Strong sign that John Cena's WWE WrestleMania 39 match could be his last

John Cena's United States Championship match against Austin Theory tonight at WrestleMania 39 could be his last in WWE.

The 16-time world champion recently returned to RAW to accept Austin Theory's challenge for a United States Championship match at WrestleMania 39. During his entrance, the 45-year-old broke down in tears, sparking rumors about him possibly retiring. He later addressed these speculations, stating that he has at least "one more match in front of him," which will be against Theory at this year's Show of Shows.

Speaking to Chaz Kangas of the Los Angeles Times, Cody Rhodes disclosed that he asked Cena to be his next opponent after Theory as they stood together on the stage during that same episode of RAW. However, Cena refused to promise that he would do it again.

"I told him if he does another one of these, I'd love to absolutely be that one. And he actually said, 'I can't promise that.' And I'm pretty sure that's all caught on camera or on the mics. But I definitely wanted him to know that you want your mentors and your heroes to... you wanna grow as tall as them but you also want to test them," Rhodes said. [2:12 - 2:37]

Cody Rhodes recently revealed the secrets of his car rides with John Cena, including burying other WWE stars. Check out his comments here.

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Cody Rhodes will not lose hope of having another WWE match against John Cena

During Cody Rhodes' first WWE run, he shared the ring several times with John Cena. The two superstars had four singles matches between 2009 and 2015. The Leader of the Cenation won them all.

However, Rhodes has never faced Cena in his American Nightmare gimmick. Hence, he believes it would be a different story if they had another match.

"I have an incredible experience with him and I have incredible experience as a fan watching what he did for WWE and what he continues to do. But I absolutely wouldn't put it past me to wanna see what it looks like John Cena vs Cody Rhodes because if it ever happened, it didn't really happen, you know."

He added:

"The people we are now are far different. The American Nightmare is a far different cat than I was previously there. So, that would be special. But again, he's got a tall order with Austin Theory. Austin Theory's extremely hard working and chip on his shoulder angry young superstar, young wrestler, and I know what that's like," said Rhodes. [2:38 - 3:26]

Austin Theory sent a strong message to John Cena ahead of their clash at WrestleMania 39. Check it out here.

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Please credit Chaz Kangas and give a H/T to Sportskeeda if you use the above transcription.