{"id":207108,"date":"2025-10-12T05:21:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T05:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/207108\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T05:21:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T05:21:17","slug":"wwe-star-john-cena-channels-undertaker-bray-wyatt-randy-orton-and-chris-jericho-in-epic-perth-tribute-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/207108\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE star John Cena channels Undertaker, Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton and Chris Jericho in epic Perth tribute match"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Cena\u2019s final match outside of the US has been celebrated as a love letter to wrestling as the retiring WWE superstar and opponent AJ Styles turned their contest into an emotional tribute to current and former greats.<\/p>\n

More than 13,000 fans packed RAC Arena for the occasion and the venue was a sea of gold after the vast majority of the crowd bought Cena\u2019s farewell Australian t-shirt.<\/p>\n

Even Cena was blown away by what he saw when his music hit and he walked into the venue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is crazy. I haven\u2019t seen something like this!\u201d he said to the camera.<\/p>\n

WWE chief content officer Triple H was also stunned by the way Perth\u2019s fans had celebrated Cena as he won his 100th Premium Live Event match.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredible. The amount of t-shirts was unbelievable,\u201d he said on the post-show.<\/p>\n

\"Cena\u2019sCamera IconCena\u2019s t-shirts were everywhere. Credit: Jackson Flindell\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just want to have that last memento. You want to be part of it. You want to have something you can take home with you and say, \u2018I was there\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s what you see with this, with the all that yellow in the crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the fans paid tribute to Cena, the man himself paid tribute to the people who contributed to his career.<\/p>\n

Cena recently spoke about his desire to recognise other wrestlers by incorporating their famous moves into his final matches.<\/p>\n

He used the iconic Undertaker\u2019s tombstone piledriver, Randy Orton\u2019s RKO, The Miz\u2019s Skull Crushing Finale, Rusev\u2019s Camel Clutch and Chris Jericho\u2019s Walls of Jericho.<\/p>\n

\"JohnCamera IconJohn Cena put AJ Styles into The Walls of Jericho. Credit: Jackson Flindell\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

But his tribute to the late Bray Wyatt turned RAC Arena into a eerie show of light.<\/p>\n

Wyatt passed away from a heart attack in 2023 aged just 36. Just like Wyatt, Cena kissed Styles on the forehead and unleashed Sister Abigail to the amazement of the crowd.<\/p>\n

They recognised the moment, grabbed their phones, turned on their torches and RAC Arena quickly resembled the firefly entrance which Wyatt made famous.<\/p>\n

\"JohnCamera IconJohn Cena sets up AJ Styles for Sister Abigail. Credit: Jackson Flindell\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

Cena had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand.<\/p>\n

They chanted 619 while begging for him to attempt Rey Mysterio\u2019s famous move. Few people have Mysterio\u2019s agility, but Styles quickly collapsed into the ropes to set up the opportunity for it to occur \u2013 then countered it with his own attack.<\/p>\n

Cries of \u201cYes, YES, YES\u201d echoed as the fans recognised Daniel Bryan. Cena set up for Triple H\u2019s Pedigree before that got countered to.<\/p>\n

And Styles, who will retire next year, also pulled out tributes, including Shawn Michaels\u2019 Sweet Chin Music and Sting\u2019s Scorpion Death Drop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is like when you make yourself a character in a video game and pull out everyone\u2019s finishing move,\u201d commentator Wade Barrett said.<\/p>\n

\"JohnCamera IconJohn Cena was brilliant. Credit: Jackson Flindell\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

The match was such an emotional and key piece of history that megastar CM Punk made the extraordinary decision to watch the match within metres of fans. He walked out from the changerooms under the cover of darkness in a black tracksuit with his hood on, and stood alongside WWE technicians so he could enjoy the spectacle live.<\/p>\n

Even the Undertaker posted about it, describing it as a \u201cmasterclass and beautiful tribute to wrestling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JohnCamera IconJohn Cena sets up for Undertaker\u2019s Tombstone Piledriver. Credit: Jackson Flindell\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

Fans chanted \u201cThankyou Cena\u201d at the start of the match and then \u201cThis Is Awesome\u201d repeatedly rang out during their 27-minute spectacle.<\/p>\n

Cena gave fans the traditional moments they wanted early as his \u201cYou Can\u2019t See Me\u201d and five knuckle shuffle were quickly introduced to the spectacle.<\/p>\n

The 17-time world champion\u2019s ability to have people eating out of the palm of his hand was evident hours before the match even began.<\/p>\n

\"Perth\u2019sCamera IconPerth\u2019s crowd went wild. Credit: Jackson Flindell\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

Cena stunned everyone by stopping at a 7-Eleven on Great Eastern Highway within minutes of landing in Perth. Thrilled fans quickly grabbed the chance to have photos.<\/p>\n

But that stop was a perfectly planned piece of publicity because 7-Eleven was a sponsor of the event and had their logo on the turnbuckle.<\/p>\n

BIg names were out in force at the event. Rove McManus was there. Former rugby star Sonny Bill Williams flew in for the occasion and Perth Wildcats players rushed straight to RAC Arena from the airport after returning home from their match against Cairns.<\/p>\n

Cena and Styles embraced in the ring after the match and held each other\u2019s arms high. Cena then kissed his wife who was standing ringside, waved to the crowd and held up four fingers to signify he has only four matches left in his outstanding career.<\/p>\n

\"JohnCamera IconJohn Cena and AJ Styles salute the crowd. Credit: Jackson Flindell\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

Triple H said it was a night the industry will never forget.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredible. It was a love letter to professional wrestling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Cena\u2019s final match outside of the US has been celebrated as a love letter to wrestling as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134,44,588,45,20274],"class_list":["post-207108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-news","tag-sport","tag-wa-news","tag-wrestling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}