On June 27, 2002, Kurt Angle issued an open challenge at Allstate Arena to a wrestler that he hadn’t faced before. “Now’s your chance to become a sensation just like me,” Angle said.
Out came someone to seize the moment — young, great physique and matching red trunks, shoes and kneepads. Angle laughed at the expression on the mysterious person’s face.
“Who in the hell are you?” Angle asked.
“I’m John Cena.”
“What’s the quality you possess … to face the very best in the business?”
“Ruthless. Aggression.” Cena said with a slap to Angle’s face that echoed throughout Chicago.
Fast forward 23 years to Cena’s latest appearance in the Windy City. The trumpets of his popular theme song were met with a deafening cheer from the crowd. He ran to the ring and did his signature salute. He stopped in the middle of his opening monologue and embraced the “thank you Cena!” chants.
After a United States Championship match — interrupted by Brock Lesnar — Cena walked out of the arena stunned. Maybe it was the F5 finisher Lesner hit him with, but maybe it was his last exit from the place where he debuted in two decades earlier.
“This is the last time (Cena will) be here and that really didn’t hit me until on the way here,” said fan Ryan Berry while waiting in the long lines. “It (was) an emotional evening for a lot of fans.”
Save the invisible jokes. It was a bittersweet night for those seeing John Cena in Chicago for the final time.
WWE held a Friday Night SmackDown event at the Allstate Arena last week. For Cena, it was the final appearance at the place where his legend began 23 years prior. In a night that involved Chicago’s own CM Punk and the return of a women’s legend, Cena felt the love from the city that birthed his career.
Photos: WWE fans celebrate wrestling superstar John Cena
“That’s what makes this life special, that’s what makes this city special, that’s what makes this building special and that’s what makes you special,” Cena told the crowd. “You are not afraid to use your voice.”
And they made their voice heard. Sami Zayn, the current United States Champion, came out to boos as he asked Cena for a match, 10 years after the two first wrestled. Zayn was a good guy put in a bad position — everyone was there for the greatest of all time. And Cena stoked the nostalgia with multiple callbacks including Edge’s spear, an attempt of Randy Orton’s RKO and Angle’s ankle lock.
“Seeing him from pretty much starting from nothing to becoming a 17-time champ (has) been a pretty big journey,” said fan Jose Quintanilla, who was wearing Cena’s farewell tour merch.
The WWE megastar is from West Newbury, Mass., but it wouldn’t be unhinged to say that Allstate Arena is a second home for Cena. His first of six WrestleMania main events came at the stadium, where Cena defeated Triple H via submission at WrestleMania 22 in 2006.
Kids at the arena wore various colors of Cena merch, while their parents did the same. Fans have seen every Cena gimmick from his debut, to the rapping Doctor of Thuganomics, to Super Cena, the United States Championship open challenge and now the farewell tour. It’s a testament to the number of lives the star has impacted throughout his career.
“A lot of people grew up with him,” said Jackie Gomez, wearing a black and gold Cena shirt. “It’s a coming of an era (if you) grew up seeing him on TV as a little kid or as a 30-year-old.
“It was always the new T-shirts coming out, the rivalries, the feuds (and) watching him grow as a person and kind of being there with him.”
John Cena fan, Yasin Joudeh, 6, of Orland Park, takes in the action during the WWE SmackDown show at the Allstate Arena on Sept. 5, 2025, in Rosemont. (John Konstantaras/for the Chicago Tribune)
During the in-ring introduction, Cena hugged the ring announcer while being called the greatest of all time, the “never before seen 17-time” champion and the last real champion. Do fans agree?
“Oh yeah,” Jalen Alexander, wearing a CM Punk shirt and a world heavyweight championship belt, said without hesitation. “The never before seen 17, the greatest of all time.”
Whether the majority were there for Cena or Punk is up in the air, but the demand for both stars was evident in the crowd of 16,000-plus. CM Punk, real name Phillip Brooks, grew up in south suburban Lockport. He has worn the stars of the Chicago flag on his gear for most of his career, repping his hometown wherever he goes.
And Chicago has his back whenever he’s in town. At Money in the Bank 2011, “CM Punk” chants flooded Allstate Arena as fans anticipated his appearance. The superstar’s music, formerly “This Fire” by Killswitch Engage, hit and the faithful erupted in a way the city hadn’t heard until the Cubs won the 2016 World Series.
When Cena’s music hit that night, he was met with jeers that mirrored what Aaron Rodgers has heard on his trips to Soldier Field. Chicago has made its voice heard, good or bad.
Punk pinned Cena that night, blew former WWE chairman Vince McMahon a kiss and scurried into the crowd with the WWE championship.
The 2023 Survivor Series Wargames show in Allstate Arena closed with Punk making an unprecedented return to WWE. Years removed from WWE, he was met with a similar reaction: “CM Punk! CM Punk! CM Punk!”
In Friday’s Allstate Arena show, he told the women’s intercontinental champion Becky Lynch that he wouldn’t ever put his hands on a lady but “knows someone who will.” Out came his real-life wife, AJ Lee, who made her first WWE appearance in a decade.
Whether it’s Cena, Punk or someone else, Windy City wrestling fans have been treated well.
John Cena battles United States Champion Sami Zayn during his final match in Chicago at the WWE SmackDown show at the Allstate Arena on Sept. 5, 2025, in Rosemont. (John Konstantaras/for the Chicago Tribune)
“We want something fun to distract us from real life,” Gomez said. “This is fun and it takes us away for a moment.”
Cena doesn’t retire officially from wrestling until Dec. 13 in Washington, D.C. He has a few more WWE dates on TV, but those in attendance appreciated that he came to Chicago one last time.
“It’s his last SmackDown and (with) him debuting (and ending) here, it’s a big full circle moment,” Gomez said. “It’s very nice that he’s doing it for us.”
Cena let the crowd interrupt him as they praised the WWE legend. This isn’t new, he always — well, mostly — has been for the fans. It started with cheers when he laid Kurt Angle out in 2002. That turned into “Let’s go Cena / Cena Sucks” chants years later. Friday, it was admiration for the hustle, loyalty and respect Cena has given the wrestling business.
Before the Zayn and Lesnar shenanigans, Cena had a heart-to-heart with the fans and the city of Chicago. He’s not what he is today without the Windy City.
“Thank you for a beautiful ride,” Cena said. “You let me experience joy and that’s the Chicago way.”
He then, stunned, walked to the locker room to end the opening segment. If you missed it … well.
You can’t see him.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/11/chicago-john-cena-wwe-smackdown/
