• John Cena’s Retirement Tour Graded “C” By WWE Hall Of Famer
John Cena’s Retirement Tour kicked off in January 2025 and has been one of the biggest storylines in WWE this year. While the tour has had its moments, it’s also been controversial.
Fans were shocked when the Cenation Leader suddenly turned heel at Elimination Chamber by joining forces with The Rock, only for him to flip back to a babyface a couple of months later. The abrupt booking left many fans divided over the direction of the storyline.
On a recent episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff gave his take, handing the tour a ‘C’ grade. He said that while the run has had some solid segments, the initial heel turn undermined the overall story.
“If this story (against Brock Lesnar) going forward is a redemption story, I love redemption stories, they always work for me. If it’s not the case, and it was just what they did that night (at Wrestlepalooza), that would be worrisome to me.
I’d give [the Retirement Tour] a C. Now, if you take the heel turn or whatever that was, take that out and just look at the rest of it, probably a B, maybe an A- or a B. It’s been pretty good, except for the way it started.”
John Cena’s next appearance is scheduled for Crown Jewel in Perth, Australia, where he will wrestle AJ Styles in what could be the two legends’ final encounter.
• “Nia Jax is one of the best and a locker room leader” – SmackDown Star
The main event of SmackDown after Wrestlepalooza featured Tiffany Stratton defending her WWE Women’s Championship in a Triple Threat Match against Nia Jax and Jade Cargill.
During the bout, Jax drove Cargill into the steel steps, leaving her busted open. Later in the match, she also forgot to kick out of one of Stratton’s pin attempts, leading to criticism from fans online. Some even accused Jax of injuring Cargill on purpose.
One fan took to X and wrote that WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H should punish Jax for her performance:
“If I’m Triple H, I’m booking Nia Jax every week and having her eat pins until every woman in the entire company has pinned her consecutively. If she doesn’t want to do it, show her the damn door.
What she did to Jade Cargill was on purpose. Enough is enough already…”
Former WWE star Baron Corbin (now known as Bishop Dyer) quickly came to Jax’s defense, tweeting:
“Dude shut the f**k up! You have no idea what you are talking about.”
Chelsea Green also joined the conversation, praising Jax and calling her a leader in the WWE locker room:
“The internet not knowing that Nia is one of the best is the biggest travesty. We’re lucky to have her as a locker room leader.”
• Another WWE Star’s Career Could Be Coming To An End After John Cena & AJ Styles
Akira Tozawa was one of the stars to participate in WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic nearly a decade ago. He signed with the company in 2016 and became an important part of 205 Live. He won the Cruiserweight Championship and also got his hands on the 24/7 Title sixteen times.
The 40-year-old has spent most of his time on RAW in the lower card since WWE abolished the Cruiserweight division. It seems like his time as an in-ring performer may be winding down, as Tozawa recently expressed uncertainty about his future in the squared circle.
He tweeted a photo from his match with Dragon Lee on WWE Main Event last week, and captioned it:
“I wonder how many more matches my body can handle.”
The Japanese star shared a similar message on X earlier this year. He wrote:
“It’s been 20 years since my first match. Maybe I’ve been doing this for too long…”
Speaking of WWE stars who are set to retire soon, John Cena will retire at the end of 2025 and AJ Styles will retire sometime in 2026.
• WWE Website Spoils Big PLE Angle
Jacy Jayne retained her NXT Women’s Championship against Lola Vice at No Mercy after getting help from a mysterious hooded figure.
WWE’s official website has spoiled the identity of the personality. It was revealed to be Lainey Reid.
Here’s what WWE’s editorial team wrote about the match in their results article for No Mercy.
“Jacy Jayne retained the NXT Women’s Championship thanks to a shocking assist from Lainey Reid.”
Below is a screenshot:
Before No Mercy began, Shawn Michaels announced that Lainey Reid wasn’t medically cleared to wrestle Sol Ruca for the WWE Women’s Speed Championship due to which she was pulled from the match and replaced by Jaida Parker.
Bodyslam previously reported that Lainey Reid was expected to replace Jazmyn Nyx in Fatal Influence. It seems like that will indeed be the case.
• Bret Hart Accuses WWE Hall Of Famer Of Sabotaging His Matches
Bret Hart was recently a guest on Back To Wrestling with Walandi Tsanti’s live Q/A session in Germersheim, Germany, where he opened up about his time in the ring with Ric Flair.
He didn’t hold back and drew a clear line between their approaches to matches and called out The Nature Boy for sticking to the same style every night.
“I always wrestled different matches with different guys. I never had the same match with the same guy, which is exactly what Ric Flair does. He wrestles everybody in the exact same way. It’s the same script, the same patch, the same spots, the same moves. And whereas I’m an artist, I do it different every night.”
The 3-time WWE Hall of Famer said that things started to break down after he won the WWF Championship from Flair. He believes the quality of their matches declined on purpose.
“I didn’t have very good matches with Ric Flair. I think he’s purposely not giving me good matches. He’s trying to sabotage my matches.”
The tension reached a peak before an Iron Man Match, when Flair tried to change the layout of the match to his liking. Hart said he put his foot down.
“I looked at him, I said, ‘We’re not doing any of that. We’re doing my match… No, we’re not doing any of that. I’m in charge. I’m the champion. I tell you what to do.'”
The Hitman called that moment a turning point in his career. From that point on, he took full creative control of all his matches, making sure he could deliver the kind of wrestling he wanted to see.
Bret also spoke about some of the biggest names from his era. He was full of praise for the stars who helped him become the legend he is today, while also calling out those who, in his view, only looked out for themselves.
Hart singled out Mr. Perfect and ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper as the ones who went the extra mile to make him look good and prove his worth.
“[They] wanted to help me and prove to the office and promotion that I could be a big star. I owe a lot to Mr. Perfect. He was the first guy to really go in there and just show everybody how good I was. He was one of my favorite guys to ever wrestle. He was the first guy then to step up and help me, and then Roddy Piper was probably the second.”
On the flip side, The Hitman didn’t hold back about Hulk Hogan and Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts, calling them out for looking out only for themselves.
“I look back on what Roddy and Mr. Perfect did for me. And I could tell you that Hulk Hogan never did that for anybody. He never helped anybody else after his time was being the top guy. He would rather see the company sink than actually come back and help make the next star… Jake Roberts is another guy that never made anybody.”
Hart also took aim at one of his greatest rivals, Shawn Michaels, while discussing the original plans for WrestleMania 13.
“Vince told me I had to wrestle Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 13 in a rematch for the title. But politics and Shawn’s ego, he didn’t want to do that… Shawn retired, lost his smile and all that stuff. And basically, I think, refused to wrestle me at WrestleMania 13.”
Bret Hart has never been afraid to call out stars he had a problem with. He did not get along with several names, including Hulk Hogan, Goldberg, Triple H and Shawn Michaels.
