther said. “He had a long career, it’s normal. But he hasn’t been submitted in what, over 20 years? So I think that spices the whole thing up a little bit.”
“Saturday Night’s Main Event” airs live on Peacock at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Dec. 13.
