WWE officials were reportedly caught off guard by the overwhelmingly negative fan reaction to the conclusion of John Cena’s retirement match against Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Despite the company often expecting “heat” for controversial creative decisions, internal sources suggest the level of hostility directed toward the finish exceeded their projections.
On the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez discussed the fallout from the December 13 event in Washington, D.C. Meltzer revealed that while WWE creative head Paul “Triple H” Levesque has publicly attempted to downplay the boos, the reality behind the scenes was quite different.
“There are many people in WWE who did not agree with that decision, but the guy in charge did it. The one thing I can say is, even though they may say something different publicly, they were blindsided by that reaction,” Meltzer stated.
He noted that Triple H’s nonchalant response on-camera—remarking that he “thought it’d be louder”—was likely a defensive mechanism to mask the internal surprise. “I don’t want to say there was no discussion of a reaction, but I was told there was no discussion of a reaction,” Meltzer added.
The primary source of fan anger was the decision to have Cena tap out to a sleeper hold, marking his first submission loss in nearly 20 years. Bryan Alvarez pointed out that this finish directly conflicted with Cena’s two-decade-long “Never Give Up” mantra, making it a particularly bitter pill for fans to swallow. “They got that reaction because for 20 years people have been sold on Never Give Up,” Alvarez explained.
Despite the immediate backlash, the long-term impact on Gunther’s character may be a positive one for the company. During the December 15 episode of Monday Night Raw, Gunther leaned into the heat with a gleeful, gloating promo, referring to the legendary Cena as “a little bitch” for tapping out.
Meltzer noted that this reaction was actually impressive and could be viewed as a point in favor of the decision. “The Gunther reaction was really impressive. If you want to argue that the decision was the right decision, that reaction he got tonight was a good argument because he was really hated and he played it up well,” Meltzer said.
