Why John Cena Needs to Be WWE Champion at WrestleMania 42 in New Orleans

John Cena has made waves as he just became the WWE World Champion for the 17th time in his career, while he's planning retirement at the end of the year. But there are a few reasons why Cena should stick around until WrestleMania 42 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

John Cena Is Now A World-Record WWE World Champion

The WWE Championship is one of the oldest and most prestigious prizes in professional wrestling, sharing its roots with the original World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship from 1905 and held by classic wrestling legends like Lou Thesz and Frank Gotch. Though the WWE World Championship is old, it actually shares DNA with an older brother; In fact, a few other world championship belts have existed and been combined with the WWE World Championship over its lifetime.

The WWE Championship has been several different belts at one point or another, It shares a history with WWE's World Heavyweight Championship, which takes its original legacy from the World Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship, which was a spinoff from the National Wrestling Alliance World's Heavyweight Championship which was the officially goverened version of that original World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship.

So now that we're all thoroughly confused, to simplify, there have been several wrestling world championships in history, and John Cena now holds the record for holding more of them than anyone else. Ric Flair held the previous record as the 16-time world champion.

Why Cena Needs To Hold Off On Retirement

2025 is the end of an era in professional wrestling. Legends like Christopher Daniels, Hiroshi Tanahashi, AJ Styles, Jeff Jarrett, Bill Goldberg, and John Cena have all announced their plans to retire, and some of them have already kissed the squared circle goodbye. John Cena announced late last year that 2025 would be his last year as a wrestler; he still plans on retiring at the end of the year.

This year's WrestleMania 41 is likely to be the last WrestleMania Cena wrestles at, marking off a few last things on his wrestling bucket list. Since Cena took time during the Elimination Chamber match to hug it out with an old rival, CM Punk, at the start of his retirement tour, fans were desperate to see Cena go face to face with old rivals before his time is up.

So why does Cena need to hang around until April of 2026 when he could easily get through the year and be done? WrestleMania 42 will be held from April 11th-12th, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

WrestleMania 30 Was Among The Greatest

11 years and 5 days before the kick-off for Mania 42, John Cena stepped into WrestleMania 30 in the Superdome against one of his greatest opponents, Bray Wyatt. Bray Wyatt's wrestling character was an arch rival to Cena, he would play the yin to Cena's yang. Wyatt passed away unexpectedly in 2023, leaving the professional wrestling world devastated. If Cena could make an appearance at WrestleMania 42 in New Orleans, it would be a perfect moment for Cena to pay respect to his once-greatest rival.

While John Cena was occupied with Wyatt at WrestleMania 30, Bryan Danielson, fka Daniel Bryan, made his unforgettable mark on the world of professional wrestling when he beat Triple H, Randy Orton, and Batista for the WWE World Championship, all after he had already beaten John Cena for the title in a match lauded as one of the greatest.

Danielson and Cena have their history as well, which is another reason why Cena should stick around for Mania 42. Bryan Danielson retired from professional wrestling full-time in 2024 when he was beaten by Swerve Strickland for the All Elite Wrestling World Championship. The key in that sentence is "full-time." Danielson isn't done wrestling, instead saving himself for when a matchup is important enough to him.

John Cena, if he can hold the WWE World Championship and not retire when 2025 ends, would be a prime candidate to pull Danielson from part-time retirement.

Imagine Danielson coming out of retirement to face off with Cena for the world championship in the place where Danielson became the face of wrestling at WrestleMania 42. A dream match for sure, it could be a legendary spectacle of two of the greatest wrestlers to ever grapple if it ever does happen.