Exclusive: Eric Bischoff Breaks Down John Cena’s Retirement Tour

If there's anyone who knows pro wrestling, it's Eric Bischoff.

The longtime former pro wrestling promoter led WCW to victory for 83 consecutive weeks during the Monday Night Wars when its flagship program, Monday Night Nitro, beat the WWE's Monday Night Raw in the ratings battle for nearly two consecutive years.

While Bischoff is not currently in the pro wrestling business, he currently serves as the Chief Media Officer of Real American Freestyle Wrestling, he does still observe the product from time to time due to his podcast, 83 Weeks With Eric Bischoff.

The WWE is obviously entering a new year, but they'll do so without the top act over the past two decades in John Cena.

The 48-year-old called it a career in 2025, embarking on a year-long retirement tour before wrapping things up in his final match against Gunther on Dec. 13. 

Bischoff sees both the positives and negatives from Cena's retirement tour, saying that there was "misstep" when it came to his heel turn and angle involving The Rock and Travis Scott. 

However, he does say that fans still got their "money's worth" with the retirement tour, with people being able to see Cena match up against some of his top rivals over the years one last time.

The Negatives of John Cena's Retirement Tour

Cena turned heel at Elimination Chamber leading into Wrestlemania when The Rock and Travis Scott interfered. 

The Rock never appeared again, which never gave a conclusive reason or ending to why the trio formed to help Cena win in the first place.

When it became clear The Rock wasn't coming back and Travis Scott wasn't going to appear again after Wrestlemania, the WWE turned Cena back into being a babyface leading into his Summerslam title match against Cody Rhodes.

"I think there was a misstep," Bischoff told SportsBoom.com. 

"I think creatively, there was maybe a breakdown in communication or just creation with the original idea. And it was a blunder. It was a mistake. You're setting up John Cena's turn kind of out of nowhere. He turns heel, it wasn't like a big build up."

"It wasn't like a Hogan turn where there were weeks and weeks and weeks of who's the third man, who's the third man, who's the third man. There was none of that. It was just one minute he's a baby face and he's taking on Cody Rhodes, next minute he's not."

Bischoff doubles down on how many fans and observers felt from the feud, calling the non-anticipated heel turn out of nowhere like a "fart in church."

"That was a mistake," said Bischoff. 

"Because I think it's that anticipation which is such a key element in entertainment, if they would have found a way, visa vie who's the third man asking the question, planting a seed of doubt that they could water. That turn was basically, I don't how else to say it, other than a fart in church."

"Other than that really awkward turn that we just all of a sudden had to forget about," Bischoff continued. 

"You may have had a major moment there, because you built for it. You created that major moment visa vie the anticipation. That's why I think it was just a mistake to do a hard turn out of nowhere, and then when it didn't work out, it was like, let's just pretend it didn't happen, to keep going. It was odd. It's unfortunate. From a technical point of view, from a writer or producer's point of view, that's my take."

The Positives

On the other hand, Bischoff also sees the positives from Cena's last run, saying from a fan's perspective, people got their "money's worth."

"From a fan's perspective, I think fans got their money's worth," said Bischoff. 

"I think fans generally liked, despite the awkward quasi-heel turn in the very beginning , despite that, by the end of it, they still loved it. They got to be a part of history, and they got to be on that journey with John. 

"John did a great job of making people feel like he was on the journey with him," Bischoff continued to say. 

"With a lot of the backstage stuff he was doing, and the appearances he was and the Make-a-Wish things that was all John's way of saying goodbye and continuing to give back to his audience during that journey. I think people reacted to it pretty well."

Things obviously could have been handled better with Cena's final run, but fans were able to see him many times during his last year as a wrestler. Cena won his long-awaited record 17th World Title, won the Intercontinental Title for the first time in his career and faced off against longtime rivals such as Randy Orton, CM Punk, Brock Lesnar and AJ Styles one last time.

Fans were also able to see Cena face off against new opponents such as Dominik Mysterio and Gunther.

As Bischoff recaps, there was a "misstep" with the whole Cena turning heel angle, but from a fan's perspective, they were able to get their "money's worth."