Tonight (Sept. 5) is John Cena’s final episode of SmackDown during his retirement tour. He started the show by thanking the fans in Chicago for being the greatest WWE crowd throughout his career.
Cena was soon greeted by new United States Champion Sami Zayn, who received loud boos from the Chicago fans. Sami wanted to honor John by bringing back the same US open title challenge series that Cena made famous in WWE a decade ago. Cena gave Sami a title shot
during that time, so Zayn wanted to return the favor. Just like that, Cena accepted an impromptu title match against Sami for his last ever bout on the blue brand.
Cena’s first Attitude Adjustment wasn’t enough to keep the champ down for the three second tan, of course.
John continued paying tribute to some of the great wrestlers he’s shared the ring with during his career by using Kevin Owens’ pop-up powerbomb, as well as Kurt Angle’s ankle lock and Olympic Slam. After breaking out of the pin fall following Sami’s Helluva Kick finisher, Cena then landed CM Punk’s GTS finisher in Chicago for a thrilling near fall.
Cena’s spear wasn’t good enough to finish off Sami either, and so the fans chanted for an RKO. Cena tried to oblige, but Zayn countered it. Sami wasn’t able to counter an Avalanche Attitude Adjustment moments later, though.
And that’s when Brock Lesnar’s music hit.
The Beast dragged the referee out of the ring and destroyed Sami Zayn with an F5. Cena ate the next F5. And the one after that.
That’s how John Cena’s final career match on WWE SmackDown ended.
Lesnar stormed through the curtain after the break and said “Hey John. I’ll see you at Wrestlepalooza. Bitch.” The match between Cena and Lesnar was made official for WWE’s ESPN launch on Sept. 20.
This entire sequence of events took up nearly the entire first hour of SmackDown. How did you like it, Cagesiders?
