Eric Bischoff Gives John Cena’s Retirement Tour a “C” – On a recent episode of 83 Weeks, former WCW President Eric Bischoff offered a critical take on John Cena’s ongoing WWE retirement tour, giving the storyline an overall grade of “C.” Bischoff explained that while Cena’s farewell run has included strong moments, he believes it was severely undermined by what he described as a poorly executed and unrealistic heel turn at the very start.
Discussing Cena’s recent decisive loss to Brock Lesnar at Wrestlepalooza, Bischoff said the creative direction can still succeed if it’s building toward redemption. “If this story going forward is a redemption story, I love redemption stories, they always work for me,” he said. “If it’s not the case, and it was just what they did that night, that would be worrisome to me.”
When pressed to grade the tour, Bischoff pointed directly to the flawed turn. “I’d give it a C,” he admitted. “Now, if you take the heel turn or whatever that was, take that out and just look at the rest of it, probably a B, maybe an A- or a B. It’s been pretty good, except for the way it started.”
Using a movie analogy, Bischoff explained why the shaky beginning damaged the entire arc. “The heel turn attempt, it’s like the end of the movie ended up being pretty good, but you got up and walked out mentally or emotionally during the first 15 minutes of the movie, because it just didn’t make any sense,” he said. “It’s hard to get it back.”
Bischoff added that fans ultimately want to see Cena close his career on a high note. “Give everybody what they want is to see the guy go out on top. Everybody would love to see Babe Ruth hit his last home run. Nobody wants to see Babe Ruth strike out.”
Cena’s retirement tour began with a shocking heel turn at Elimination Chamber 2025, when he briefly aligned with The Rock, drawing mixed reactions from fans. He later returned to a babyface role before dropping the WWE Title to Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam. His final match is currently scheduled for a special Saturday Night’s Main Event in December 2025.
Eric Bischoff Gives John Cena’s Retirement Tour a “C”
