John Cena Breaks Internet With First Instagram Post Since WWE Retirement

John Cena has uploaded his first Instagram post since officially retiring from WWE on Saturday night, and it’s broken the internet. The 48-year-old tapped out to Gunther in his final bout at Saturday Night’s Main Event, bringing the curtain down on a 36-date farewell tour throughout 2025.

Fans weren’t happy with the result. Many were fuming that Cena would submit in his final match, having touted a mantra of ‘never give up’ during much of his career. Prior to his loss to Gunther, Cena hadn’t tapped out for more than 20 years.

The strength of feeling over the ending even carried on outside the Capital One Arena in Washington DC, with ‘The Ring General’ requiring additional security simply to leave the arena safely as angry fans swarmed him.

WWE Chief Content Officer, Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque tried to explain the thinking behind the decision to have Cena quit in his final match during an appearance on the post-event panel. Highlighting that almost every major Superstar has lost their last bout in the ring, Triple H insisted:

“John has said the right thing his entire career that it is about leaving this place better than you found it. I think that there’s no way for people to understand that in the moment, but you do what is right for business, you do what is right for this industry. John has done that his entire career.”

John Cena’s First Instagram Post Since His Final WWE Match

Cena takes a unique approach to posting on Instagram, in that he exclusively uploads images without captions. As the man himself explains in his bio on the popular social media platform:

“These images will be posted without explanation, for your interpretation.”

As it turned out, the 17-time world champion’s first Instagram post after retiring didn’t need any additional context. Following his defeat to Gunther, Cena left his trademark towel, wristbands and sneakers in the centre of the ring to symbolise his retirement.

The day after his final match, Cena simply uploaded a close-up of all three of those items sitting on the mat, and fans just couldn’t cope. At time of writing, the post has racked up well in excess of 930,000 likes and 48,000 comments.

“Still can’t believe this is real. How fast the time passes,” read one of those comments.

“The man who made my childhood,” declared another, ” with a third poster chiming in: “Officially, our childhood ends here.”

A final comment simply read: “Thank you, Cena!”

While Cena confirmed last week that he had signed a new five-year deal with WWE, that contract will see him perform an ambassadorial role for the promotion. Retirements generally don’t stick in professional wrestling, but Cena insists that fans have seen the last of him as an active wrestler, which may explain why there has been such an outpouring of emotion following his final match.