John Cena is seen at the Comic-Con Fan Expo on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill. (Photo by Rob Grabowski/Invision/AP)

The last time is now.

Dec. 13 marks the end of the line in the career of one of the best professional wrestling has ever had to offer.

John Cena will enter a WWE ring one final time Saturday night to take on Gunther, winner of “The Last Time is Now” Tournament, at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., in the main event of what is shaping up to be an interesting card for “Saturday Night’s Main Event.” (8 p.m. on Peacock)

It’s truly surreal finally reaching this moment, and what a wild ride it’s been.

Starting with his announcement in August 2024, fans saw his heel turn that both dragged on longer than it should have and then ended in the blink of an eye; and he became the first 17-time world champion and finally became a grand slam champion (someone who’s been world, mid-card and tag-team champion) by winning his elusive first Intercontinental Championship — with too many other matches to mention here.

Some may look down their noses at this match and ask “why does Gunther need the rub from going up against Cena? Couldn’t they have chosen someone more deserving?”

Gunther is more than deserving.

Yes, he may have a record-length Intercontinental title reign and a world championship under his belt just in recent years. And yes, Gunther’s mic skills still leave much to be desired, at least for me. And yes, there are plenty of other guys on the roster that could also have used the push from getting this match. And yes, there are plenty of “dream matches” that will end up being left on the cutting room floor of time — I’m still bummed we won’t see him face Edge (admittedly not with WWE at the time) or even some other big names that might have come out for “one last match” if the greatest of all-time came calling.

But for all those complaints, fans still ate well this year.

Cena had one last go-round with AJ Styles earlier this year at Crown Jewel. Last month, he dropped his Intercontinental belt back to Dominic Mysterio thanks to interference, and the month before dropped a singles match to Brock Lesnar at the new event for ESPN, “Wrestlepalooza.”

We also had some fun tag action with various partners like Jey Uso, Logan Paul, Sheamus and Rey Mysterio.

There were plenty of WWE Championship defenses during his last reign, which began against Rhodes at Wrestlemania. Randy Orton and CM Punk both saw Cena put the championship up for grabs against them during the farewell tour — and R-Truth, who has grown into a fan favorite comedic act over the years, even got a few opportunities to shine and also picked up a win against Cena.

But back to Gunther. Why exactly should he get this shot instead of one of the countless people I just mentioned, or any of the other ones I didn’t, like Bronn Breaker, son and nephew to industry legend Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner, respectively?

For me, aside from Breaker, Gunther is the future of the company, whether people want to admit it or not. His physical transformation over the years has only helped solidify that opinion for me. He was always a physically imposing man, but the weight loss and changes in his physique he’s undergone are truly impressive. He put in the work to prove that he wants to be at the top of WWE for a long time.

It’s a progression that stands in stark contrast to comments made by fellow WWE superstar Drew McIntyre about current wrestlers’ appearances recently on Logan Paul’s podcast, “ImPaulsive.”

“These days, no offense, but 85% of our guys don’t look like they should be in WWE,” McIntyre said. “They’re on Netflix and stuff, and my buddies will contact me and go, ‘Yo, I just turned on wrestling for a bit to see what you’re up to. There’s guys who look like they should be serving me my fast food at McDonald’s or something, and I’m thinking, ‘I could kick their…’ It takes me out of it.”

Gunther will likely be a WWE lifer, and while he may not ever earn quite the same number of accolades as John Cena has over the past two decades, the fact is, barring some sort of major injury, Gunther will be a major factor in whatever WWE decides to do in the years to come, and he’s earned it.

Digital content coordinator and copy editor Dan Isenberg can be reached at disenberg@altoonamirror.com or on X @TheseDanTweets