The WWE is ready to entertain fans with their second biggest show of the calendar year, Summerslam 2025, with it being a two-night event for the first time on August 3 and 4 (IST) at the Metlife Stadium in New York.
The main event of this two-night event will be a showdown between John Cena and Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship in a street fight. The 17-time champion Cena will be participating in his final Summerslam, and was positioned to go into the match as the heel against a babyface Rhodes. However, there has been a surprising turn of events in the SmackDown before Summerslam.
In a surprising promo to Cody Rhodes, John Cena said thank you to Cody Rhodes, while also dissing The Rock indirectly saying that he turned heel because of him. He also addressed The Rock’s absence from WWE saying that the people who were supposed to be by his side left him. This might just be the babyface turn that fans were expecting of him, five months after his famous heel turn at Elimination Chamber
“I told you that I was exhausted. And that a match at SummerSlam would be too difficult for me. You didn’t listen. You assaulted me. You forged my signature. And you forced me into one of the most dangerous matches in WWE, on one of its grandest stages, for its biggest championship. I only got one thing left to say to you: Thank you,” John Cena declared.
“Because that was just the boot in the a** that I needed. For 20 years, day in and day out, I have forged a reputation off of hard work, honesty, and respect. And I now realize that five months ago, I flushed it all down the toilet, chasing false glory when I bought into somebody’s crazy idea to make shocking TV. And we did. We shocked the world, we made great TV, but then the dust settles, and then everybody goes back to their normal lives, and the people that were supposed to be on my team they left. And they left me alone, trying to pretend to be something I’m not,” he added.
John Cena further solidified that this was indeed his babyface turn when he said that he was ditching his mission to ‘ruin wrestling’- something that had been his punchline throughout his heel run.
“I want to leave here with this. After my last match, I want to take this home with me. But it’s not because I want to ruin wrestling. Jeez, you guys know, I don’t want to ruin wrestling, I love wrestling. I want to take this home with me, so after I’m gone, you guys don’t forget about me,” the WWE Champion further said.
The segment ended as the Rhodes and Cena shared a special moment where they were seen cheering with two cans of beer.