John Cena has explained why he pushed for a key change to a match finish during his WWE heel run last year. The revelation came in the second season of WWE: Unreal, which was released on Netflix yesterday and offered rare behind-the-scenes insight into WWE’s creative process.
Behind-the-Scenes Insight
The second episode focused heavily on R-Truth’s release and surprise return at the Money in the Bank premium live event. During the episode, viewers saw a clip of Cena speaking with Triple H about the finish of his tag team match. Cena and Logan Paul faced Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso in a highly anticipated bout.
The original finish involved R-Truth returning and striking Cena with the WWE Title belt. While Cena supported Truth’s comeback moment, he had one major concern. He wanted to ensure Cody Rhodes was still presented as the man who beat him.
Cena’s Match Strategy
Cena explained his reasoning clearly during the discussion. “What we have is Logan and Jey moonsault through the table. Cody’s dead in the ring. So, I go get the title. I was gonna use it on Cody. All we had was Truth coming in, taking the thing, like, ‘You can’t handle the Truth,’ and I go into the Cross Rhodes.”
At the time, Cena was deep into his heel run. He felt losing purely because of Truth’s interference could hurt Rhodes’ momentum. Cena had already put Rhodes over clean at SummerSlam. He did not want that message diluted.
Cena proposed alternative ideas to balance both moments. “We could have him take the thing, give me a fuc*ing AA, or knock me into a Cross Rhodes. My only thing was, I don’t want him to beat me, and not Cody to beat me,” Cena said.
Balancing Spotlight and Strength
His priority was clear. Truth’s return needed spotlight, but Rhodes needed to remain strong heading into their title rematch. The finish was adjusted accordingly.
The following months, on June 20, 2025 edition of WWE SmackDown, Cena went on to defeat R-Truth. Truth won that match by disqualification.
Cena later dropped the Undisputed WWE Championship to Cody Rhodes. He then put over Dominik Mysterio at Survivor Series: WarGames. His career concluded with a submission loss to Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event.
The episode also featured R-Truth sharing a humorous storyline idea he once pitched to John Cena Sr., adding levity to an otherwise revealing look at Cena’s final WWE run.
