Next year, 2025, marks the final year of John Cena as a professional wrestler. He will end his career in WWE where he started over two decades ago, giving back to the fans that have supported him along the way. Since his announcement earlier this summer, many WWE superstars as well as non-WWE wrestlers have thrown in their names to face Cena one-on-one. He made it clear he’ll face anyone and everyone, and former NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes is confident he will be one of those names.
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Speaking at the Bash in Berlin media junket, Hayes was asked to predict what’s next for him. Instead of doing that he told Instinct Culture that he’s at the front of the line in terms of Cena’s hopeful opponents. “I mean, I don’t really want to predict, but I will call out somebody just because I feel like this is the perfect time to do it. I think, you know, I talked about it earlier today as well, but John Cena, he’s on his retirement tour. He put out the message. He said, ‘you want some, come get some.’ I think, to be honest, I’m right at the front of the line of people that are going to come get some. So, John, I’m just letting you know, just giving you the heads up. Your time is up and my time is now” (h/t: Fightful).
Hayes has been a member of the SmackDown roster for the past few months where he has really made a name for himself against opponents like Ilja Dragunov, Randy Orton, LA Knight and Cody Rhodes after he was drafted from NXT. He competed in this year’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match where he had an incredible showing opposite some of WWE’s biggest names. Currently, he is in a feud with Andrade who is the WWE Speed Champion.
Cena has largely remained out of the ring since 2018, only making a few special appearances each year as he continues to make waves in Hollywood in projects like DC’s Peacemaker, the Fast and the Furious franchise, and most recently Prime Video’s Jackpot! with Aquafina. In 2023 he had a total of eight matches, the last one being against Solo Sikoa at WWE Crown Jewel last November. He didn’t step foot back inside of a ring until WrestleMania season this year, teaming with Awesome Truth against the Judgment Day on WWE Raw.
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