AEW's Tony Khan Praises John Cena Ahead of WWE Retirement Tour

Khan calls Cena "one of the greatest."

By Liam Crowley

John Cena is hanging up his sneakers. Earlier this month at WWE Money in the Bank, Big Match John announced to the Toronto crowd that 2025 will be his last year of in-ring competition. Cena is planning to go out as close to full-time as possible, as he teased in the post-show press conference that early discussions have him working 30-40 dates for WWE. Specifics have yet to be ironed out, but Cena did name drop WWE Royal Rumble, WWE Elimination Chamber, and WWE WrestleMania 41 as premium live events that he intends to compete on, all of which will be his last.

Tony Khan Praises John Cena Ahead of WWE Retirement

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(Photo: AEW, WWE)

The AEW President has love for Big Match John.

Speaking to Maggie & Perloff, AEW President Tony Khan shared praise for John Cena ahead of his retirement.

John Cena is one of the best wrestlers and certainly one of the greatest of this modern era, without a doubt," Khan said.

When asked if Cena lands of Khan's personal Mount Rushmore of professional wrestlers, Khan admitted that he stacks his top four of people he specifically grew up watching.

"He would definitely be somebody anybody would have to consider, certainly, especially of the modern era. For me, a lot of the people on my Mount Rushmore are probably people I grew up on," Khan continued. "Not only being a fan of, but have gotten to work with later in life. Sting, to me, is up there. It's a lot of guys I grew up on my Mount Rushmore. Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat and Bret Hart and Steve Austin. I'd have to think about Ric Flair. A lot of great options for that."

Khan and Cena have never worked together in an official capacity, but their work has inadvertently crossed over many times in the past. All Elite Wrestling airs its weekly shows on Warner Bros. Discovery networks, AEW Dynamite on TBS and AEW Collision on TNT, and Cena often collaborates with Warner Bros. Discovery on film and television projects. Most recently, Cena hosted Discovery's Shark Week, and Shark Week had a cross-promotion with AEW Dynamite: Beach Break. 

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(Photo: AEW/WWE)

Cena has also been name-dropped on AEW programming before, as MJF referred to him as the "You Can't See Me Man" when dissing then-rival CM Punk on a Fall 2021 episode of AEW Dynamite.

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"I look forward to working with [John] at some point down the road," MJF told ComicBook in December 2023. "I most certainly feel I will. I can't wait."

Cena's retirement tour is expected to officially begin in January 2025 when WWE Monday Night Raw premieres on Netflix.

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