Eric Bischoff Discusses John Cena's WWE Retirement Tour, Potential Final Opponent

At this year's WWE Money in the Bank event, John Cena broke the news that 2025 will be his last year competing in the ring. On "83 Weeks," Eric Bischoff said he saw nothing but dollar signs in WWE extending Cena's retirement over the course of the full calendar year.

"I think it's great for John, great business, great for WWE and TKO ... you got all these events between now and then. Every one of them is going to be special. Every one of them is going to have collector merchandise. I'm sure that Mattel, and all the other licensees associated currently with WWE are going to be investing heavily in John Cena retirement collectible products. And it's just going to be a money-making festival for TKO and WWE." Naturally, Cena's announcement has fans and pundits speculating on opponents he might select for his last handful of matches. 

"People that have been involved with John in the ring in the past, if there's any of them around, it'd be great to start there," Bischoff said. "And then you start working into the younger, hungrier, up-and-coming talent ... I'd let Bron [Breakker] beat him. Have John put him over, one, two three. And knowing John, that's probably what he'll want to do, whether it's Bron or somebody else. He's not going to want to go out with a win. I guaran-f***in'-tee you." Dave Meltzer speculated that Cena may be booked to win either the Undisputed WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship during the year, in order for WWE to prop him up as the "greatest ever." Cena is currently tied with Ric Flair, having held 16 WWE-recognized world championships each. His retirement tour is expected to give WWE a boost on Netflix when "WWE Raw" transitions to the streaming service at the start of 2025.