How old is John Cena? Why are fans disappointed with the WWE legend's WrestleMania 39 performance?

Multi-time WWE Champion John Cena opened WrestleMania 39 Night One against Austin Theory. Cena faced off against the young superstar in hopes of winning his sixth United States Championship.

Unfortunately, for Cena, tonight wasn't his night. After the referee was taken out, Cena was caught with a low blow before facing A-Town Down for a quick 11-minute pinfall. It left the crowd and fans at home a bit perplexed. No Super Cena kickouts?

This was the 45-year-old's first singles match on television since being soundly defeated by Roman Reigns for the Universal Title at SummerSlam 2021. Though he's sporadically appeared between then and this year's WrestleMania, Cena has been busy with his Hollywood career.

It could very well be that John Cena was too busy to give the crowd a full Cena experience or that he couldn't keep up at his age. More than likely, though, this was a chance to give Austin Theory the biggest win of his career. Eleven minutes is a solid amount of time, and WWE were able to keep Big Match John's reputation strong with a cheap win for the United States Champion.

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Why are fans disappointed with John Cena's WrestleMania performance?

Regardless of the reasoning, the match didn't feel like a WrestleMania John Cena performance. Sure, Cena hit a shoulder tackle and a five-knuckle shuffle. However, it wasn't a memorable performance. Neither Super Cena nor US Championship Open Challenge Cena was present at the Grandest Stage of Them All.

A low blow and a facebuster were all it took for Austin Theory to defeat the greatest WWE Superstar of all time. Considering how many destructive finishers and weapon shots Cena's kicked out of in his career, the end to his bout with Theory fell a little flat.

Thankfully, it wasn't all bad. As Michael Cole said during the match, there's no telling how many more times we'll see Cena in the ring. The 16-time world champion also had an incredibly heartwarming entrance this year, bringing out over a dozen children he met through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

We may not have gotten an iconic Cena performance, but like always, the future WWE Hall of Famer gave the children the night of a lifetime.