There are big kickoffs and then there are big kickoffs — and Saturday’s Wrestlepalooza contribution surely belongs in the latter category. If you were looking to book a blockbuster match involving any two active wrestlers in 2025, then Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena has to be a contender for top of the list.
Aside from having two of the most recognizable names in pro-wrestling, the fact that this match has to be the most unpredictable of the year-long Cena retirement run makes it feel an even bigger deal. Some bookmakers have even given it the kind of coin-toss odds you’d expect to see in a big-time boxing bout.
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No doubt WWE would relish that comparison. Ever since the great changeover three years ago, when Triple H took over creative duties from Vince McMahon, one of the most visible shifts in WWE programming has been the shift toward a more sports-like presentation, driven by the hiring of the former ESPN executive Lee Fitting. Perhaps it’s no coincidence, then, that WWE’s PLEs are now shifting over to ESPN (at least in the U.S.) in a deal worth $1.6 billion. Come Saturday evening, Lesnar vs. Cena will be the first WWE match to be broadcast on the world’s biggest sporting network, as it opens the show for Wrestlepalooza.
Naturally, WWE seems to have dialed up the sports-esque imagery even further for the occasion. On the poster for Wrestlepalooza, the usual pro-wrestling spectacle has been dialed down in favor of stern-looking headshots of the two contenders alongside boxing-style block lettering of their surnames. In a parallel universe where Triple H ended up being put in charge of UFC, it’s hard to see what he’d do differently.
Presenting the match like a UFC title fight might be apt given Lesnar’s history, but it also places much higher expectations on the action itself. At this stage of their careers, neither man is going to be daunted by the spotlight, but the memories of WrestleMania 41 — and the fiasco of its Cena vs. Cody Rhodes main event — serves as a reminder of how quickly the hype can deflate when things go wrong.
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Cena’s past two matches have proven beyond any doubt that he can still work with the best of them. On the other hand, Lesnar saunters straight into his first match since his unscheduled disappearance from WWE programming two years ago — though WWE has been smart enough to use that fact to its advantage, ratcheting up the tension by having “The Beast” lurking in the background, rather than putting him front-and-center on the weekly shows.
What makes Saturday’s outcome so uncertain? It’s largely the fact that, unlike most big WWE matches this year, there are solid creative reasons in favor of either outcome. Given we’re in the feel-good part of the Cena retirement tour, you can see why WWE might choose to have its hero go over clean, earning another ovation like the one he had in Paris. Perhaps we could even see Lesnar raise Cena’s arm to pay his own tribute.
On the other hand, doesn’t the final stretch of the retirement run need a bit of tension? Having Lesnar emerge victorious would add a narrative twist to the whole project, giving Cena a roadblock to overcome in order to score his perfect sendoff. That could lead to him finally defeating his new nemesis in one of his tear-jerking final appearances in November or December. We’ve seen before how well Lesnar plays the role of “the mountain to overcome,” notably during his superb trilogy with Rhodes two years ago.
Given all that, you can see why this particular weekend feels so compelling. Could Cena vs. Lesnar even prove to be the single biggest wrestling match of the year? In an industry prone to tossing around hyperbole for its own sake, I think you could make a pretty solid case to that effect.
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Whether it delivers on those expectations will become clear when we get to Indianapolis on Saturday. One thing we can say for sure, though, it’s one hell of a way to kick off the new era of wrestling on ESPN.
